On Sunday Joe and I thought it would be a great idea to go and climb Roseberry Topping with our lovely children, Natalia 8 years old, Sofia nearly 5 years old and Joshua almost 3 years old. We got there for about lunch time and the car park was full. Wow, we weren’t the only ones, must be a nice day for it. As we started off on the path, we couldn’t help but notice that the country roads we had to walk on were no longer roads, but complete mud slides. The kids thought this was the best ever, jumping in muddy puddles; they had wellies they weren’t bothered, Joe had his walking boots, he wasn’t bothered, and I on the other hand had my riding boots so was I bothered? You can certainly believe it; I was sliding all over the place. Needless to say, while I joylessly walked on, I kept on saying “this was a stupid idea, we shouldn’t have come today. (Of course I had far better descriptive words that I would have liked to use, but the presence of my children got in the way of that).
At one point, about half way up, Natalia tried to cheer me up by saying “Mummy why don’t you think of it as a river of chocolate?"? Sofia added, “Mummy does the chocolate taste good?” I shouted at the top of my voice, “There is no chocolate and it doesn’t taste good!” As other walkers looked on in great concern, thoughts of buying my trekking boots came to mind. We finally reached the top and it was absolutely freezing. Of course we didn’t bring any warm hats, gloves, scarves. It was one of the quickest lunches we’ve ever had. We were all glad to be going, and as we made our way down of the beaten track, not one of us said a word.
Kit List Shopping
The very next day Joe and I decided to go shopping so we took the afternoon off and with our kit list in hand we drove to Rydale Rambler in Pickering. There we were met by Neil and Jonathan. They have experience in kitting people out for this very trek so they knew what they were talking about. Neil spoke to me about my fitness, and even gave me statistics about altitude sickness and age. They gave me a sense of confidence because they could name the different types of terrain I would be walking on. It was like they knew the Mountain personally. They were also full of great tips like blowing the water back in the bag once you have finished drinking so the tube doesn’t freeze.
So my boots are on order (see pic) and my kit bag has been chosen. Neil and Jonathan really looked after me, they were genuine, honest people, making sure that I understood the importance of my equipment and how to use it properly too. Can’t wait to get my boots and I’m so excited that I’m even looking forward to climbing Roseberry Topping again. Bring on the mud.
Palma
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