Passed The Test

National Park

Thankfully, Mike passed the test. He led his first hill walk with our club. Twenty-three people joined his walk, and the same number finished his walk; including both Beth and William. That is a bit of a joke, in a Scottish sort of way. The unserious rule in hill walking is that the leader can declare success if he/she finishes the walk having lost fewer than 10% of the walkers.

Seriously, Mike enjoyed leading the group over a 10-mile point-to-point route that included 1,600 feet of elevation gain and loss. He had done a recce of the walk a couple of weeks ago. The hill walk was in Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, one of two national parks in Scotland. The views were stunning (see photo). He looked after both the faster and slower walkers, took coffee and "comfort" breaks, and picked a scenic spot for lunch (where he surprised everyone by providing a big bag of chocolate cookies). He even shared a couple of interesting historical facts along the way (thank you, Wikipedia).