Throughout the year I have been taking my children, including my then six year old daughter, on walks. These walks have included Blencathara and Skiddaw in the Lake District.
Seeing at what ease she seemed to be walking these mountains and having walked Ben Nevis myself, I thought she would be up to the challenge.
On Wednesday 28th August at 8.15am, myself, Erinn, a pupil at Sugar Hill School, along with her thirteen year old brother Harris and twelve year old sister Jessie, who both attend Woodham Academy, set off to climb Ben Nevis. Things were going fantastic until we reached the top quarter of the mountain, where wind speeds picked up to 41 mph, visibility was around 20ft and sheet sideways rain soaked us completely to the bone. This was certainly no place for a little girl who had just turned 7 on the 19th August. Nevertheless we reached the summit around 12.30pm and made a swift about turn.
The descent from the summit was quite miserable and hard to keep a 7 year old girls’ moral up, given that you could ring out every item of clothing she was wearing with ice cold water. Somehow, about half way down, her spirits returned and she kept us all upbeat with her humour. We got back to the car at 3.30pm, which Erinn somehow found the energy to skip to, so the whole walk took us seven and a quarter hours.
I don’t think I could have remained as positive as Erinn at her age and managed without one twist or moan (given the conditions). I think it’s an amazing achievement for someone her age.
Ian Gibson
