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How did you first take to the hills?

Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Fife Flyer » Fri Jan 19, 2018 7:57 pm

Great thread and really interesting and fascinating to find out how we all 'got hooked'.

Being from Cheshire (very flat) I never ever imagined that I would end up in Scotland, let alone wander up hills "for fun".
A career in the Armed Forces brought me up to Scotland where I spent 15 out of 22 years service in Ayrshire and Fife and I ended up settling down in Fife. My late wife is to blame for getting me hooked on the hills. Our first hill was Schiehallion in 1994 and we even dragged our 3 young children up a few Munro's (against their will).
My wife passed away in 1997 and I decided to continue on the Munro trail on and off and when I reached 100 Munro's I decided to call it a day. All was to change in 2013 when I discovered WH, I found it fun changing the balloons from red to blue, but there was a major problem - I only managed to turn 98 balloons blue as 2 of my conquests had been demoted. So there was nothing for it but to head out to finish off what I had started. I opted to say hello to Creag Meagaidh and loved the day so much and couldn't hang up my boots on 101.

One thing for sure, I can't see me stopping any time soon.
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Alteknacker » Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:06 am

Sgurr wrote:....I don't quite know what I looked like. After this outing in the Brecon Beacons (allegedly training for Austria) I swapped woolly hat for headscarf , jacket for nylon mac, gloves for socks and eventually waterproof trousers for nylon trousers.]Image


This is absolutely the best pic I've seen on WH! :clap: :clap: :clap:
It's nice to have reasonable gear, but you absolutely don't need it to have a great time. :D
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Sgurr » Sat Jan 20, 2018 6:48 pm

Alteknacker wrote:
Sgurr wrote:....I don't quite know what I looked like. After this outing in the Brecon Beacons (allegedly training for Austria) I swapped woolly hat for headscarf , jacket for nylon mac, gloves for socks and eventually waterproof trousers for nylon trousers.]Image


This is absolutely the best pic I've seen on WH! :clap: :clap: :clap:
It's nice to have reasonable gear, but you absolutely don't need it to have a great time. :D



Thanks Alteknacker...as I recall we did have a great time as proved by the fact that 55 years later we are still going up the hills with the same crew
Image[/url]
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby nigheandonn » Sat Jan 20, 2018 9:34 pm

It just kind of happened. I didn't have a hillwalking childhood (although when I climbed Goatfell this year my mum told me I'd been up it as a child, which I don't remember at all!), but we did go to outdoors places, and we always went for two weeks in the summer to Argyll, which was a kind of heaven to me, with Glen Croe as the gateway to magic.

Later on I was always a bit of a wanderer, going off to new places, and I'd always been happy to walk 4 or 5 miles to get somewhere, or to explore around somewhere, but I thought of hillwalkers as special people born with special knowledge and with all sorts of special equipment - encouraged by the university hill walking club with its endless list of kit they wouldn't take you without.

And then at 30 I was standing in Hethpool in Northumberland looking at a sign for St Cuthbert's Way, and remembered that I'd seen signs for the same thing in Melrose, and suddenly that was my next holiday. The Northumberland Coast Path and the rollercoaster of Hadrian's Wall followed, and by then I knew that if I could go up a smallish hill with marker posts there was no reason why I couldn't go up one without - and someone's mention of Wainwright combined with my random desire to cross the Kirkstone Pass, and the rest was history.

I'd always been fascinated by maps, so that wasn't a problem, and starting in the Far East meant that the hills got bigger as I went along. But I still prefer to walk from x to y rather than up and down again - I've never got over being a wanderer - and I still prefer to walk alone, partly from fear that someone will tell me I'm Doing It Wrong!
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Mal Grey » Sat Jan 20, 2018 9:49 pm

I'm really enjoying reading this thread. Whilst there are some common themes, the stories of our introductions, or even the odd epiphany, are diverse and fascinating. I don't know if its better to have been given the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors all our lives by our parents, or to have it revealed to us in all its glory at a later age and change lives.

An inspiring and uplifting thread! Clearly, walking the hills has had an enormous positive influence on so many of us. Thank you all for sharing.
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Scottk » Sat Jan 20, 2018 11:21 pm

Mal, I think you hit the nail on the head. Being out on the hills is extremely positive and I'm sure a lot of people who have issues could be helped a lot if they could get out on them. You don't meet many people on a hill who won't pass the time of day or at least acknowledge you-even if you do want some peace! Mental and physical wellbeing. We are certainly the lucky ones.
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Sunset tripper » Sun Jan 21, 2018 12:51 am

As a kid probably about 10 I could leave my home climb a fence and cross the railway line (it wasn't such a big deal at the time) :shock:
I would then climb out of a cutting which would lead to a small hill which would reveal another higher hill. It seemed like a endless world of false summits. Then at the top of one point you could see for miles and there were twin summits in the distance often snow covered - I'm pretty sure now it was Ben Cruachan, at the time it could have been Mount Everest they were completely unobtainable - I've never been back to that point since.
Another place I passed often as a kid in the car was Loch Lochy and I decided I was going to climb the hills across the Loch one day. I didn't know they were munros and didn't even know what munros were at the time :roll:
The Loch Lochy munros were amongst the first big hills I climbed but I never really got into ticking off of hills though I do see the attraction and I do climb new hills so maybe I'm kidding myself. :D .
For me there are some brilliant routes especially coastal ones in the west which I might have missed if I had concentrated on hills. Also some great routes in the glens.
I also had no idea about weather forecasts or had any decent gear. I guess it was just hoping your common sense and probably a bit of luck would see you through.
Great photos from Sgurr, Caberfeidh and Rockhopper and great to read what motivated other people. I wish I had some pre digital photos to put up.
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Holly » Sun Jan 21, 2018 1:31 am

