1st February 2021

A bit late in the day to say White Rabbits. We always used to say it on 1st Feb but apparently you can say it on the first of any month. Just watching ‘The LIfe of the Mountain’ on Helvellyn. Suddenly would love to be up there again. I would have to be healthier and 90% fitter but the photography is fantastic and even made me want to be a paraglider which has never happened before. We used to take the students up there and across Striding Edge, much to the surprise of some who for all the warnings had not realised what they were going to do. I spent five days back in the 70s leaving the car behind and just wild camping with two friends in the middle of the Lakes, which you probably could not do today but which was amazing. Once talking to children in a primary school in a rough area in Carlisle it was amazing how many children had never explored the Lakes on their door step and those teachers who want to need to be helped to be able to do that and the curriculum should encourage it. If you can instil a love for the fells at an early age I am sure many would want to carry on doing it (though I have to admit the offer to go walking with teenagers in our family is not always greeted with enthusiasm especially when they realise that their mobile phones may well not work for much of it.)