Train for Something

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I’m not in shape. 

I haven’t been in shape for sometime. 

I need to get in shape. 

I will get in shape. 

I’m now sick of the word shape! 

I’ve created a gym at home (two machines, a set of small dumbbells and a mat in a summerhouse (shed with windows)) but it’s not really for me. Finding the motivation to go out there is hard and, shamefully, I miss more times than I hit.

Fortunately, I live in Derbyshire and the Peak District is right on my doorstep but I’d never climbed its highest peaks, Mam Tor and Kinder Scout. That was bizarre as I’ve climbed Snowdon and walked two National Trails so I’m no stranger to the outdoors.

With just four weeks until our hotel in Fort William was booked, Mark, Oi (his faithful staffie) and I headed into the peaks to train for our ascent of Ben Nevis. Well, just outside of it for our first walk from Linacre reservoir. 

This was a great first route as our ascent was in two halves as we climbed out of the valley and into the next one only to return a mile or two east. The ascent wasn’t anything like we’ll reach in Scotland but it was a super way to reintroduce myself to hill walking. 

Our second jaunt was Mam Tor via the ridge from Lose Hill. The climb out of Castleton was hard but walking along the ridge was breathtaking if a tad busy. The paragliders were in full force and made for pleasant viewing from the trig point and the return via Winnats Pass is a must see itself. 

Finally, it was time for Kinder Scout, the highest point in Derbyshire and all of the East Midlands. We headed out of Hayfield and climbed what seemed like four or five vertical fields before our route wound around the back of the mountain to join the Pennine Way. The trig point was expectedly busy but we had our break in a nice quiet spot and I shared my pasty with Oi, much to his delight. Sadly, Oi won’t be joining us in Scotland next week as he’s not as young as he used to be. It’ll be strange without him. 

We have learnt that Mark and I have alternate strengths. He’s great uphill and hates downhill and I’m, embarrassingly, quite the opposite. We balance each other out in more ways than that. 

While Kinder Scout is almost half of Ben Nevis, we’ve still only managed a third of the elevation needed to summit Ben Nevis as we always start at about 200 metres above sea level in Derbyshire. Fort William is on Loch Linnhe, one of Scotland’s longest sea lochs so the base of Ben Nevis is at about 40 metres above but surely all we have to do is keep going up. 

Fort William, Ben Nevis, here we come!