Their story, in their words…
We had a long journey on our first day but once we got to the campsite ,we were relieved and set up our tents and equipment. For most of us, it was the first time sleeping in a tent and it was rather cold – a stark contrast to the heat here in London. Our first day hike was a horseshoe where we climbed more than 2000ft and hiked almost 9 miles. On the following days , we also went to Windermere and Aira Force and done subsequent hikes there. Mid-week , the temperature during the day was rather hot so walking in the Sun was pretty difficult. While we initially planned on doing Scafell Pike, we considered it too hard of a feat considering our previous hikes were difficult. Moreover, the mix of hot sunshine and fog at Scafell Pike made it less ideal.
Overall, we consider it a success. The hikes in themselves weren’t overly difficult but the added heat during the day and cold in the morning and night as well as the multitude of bug bites made it a bit more harder. We also very much enjoyed the change in environment. At night, the sky was filled with stars which is a big difference to the night sky in London. We also got woken up by crows a lot of the time who made an absolute racket . We did also hear sheep and cows in the morning but the crows were a nuisance. One of the days, the bugs were abundant – so much so they ended up in some of our food ( We threw it away and had dry foods instead ).
It was an experience like no other and we really learnt so much about hiking, camping and travelling outside of London. We were pretty glad when we came back to sleep in a bed but it was undoubtedly amazing to be independent in a place we have never been to. We are all very appreciative of the Mark Evison Foundation for helping us embark on this trip.
