Their story, in their words…
From the 27th to the 31st of July, the three of us spent 5 days hiking , camping in tents, and using maps to find our way through the most beautiful and challenging terrain of the Lake District, all with a 70L backpack to carry. We hiked 2 of the region’s highest mountains and walked over 75km (having to cut day 5 slightly shorter due to Reuben reaggravating and subsequently pushing through an ankle injury), a feat none of us take lightly.
After the hike, all of us concluded that it was the most physically and without a doubt, mentally challenging task any of us had ever done, yet the reward and sense of accomplishment was unlike anything we had experienced.
As a group, we experienced many challenges. Our most experienced hiker, Stephen, had to pull out shortly before the trip, leaving us with more to carry and meant we each had to pick up the pieces. Further to this, Reuben began feeling pain late on day 4 in an ankle that had previously taken over 6 months to fully heal. This was a major problem and resulted in having to work together to carry some more of his stuff and shorten the route for that day.
Despite this, the trip remained a success. Each taught each other their skills. Reuben taught how to put up a tent and cooking . Roby taught us first aid if necessary and remained a cool and optimistic head in the hardest hours, and Jacob taught us OS map reading thanks to his excellent literacy. Some of our favourite memory include seeing Derwentwater from Suprise View given it wasn’t foggy like the mountains and skimming rocks in lakes across our hike.
To conclude, the trip taught us both literal skills, be that map reading or cooking, and mental skills of compromise and resilience. We all come away from the trip with nothing but the fondest memories and a great sense of achievement, grateful for all it has offered us.