Years of working and a love of outdoorsy stuff going by the wayside would probably have continued had I not experienced a very unfortunate incident that left me with the risk of losing everything. This luckily didn't happen and the ending was a happy one however it did leave me with some time on my hands to ponder over my potential fate which I was to worry about for a year or so, I took to taking my dogs of the time up a local hill, Bennachie. My first attempt at it nearly gave me heart failure and I realised how unfit I had become. I smoked then and when faced with such concerns and having no control over them,, I realised quickly that the only thing I did have control over was keeping my health as good as it could be. I could lose everything but if I could walk? I would be fine.
I stopped smoking and began with plans to do Mount Keen. Due to my being such a slow walker, I didn't join a group. I did know about navigation from many years before and some revision was in order. That was to continue too as was the growing gear I was to collect! I was to love and relish walking alone with my dogs.
Anyway, I set off with some trepidation and probably looked like I was on the way to Everest with the size of the rucksack I had then. BUT, I made it, looked over from the top and saw Lochnagar and that was my next hill planned. I still remember my walk back from Mount Keen and remember walking like C-3PO out of Star Wars back to my car. I was however elated and so the start of, or return of, the love of being outdoors came back to me. I did the first 100 or so of the Munro's alone but colleagues/friends from work come along with me now and they love it too. They know I go slow but they dont mind :-) . I get to be navigator and guide as they learn and become proficient themselves. :-)
I don't know if I will finish the Munro's but I have gotten over the half way mark. I love wild camping and long distance walking and have found myself doing this too so the compleation isn't a must.
We are going to do the section of the Cape Wrath Trail this year and very much look forward to it although a plan b will be in order in the face of our Scottish weather.
Life is good. Very good.
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby johnkaysleftleg » Sun Jan 21, 2018 1:06 pm

nigheandonn wrote:- and I still prefer to walk alone, partly from fear that someone will tell me I'm Doing It Wrong!


:lol: kind of sums myself up aswell.
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Malkie » Sun Jan 21, 2018 7:04 pm

I first started walking when i retired when i was seventy i started in the Pentlands and when i was seventy one i walked the WHW for charity since then i have done a lot of long trails.Last year i did the Penine Way at eighty three which was my ambition ihave also done a few monroes.
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby KatTai » Sun Jan 21, 2018 9:57 pm

As a kid we used to go up Roseberry Topping...not a hill that counts as anything though and is nothing compared to the hills up here :lol: I attempted Goat Fell, but couldn't make it to the summit because of the wind, and I didn't really do much until I got Millie and Fly, the dog I had before them had hip dysplacia and therefore wasn't suited as a hill dog. We did a few lower summits and I got the idea in my head of doing a Munro so we went up Mount Keen, later did Schiehallion and then I decided I wanted to go up Ben Nevis for the charity I volunteer for so did a couple of Munros in preparation for that and suddenly after Nevis it seemed to take off. Now I have Moss as my hill dog and she is younger and fitter it has opened up more opportunities for walking.
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Boris_the_Bold » Sun Jan 21, 2018 10:58 pm

The Duke of Edinburgh (Silver & Gold) Expeditions with the Boys Brigade gave me:
a) a good start acquiring the relevant equipment
b) sufficient navigation skills for a lifetime of wandering the hills and
c) a love of wild-camping.

Then the Rambling Club at Edinburgh University showed me some of what Scotland had to offer (including the Cobbler and Ben Cruachan) and the West Highland Way completed my 'epiphany'

BtB
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Veryhappybunny » Tue Jan 23, 2018 12:47 am

I lived for 21 years in Aberdeen with hills in easy reach and had no interest in hillwalking.

I then moved to Oxford (which is not well supplied with hills) and my husband and I met two Canadians who were really into the outdoors: hiking and backpacking. We went on a few trips to wales and scotland with them and were hooked on hillwalking. Lots of driving up the M6 followed over the next years, until the chance came to move jobs to somewhere nearer the hills.

My kit started home made with corduroy trousers cut down into breeches, a neoprene cagoule, stiff walking boots with full metal shanks and bright red socks. How times have changed - but I still wear a rucksack that I bought in 1993 and a mountain equipment ultrafleece top that is almost as old, so some things still last!
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby jaybee » Tue Jan 23, 2018 9:53 am

Dragged up hills on Dartmoor as a child. (would rather have waited in the car reading a book)
Snowdon via the PYG track on a family holiday, "waterproofed in a pac-a mac"
Gold DoE expedition on Dartmoor.
Hitch hiked to the Lakes as a student and camped in wet fields to save money.
Climbed The Ben on a holiday to Fort William, checked shirt & surplus boots and nowhere near enough food or drink. The views though....

Drawn back to the Lakes, I was hooked, gradually improved knowledge and skills and equipment.
Many happy, if often wet, holidays in the Lakes then visited Scotland in 1999 and couldn't stop coming back - still living in Devon.
Made new friends that lived in North Wales so discovered Snowdonia too.
Finally a combination of what could have been negative events; illness, redundancy came together and gave us the opportunity to move north of the border. Lived & worked in the central belt for three years then moved to Skye where we constantly pinch ourselves and enjoy every single day :D
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby EileanB » Tue Jan 23, 2018 11:00 am

I was brought up in a rural part of Yorkshire and as a yearning adolescent used to spend my evenings walking on the moors above our house watching the sunset and looking for the man of my dreams.
Heathcliff or equivalent never turned up, but I still head for the hills. Grew out of thinking Heathcliff would be anything but trouble, but kept the liking for the hills.
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