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| Back to my roots |
It was in the heart of the langdale valley nessled high up on the slopes of side pike that i first found my roots. They were hidden in the choss and debry of the rocky ledges that guarded the summit. It was like greeting my best friend for the first time. Every step closer to the summit felt new and exciting. I felt a feeling of rebellion. I didn't know where I was or what I was doing, but I had an urge to keep on going, until I had an end result. Throughout the summer I kept hold of my roots, not paying them particularly close attention, but never letting them get too far out of site. Winter was a time I did my research and learned what could be done with these roots. It was around spring time, when I got into reading. Edmund Hillary's autobiography 'Nothing Venture, Nothing Win', inspired me. It was a story of just how far one man could take his roots. So the following summer I planted mine deep and spent the season backpacking around the hills, allowing my roots to extend firmly into the ground, It was towards the end of this period I went to the Picos de Europa, and when I sat on the summit of Pena Vieja looking across the mountain range and the cloud thousands of feet below me that I realised how far with my roots I had already gone, I was ready to grow. The last few years of my life I have never felt so much purpose. There is always so much to learn and I was eager to absorb it all. Last summer felt like a milestone, my roots had taken me from the classroom of my local fells to the mountains of the alps. I had truly found a direction in life like I'd never felt before.
So my focus over the next few months is to continue growing as always. But to go back to my roots. Recent times I have focused further up the tree reaching higher and higher, growing further and further. This is all part of life. Some people spend to long on they're roots, in the safety of learning, but don't take it any further. I like to think my approach is more at the other end of the spectrum, always expanding my personal limit. But the higher a tree can grow, the further its roots need to spread, to prevent it toppling over, when the winds get too strong. I want to return to the alps next summer and embark on the rest of my life from then on, ready to branch out in different places. But in the mean time the hills of Britain hold many doors, and I'm going to go through them.
