A new standard

In which I identify a problem, and someone else solves it

Dear all,

I’m very pleased to announce that last week an idea I had four years ago finally came to fruition – and what’s more, I had nothing to do with it, and someone else did all the hard work.

Elise Downing and Kirsty Reade, descending towards Staveley

Back in the days of Twitter (remember that?), I asked my followers for hints on how to get into hiking and mountain running as a non-driver. It seemed reasonably certain that I would enjoy it once I got started, but I was daunted by the logistics. The only times I had been on a long hike or climbed a mountain, mostly in North Wales, it had been with other people, who drove me to the remote car park we were starting from, and took me home afterwards.

Doing it any other way seemed impossible. I haven’t bothered working out whether I could get to (let’s say) the base of Snowdon from my then home in Mid Wales via public transport, because I know what the trains and buses are like round there – it would probably take me a full day of travel, before I even started climbing.

Arriving by bike, camping overnight, and cycling home after the climb, took the venture to a much higher level of difficulty, as well as presenting the problem of what to do with the bike and my tent while I was up the hill. A few people responded to my tweet, telling me about how they, or grizzled climbing types they knew, kept an old battered bike for these occasions, and would conceal their surplus possessions in the undergrowth while they climbed.

“Perhaps I just need more of a can-do attitude,” I thought to myself, as I imagined the uncomfortable 1990s mountain bike I might end up riding, wearing a bulky rucksack and hoping there would be somewhere near the trailhead where I could hide it all. I thought about how I might spend the entire climb worrying that I’d get back down there to find my kit stolen, and how tiring the ride home would be, with my legs sore from the descent.