This time, Stepmother J, a seasoned hillwalker, was en route to Glencoe and would like to finally get to the top of Ben Lomond – we were driven back by nasty weather the last time we tried.
I had done the juggling, boys at school and nursery with an early start from Rowardennan should have me hurtling home at the same time as the school bus.
Then on Wednesday the Boys clattered in, flung their bags down and announced that was “them”.
“What do you mean?”
“D’oh. We’re off now, it’s half term, can I have some Coke?” they replied as they slumped on the sofa.
Woah. I double checked, they really were.
Arse.
“Guess what boys we’re going up a hill tomorrow. Get your boots out and let’s see how they fit.”
Within an hour both Super Sister and Stepmother J had called to say: “Are you sure? Shouldn’t we do an easier walk? We could do it another day.”
“Of course,” I crossed my fingers. “We used to do it when we were that age, didn’t we?”
So off we set on Thursday armed with spare footwear for one, cake, jelly babies, wine gums and Tang-fastics. And it wasn’t raining.
“Which one are we going up?”
“That one over there in the mist.”
“No! That’s miles away.”
“Not really. It looks further than it is,” fingers crossed again.
And within a few hundred yards the whinging had begun. I was just giving serious thought to packing it in and spending the day throwing stones in the Loch while SS and SJ climbed the hill, when the whinger powered off into the distance.
We got to the top in thick cloud and wind, but we got there. And it didn’t rain.
Boy Two reckoned he was drunk on wine gums and Boy Two seemed a little disappointed with the consistency of the inside of clouds. We played lots of alphabet games – clergy’s pets, countries, food, animals, cities and movies. X and Q are always troublesome.
And I was incredibly proud of my two hill-walking Munro-bagging boys… Which one shall we do next?
A lovely family tale.
My five-year-old, Adam and I have started cycling together.
He's full of advice:”Use the gears, Dad, if you don't want to use the brakes going downhill.” Or, simply: “Go faster…”
Not done any hillwalking since my Boys Brigade days – apart from on Arran with my elder sons many moons again.
Might be tempted.
You're very brave to do those walks. I have a beautiful picture of Glencoe in my dining room. I used to holiday in Killin.
CJ xx
Mike, it was great. I was proud of the boys and enjoyed their company. Adam sounds like a wise cyclist – everyone should go faster!
CJ, not so brave I think and the sense of satisfaction worth the march. x
My favorite word association was Boy 2 in the food round, when we got to “w”, he chipped in “I know I know….waccamole!”
Kept me going for a few more miles!
It was a pleasure
SSx
Very well done, those boys, and pretty good for the adults as well!! I'm extremely impressed. Mxx