Comments on: Great Burney: One Small Step, One Giant Leap

By: McEff

McEff — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 23:00:13 +0000

Hiya Alan. Thanks for that. There is a great deal of enjoyment and satisfaction to be had in walking with grandchildren. Backpacking is the next step, perhaps. A few years away yet, though.
I shall look forward to your TGO Challenge with grandchildren.
All the best, Alen

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By: alan.sloman

alan.sloman — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 22:39:06 +0000

Magical. An absolutely magical moment in both your lives, Alen.
Beautifully written. Let’s hope you’re still writing when she’s old enough to read this. It will bring back her memories in an instant.
You’ve spurred me to think about taking my own grandchildren out for a walk, with plenty of tall tales, of course.

Thank you.

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By: mountaincoward

mountaincoward — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 10:07:11 +0000

In reply to McEff.

That’s very true the difference between parents and grandparents.

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By: McEff

McEff — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 09:25:07 +0000

In reply to mountaincoward.

Hi Carol. That’s exactly what I didn’t want to do with my granddaughter because it would have put her off. Parents can perhaps be too overbearing at times, whereas grandparents have more time on their hands and, more importantly, more quality time.
I was the other way around. I started climbing mountains in my late teens. I was still pretty lazy though.
Cheers, Alen

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By: mountaincoward

mountaincoward — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 07:45:44 +0000

I have to say our parents didn’t give us any encouragement or patience – we just got dragged around the mountains. Possibly explained why I stopped doing them in my late teens/early 20s and didn’t restart until my 30s. It might though as people of the age groups I’ve listed above are notoriously lazy and very pre-occupied with socialising instead of going outdoors!

Lovely photos of a lovely fell – I’m really missing the Lakes, especially the Broughton-in-Furness area!
Carol.

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By: McEff

McEff — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 22:46:48 +0000

In reply to mbc1955.

Hi Martin. Your introduction to fell walking sounds very much like my own. My parents dragged me up the Walna Scar track from Seathwaite one bleak Sunday afternoon and I hated every minute of it. So did they. It was several years later, and quite independently, I developed my affection for the hills. That’s why I’ve been so careful not to put a foot wrong with my granddaughter. Time will tell. She’s certainly got a headstart and I’m hoping that’s a good thing.
All the best, Alen

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By: McEff

McEff — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 22:38:46 +0000

In reply to Jo Woolf.

Hi Jo. It’s good to have memories like those. My granddad was foreman at the local brickworks and on Saturday mornings he used to take me round on his daily inspection. It was another world ??? fiery kilns, steaming boilers, massive fly-wheels, greasy belts. I can smell it all even now.
Magic times. It would be nice, just occasionally, to turn the clock back. Or would that spoil everything?
Cheers, Alen

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By: mbc1955

mbc1955 — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 22:36:23 +0000

What a lovely account.
It was my parents who first dragged me, kicking and whining, into places that were too far, too hard, too steep, too hot and my boots hurt, and I grew up to pursue all the Wainwrights and compile glorious memories that I can see any time I shut my eyes.
Your little lass has got a headstart on me and I hope for her delight that she goes correspondingly further.

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By: McEff

McEff — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 22:28:25 +0000

In reply to Hanna.

Hej Hanna. Children love dead animals. She talked about the dead sheep all night and how it came to lose its head. I suspect it was a troll that did it, myself. I’ve just watched a Norwegian film call Troll Hunter and those things actually exist, and they eat sheep. It’s a dangerous world. We don’t know half of what’s really going on.
Cheers, Alen

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By: Jo Woolf

Jo Woolf — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 21:04:55 +0000

How lovely, Alen! I hope this is the first of many climbs for her, with you and then on her own or with friends as she gets older. I remember my grandad taking me on bike rides around the villages where we lived and telling me all about them – we used to ride big old black bikes that must have been from the 1920s (or they looked like it!) – but I still remember those rides with affection.

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By: Hanna

Hanna — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 19:28:08 +0000

Lovely pictures of the new mountaineer, Alen. It’s always important to find interesting things in the landscape, and dead animals makes the trip even more exciting.
Did you invent some exciting names for the landscape?
I hope you found some appropriate tall tales for your grandchild, It is an obligation you have as a grandfather.
All the best,
Hanna

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By: McEff

McEff — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 16:19:28 +0000

In reply to mandala56.

Hi Jeanne. Yes, you’re right about the middle of the cycle thing ??? we can see both ways. That puts a different perspective on things.
I think grandparents can, in some ways, be more influential over children than the child’s parents can. I learnt a great deal from my grandparents, possibly because they seemed to be more senior and therefore commanded more respect. And being older, and therefore more experienced, they have more to give.
You should pencil in a date for Mt Rainier. Sounds like a great adventure for a grandchild.
All the best, Alen

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