Hiking (Trail) 1:36:44 [2] 1.94 mi (49:53 / mi) +223m 36:45 / mi
(injured)
Lake District, England, near Keswick. We hiked up Catbells. From the parking lot, we knew right away that this would be a nice hike. Samantha was slow starting so we separated fairly early from Max and Peggy. Samantha was enthusiastic early; I think her confidence and endurance was improved from the other sight seeing we did in London, Brighton, and especially the White Cliffs of Dover. However, she'd never been on a hike with a climb like this. She petered out at the first road crossing about 100m from the parking lot. The hike was about 1 mile up and over the first summit of the ridge. It took Samantha a long time with lots of stopping, coaxing, pressuring, and even pulling her up. The views were awesome with the active Derwent Water (a large lake) on my left going up, and treeless hillls on the right. A few miles away Keswick (an apparent vacation town) could be seen with water taxis heading out to different areas. After getting Samantha past the steepest parts, she was curious about where Peggy and Max were. They met us coming the other direction, but turned back up the hill with us. Samantha made it all the way and didn't seem scarred by the ordeal of me not letting her give-up. She tends to give up on many things far too easily so this was a big accomplishment for her. We went down a steep reentrant on an old trail, then contoured back with lake views off to our right.