What do I love about fell walking?

So with all my new found experience and enthusiasm, what do I love about fell walking?

Fresh air.  Being in an office for most of the week is a little frustrating, although I am lucky that I work in a little village next to the River Thames, so I'm hardly suffering in a huge noisy city, but especially on lovely sunny days, I do yearn to be outdoors. My colleagues must be fed up of hearing me groan 'this is a day to be on the hills' and don't even get me started on the commute.....

the thames in the village where i work. but i’m usually indoors

Exercise. 'Hills not pills' is my new mantra. The Chinese say you should windmill your arms around if you have a headache but I really advocate getting out for a walk, ride or run to clear your head, especially if you're mentally tired, upset, worried or anxious about something. The warm glow from hard physical exercise is lovely.

not that we really need an excuse…

Seeing new places. Climbing the Wainwrights has really got us to some corners of the Lakes that we would never visited ordinarily, and these have turned out to be really beautiful and sometimes quite remote places which, most of the time, we had to ourselves. This in turn has set us looking for new areas to walk nearer to home and made us more adventurous over the years in our trips abroad.

where was this again?

Freedom. Just getting lost (not literally) in the fells; those long summer days of epic walks and great views, perhaps lazing in the sun, without phones ringing, emails pinging, bills plopping, alarms buzzing, TV’s blaring.......

sunbathing fully clad on dale head

A sense of achievement. I don't just mean head down ticking bagged peaks off a list (although that is fun too), but setting out with a plan and a goal and achieving it. I think it's good to have a personal challenge, however big or small, just for your own satisfaction. We'd like to do the Coast to Coast next for example; just something to aim for and just for ourselves.

so many choices

Meeting new people. I love sitting in a pub at the end of a day chatting to like minded people. We once had a lively and colourful conversation with a lady who was about half an hour behind for most of the day, about a bull in a field and the three mile detour it entailed after a 9 mile walk.....chatting about routes and peaks is great fun and we have taken advice, used it and passed it on, so thank you to all those we met. Meeting people on the hill is great too; a few times we have followed or been followed by one couple for an entire day, overtaking each other periodically and chatting which makes a good day even better.

YES, I MET THE LATE GREAT DOUG SCOTT!