Posted by Mike Ridley on August 16, 2006 at 14:11:58 from 81.168.41.14 user MikeR.
In Reply to: About the kids posted by Joe Windsor on August 16, 2006 at 13:26:28:
It isn't until your own children go off adventuring that you realise the heart-searching Ted Walker must have gone through before sending his immortal 'Better Drowned...' telegram.
I have just spent a week with my two sons - aged eight and 16 - and two of their friends camping, sailing, fishing and scaling hills at Ullswater in AR country. The older boys happily sailed on their own in strong winds.
Then my 16-year-old son and his friend, also 16, went off on their own for an adventure climbing Helvellyn, via Striding Edge, a narrow path with steep falls on either side. It was the first time they had been on a mountain on their own. They had supplies, map and compass but no mobiles. They agreed to call from a payphone when they reached the native settlement.
I calculated six hours would be more than enough to climb to just over 3,000 feet and return. By the time eight hours had elapsed I was imagining the worst and cursing myself for being so cavalier and for allowing them to imbibe AR's spirit of adventure. What would I tell my wife and my son's friends parents if a tragedy had happened?
However, fifteen minutes later they arrived back at the phone box on a high. They'd had a day they would remember forever. They'd had such a great time experiencing the joy of the outdoors that they had lost track of time, climbing crags and enjoying life on the edge...without being duffers.
AR was right, you cannot stifle youthful adventure. Our young people learn so much more when they are allowed to taste adventure without parents hovering over them.
PS, The wind got up one night and at 2am I climbed out of my tent and gingerly made my way to the lakeshore to check our dinghy was snug. It was a starlit night and at that moment, nearly 40n years after I first read S&A, I realised what it must have been like for John to have sailed in the dark. I also now know first-hand the emotions Mrs Walker must have felt when she found out about the night sailing...