Stay at home

[mamacgregor 1444]

I was 70 when i took up walking and i have done 18 munroes also the highest in each country i have also done over29 long distance walks among those i did the cwt when i was76 and the Penine Way when i was 83 when i was 84 i did i am 87 and i am still doing local walks

[Sgurr]

Posting this here, Sgurr, in the hope that you see it. I wrote you a reply but it is just sitting there in something called an Outbox.

Did get it, and replied. eventually you get an email saying there is something waiting. Amazing all those co-incidences.

Mamagregor...hope for us all.

[Lightfoot2017]

Interesting and thought provoking thread.

It's kinda weird to have long-standing posters on here reveal their age. In my head, when I've read posts in the past, I have an image of us all as young vigorous 30 somethings.*

*Except Sgurr of course, who is WH's own much revered Golden Oldie

[Sgurr]

Don't worry Lightfoot. from these heights you all look 30 and policemen and nurses look as if they are still at school. In my head I am still 23

[Hillbeback]

Posting this here, Sgurr, in the hope that you see it. I wrote you a reply but it is just sitting there in something called an Outbox.

The Courier article is great! - thanks so much for sharing.

I was positively discouraged by my adoptive parents from hill walking. They especially liked to tell me Mountain Rescue news stories. They are no longer alive, but they would have loved the recent Lake District “covid camping leads to tragedy” story.

Nor have I had walking friends. Almost all my walking has been done alone. For the first 30 years, especially, my only companions were OS maps, Wainwright and Poucher.

Walking alone has given me the chance to explore the secret places hidden in our hills. There is one spot, for example, near Shenavall, with a fine waterfall that’s off the tracks and rarely visited. One day out of the blue my biological father started talking about exactly the same place.

Being asthmatic ( like my biological father) I never did sports at school, thankfully! - I’m the least competitive and most unsporty person I know. Despite that I have somehow managed to do some hard stuff, including the first ever ascents of some 20,000ft peaks in the Andes.

I’ve always loved art and literature, then I find out that my biological father is one of Britain’s leading potters, and that later in life he did a degree in American literature. One of these days I will maybe get round to getting my own books published...

Tim

Hi Tim,

I've been trying to private message you but doesn't seem to be going through. Tried texting too but not sure if you have received it.

Moira

[maxie23]

Interesting and thought provoking thread.

It's kinda weird to have long-standing posters on here reveal their age. In my head, when I've read posts in the past, I have an image of us all as young vigorous 30 somethings.*

*Except Sgurr of course, who is WH's own much revered Golden Oldie

Hi Lightfoot2017.

You are only as old as you feel.

I thought this song was hilarious when I first heard it.( 1981 ).

Now I think it's me he is singing about.

[SteveeMac]

Almost 50 here and just starting out.

You all are inspiring!


Thanks for a great thread.

Steve.

[JonetCol]

I'd only done a couple before I was 60, but I sometimes wonder if there's a case for a special forum for older walkers. I tend to walk alone, mostly from preference but also because of the logistical probs for my pals as I live so far from my favourite hills. I've been told by passing walkers that I'm irresponsible to go out alone at my age. (You don't need to go on social media to get grief from an aerosol).Has this happened to anyone else?

[JonetCol]

I'd only done a couple before I was 60, but I sometimes wonder if there's a case for a special forum for older walkers. I tend to walk alone, mostly from preference but also because of the logistical probs for my pals as I live so far from my favourite hills. I've been told by passing walkers that I'm irresponsible to go out alone at my age. (You don't need to go on social media to get grief from an aerosol).Has this happened to anyone else?

[RocksRock]

About 15 years ago walking alone aged about 60 near Loch Clair met a party of German walkers heading for the Coulin Pass. Pleasantries exchanged, I was asked if alone - yes - is it safe for you to be alone?- why not? I suppose you have a cell phone? No, why have one, there is no coverege in the mountains? Shock, horror, consternation and a barely concealed conviction that British women alone in the hills with no phone coverage were mad.......

[AJ01]

This thread has been a great encouragement to me, as I had been making great progress climbing Munros until 13 years ago when personal circumstances meant that I had to stop. As I'm now in my early 60s, and with the opportunity to finish them, I had been feeling very daunted by having to get fit enough for the mountains, so to find that there are other people in their 70s still happily doing all sorts of mountain expeditions gives me a real boost to morale and encourages me to do the same. (When lockdown is lifted sufficiently to do so, of course!)

[Sgurr]

JonetCol I stopped going solo on big hills after about 60, but that was just because mine and husband's agendas started to coincide. But he had done a lot of Marilyns that I hadn't got around to, so did them mostly solo. Felt very stupid once when in the borders I had left my map behind and wondered if it was safe to use a road map. On the pretence of asking if my car was Ok, I knocked on the door of a farmhouse and they loaned me theirs. When I got back to the car and was looking for food in the back compartment of my rucksack, I FOUND my own Landranger map. I did wonder at that point if I was with it enough to be let out on my own... and was only in my 70s then.

[JonetCol]

Sgurr
Cheers. One of the ironies of walking in my 70s is that a few times I've had to help out much younger people struggling with their navigation ( a euphemism for being lost). I've also had to help much younger people struggling with fitness problems (not sure if that's euphemism for hungover) including carrying their kit!!

At the same time I've received a lot of help and advice whilst walking. I hope I don't sound as if I don't like younger folk on the hills. I think it's great that anyone who wants to enjoy the countryside responsibly has the opportunity to do so and hopefully, before too long, we'll get the chance to do just that.

[weedavie]

This actually connects with the music thread.

I'm still a ba' hair short of 70. Various walking companions of differing ages have also been musical enthusiasts but age stratifies our tastes and knowledge. A monotonous ridge can trigger an hour long discussion, but there's got to be some common ground.

The Incredible String Band brings blank looks or uninformed scorn. Though I did have an amazing chat at a funeral a couple of years ago with an unlikely fanatic, much to the shocked disdain of his wife. (This was at the purvey, not at the pause for reflection.) You've pretty much got to be of a certain age for that but there are others where love of a single figure brings no harmony. I love early Dylan and Rod, but I've walked with fans of both where the love starts just as mine goes cold.

There was a period I walked with a bunch of unrepentant New Romantics and learned a lot of things that I feel I could do without. Sometimes the preferred eras are reverse of expectation. I sometimes walk now with a 30 year old lassie whose love of Pink Floyd is the inverse of my total disdain. Mind you, we're both fanatics for Shostakovitch.

It all passes a misty day!

[simon-b]

Interesting and thought provoking thread. In my head, when I've read posts in the past, I have an image of us all as...... vigorous......

Your initial image was mostly accurate anyway, Lightfoot!