I had every reason not to have done this walk. Her name is Sandra Sharkey & she lies in a hospital bed almost comatose since 11th September, she is my mum & grandparent to my children.
Spending 12 hour days at her bedside has took its toll on me, on all of us, this on the back end of a house move has seen every emotion trip through my wires, I & we as a family are in a tangled state, watching, doing nothing as my mum sleeps her remaining days away far from home in that side room. Mum at times is coherent, the doctors gave her three hours to live after restarting her heart back on the 11th of September, in mums medical notes it states Do Not Resuscitate, this, the fast response ambulance was un-aware off, he only did his duty & for that, we are wholly grateful. Mum is a fighter who would make Margaret Thatcher & Bet Lynch think twice.
For those un-aware, my mum has lived with brain aneurisms for the past thirteen months.
Sharkey’s Dream is a Lakeland blog, I take you with me & at times I cannot hide what is inside, I try to keep my blog as accurate, fair & most important, truthful as to what the author is experiencing the moment boot sets foot on fell.
I think it is only fair as a blogger & writer you: as readers of my blog know the true authors feelings during my time in Lakeland.
Sometimes, even the best of us, find it difficult to hide what’s inside & I am no different.
I needed just a few hours away, to skrike, to think, to make sense of life & indeed my families future. Besides my family & close friends, only Lakeland can do this.
Back to the walk eh?
During my time off the fells & the rare occasions I spent at this here desk penning new routes took my mind of what is affecting me right now, I did this in a somewhat faraway state, subconsciously even, but for those few hours spent, I came up with this route. With just over an hours drive & a more or less central spot in Lakeland, Scandale & her satellite fells worked for me. Parking however in & around Ambleside was going to be a slight problem, yes the car parks would of been empty early morning but as time was precious I didn’t really want to start & end the walk in one of Lakelands busiest towns.
For my parking spot today, I had to resort to Google Earth.
‘The Struggle’, is a narrow, twisty and in places, very steep minor road that leads from Ambleside to the top of Kirkstone Pass, which at 1,489 feet is the highest pass that is open to traffic in the Lake land, somewhere along the narrow lanes of The Struggle is a marginal layby, & by marginal I mean marginal, with only enough spaces for two, maybe three exceptionally well parked cars, being early was key to the whole walk, after all, I didn’t quite fancy climbing over 1,000 feet to reach my car after my walk had officially ended.
My route today would involve new territory in Snarker Pike or affectively Red Screes southern ridge. Sadly Snarker Pike holds no distinction on any hill baggers list to the best of my knowledge which is sad, as the views along its spine offer fine panoramas above central & eastern Lakeland on a good day, today however, I saw very little in the way of long distance views throughout the morning, instead Snarker Pike was moody & un-revealing which kinda matched my mood.
Today I have fond memories of Snarker Pike, I can look back with a slight smile & say, you are the only Lakeland fell I truly found myself lost on in dense cloud as I cut my teeth as a fell walker over four years ago, today with a little more experience under my belt Snarker Pike, just like back then, was giving away nothing & that’s a great memory from todays walk. |