Hello there, welcome to dairy entry numero tres. Now my Walk the Width so far has been what some may call pretty “basic” for a fundraiser; you know, you’re usual Sunday stroll along the river, venturing around the suburbs or around the park or gardens attempting not to burst out laughing as a kid uncontrollably pelts it down the hill on their three wheeler in confidence. I recall hearing them shout “FREEDOM!”, although I may have added that last bit for extra comedic affect for your imagination. Don’t worry, the kid was grand… plus I could see the parent was in hysterics too, attempting to play it off cool while also being perhaps slightly concerned whether they would make it. Or perhaps when a rather friendly squirrel gets up close and personal with a baby in a pram and the parents freak out. These “casual” strolls can really end up giving you a smile, a nice laugh, a wholesome feeling. They can give great experiences and stories to tell. While enjoyable I do know your average walk doesn’t have much challenge, and I want to push myself, work up a sweat. Thus, I began adding swimming to the tally – 800 m to 1 km a session. Now of course more challenging, however anyone can see even if I swam twice a day each week my total would be only 14 km. It would take me yonks to reach my distances.
Ben. Lomond. Boom, there’s the challenge I want, a munro. Though admittedly I may have possibly, perhaps, potentially, in theory underestimated the mountain. Ready to take on my second munro, myself with Maren and William (from the expedition) and my friend Elise began our hike. I initially thought Ben Lomond to be a beginner munro knowing a few of my friends have hiked and successfully reached the summit. As well as knowing it to be popular. However, I was mistaken and perhaps should’ve questioned them further on the logistics. As we took to the rocky trail the steep incline was quite sudden though the weather was pleasant and mild. Pushing on we kept climbing, however a few hundred metres up with great sadness Maren had to stop due to her hip painfully flaring up. The decision was made that Maren unfortunately had to make their way down the mountain, with William like a noble steed offering to make sure she gets down safely and of course, to keep her company. Whether it was good company, hard to tell. We briefly celebrated getting this far as a four with some photo opps and a swig of wine. Elise and I carried on thinking we only had an hour or so to go, but nope course not. It just kept going and going. Pointing at what we thought was the summit eventually getting there after an hour, only to realise there was in fact more path and the summit was indeed the freakin snow-capped pointy rock mass. HoW cOuLd wE BeEe sO sTuPiD. With Elise’s motivation dwindling, I read apple maps; it said we only had 30-minute walk to the summit. Knowing I wanted to carry on and rest at the summit Elise suggested I go on without her and she’ll catch up while she rested at the fake summit. Climbing for 40ish minutes and still not at the summit I checked the maps. I still had a 17 minute walk! It was then I realised the GPS wasn’t accounting for height incline just what seemed to be distance. Although the weather drastically changed dropping to the minuses and the landscape to snow and thick ice, I pushed on thinking it can’t be too far now. Eventually after way more than 17 minutes I was on the bottom of the pointy rock summit, however the incline swiftly became sharp and very steep with the path laced with slippery ice and deep snow (at this point I was mainly following footprints and what I could see of the path through the ice). It was at this moment with Elise texting to say she is heading back, thick grey clouds swooping in, soon to reduce visibility, the beginnings of hail and still being on my own I decided to head back. Eventually I caught up with Elise and we made it down tired, and joints shook from the constant downhill drops to the cradling arms of a warm pub, with Maren and William ready to welcome us with Haribos. After regaining our energy, we celebrated till sundown on Loch Lomond eating Norwegian hot dogs on the barby.
It was at home I realised I was 58 meters incline from the summit of 974 meters. Nonetheless I was happy I turned back.
Going forward, I am really enjoying Walk the Width and embrace the challenge. Walking, hiking, running and swimming to do my part till we reach our goal. Look before you say, ‘oh, but what about cycling’, my bike is stolen. Alright cool. Please sponsor us here on our GoFundMe so I can buy back my bike (I’m kidding). Peace out
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