Just got back from a half term trip to The Lake District with my son. We were originally scheduled to go from Mon - Thu, but the forecast was so bad, that we moved it forward by one day, meaning we were there from Sun - Wed. This turned out to be a really good call as the only good weather we had came on Monday. My son climbed his first fells during summer (Catbells (451m) and Haystacks (597m)) so we set our sights higher this time and set out to tackle Catsye Cam (890m).
It turned out to be a tougher beast than we had anticipated. Whilst the walking was entirely non-technical with no scrambling required, the length of the walk was challenging. However, the main problem was the wind. My son ended up getting to literally within 5m of altitude from the summit, but became rooted to the spot and terrified of the wind. In hindsight, this was partly my fault as I had drilled it into him that the wind could be our undoing. I tried to explain to him that the wind wasn't strong enough to cause us any problems and that he was SO close, but he wasn't having any of it. In the end, I decided that I didn't want to push too hard and put him off fell walking, so we decided to head down.
When we were back down at ground level, the outpourings of 'ah.... we were so close!' started to come from him. I could see the disappointment on his face but it has only strengthened his resolve to come back next year and give it another go! I explained that at least he had set a personal altitude record (885m according to the GPS) and that he's only 7, so that's a might fine achievement. More importantly, we had a fantastic and enjoyable day out on the hills and made memories that both of us will treasure for years. Already thinking about when we will return!
As the main purpose of the trip was fell walking and ensuring my son had a good time, the camera mostly stayed in the bag. Having said that, I did take a few snaps while we were having drinks / food breaks. Here's one taken from the 'Hole in the Wall' looking back down towards Patterdale.
Grisedale Valey by
Amar Sood, on Flickr
Nikon Z7 / Nikkor Z 24-70mm f4 S
Lefty