Andrew
It’s amazing the amount of people I meet who are fascinated by my profession. It appears to be the most wonderful idea of all going to all the pretty and spectacular places all over the UK and Europe....and indeed it is. But it does beg the question ‘How does one end up becoming a mountain guide, in the first place?’
Well it all began after I read a book called ‘Work your way around the world’ by the English author Susan Griffith. It contains nothing but stories and advice on working and travelling in all the most exciting and far flung places you could ever imagine. Right, I said to myself.....I’d better give up this steady well-paid job (manager of a Timber and Builders Merchants now known as Jewsons), which I had studied for since entering as a trainee manager many years previously. They thought I was mad but it was the making of me.
After finding my wonderful future wife Sandra, at a fancy dress ball in Munich - I was dressed as a Christmas Tree and she as a Star, or so his-story goes.... we circumnavigated the world overland, except for a few flights where water intervened, heading eastwards for two years. We had both been working in Europe for a few years previously and so by the time my five years had finished I had ended up cycling in Ireland, grape-picking in France, drinking beer and working for the American army in Munich, skiing and being a rep in Austria, teaching English in Nepal, farming in New Zealand, working for Outward Bound with Papua New Guinea students on Magnetic Island in Australia, surveying in America and so on and so on.
Whilst we were teaching English in Nepal for 3 months, Sandra who is Irish, had a teaching aid. A cue card of the most beautiful place she had ever seen. When I looked, it was instantly recognisable as the Lake District and she gave a throw-a-way remark ‘Can we live there?’ and so we do (and remember we were amongst some of the finest mountains in the world The Himalayas).
Having trekked, and to a lesser extent mountaineered in the Himalayas, when I got back from that magnanimous trip I was at a loose end. As they say in Nepal ’Kay Garnay’ which translated means ‘What to do’. Unbelievably I was then to realise that for first time in my life I understood what they meant when they talk about ‘finding yourself’. I felt like I had been everywhere and had been given the time to work out what makes me tick. The love of the great outdoors. Hallelujah!!!!
After this I met the larger than life, Gideon who had escaped real life and was hiding out in the back-waters of the Lake District. This was in 1996 and now many years on WalkWise are still providing their safe and sociable guided walking holidays and I am still enjoying finding new and interesting UK and International destinations to run our holidays and it is wonderful that our two lovely and lucky boys Tom and Seán get to see all these new destinations too.
It is also true that there is nothing more pleasurable than spending days in the outdoors with like-minded people, away from the strain of the ‘rat race’. Finally, in the words of Heinrich Harrer, mountaineer and friend of the Dalai Lama:
“Guides belong to that rare and enviable group of men who, in ideal fashion, combine a hobby and a calling”.
Well it all began after I read a book called ‘Work your way around the world’ by the English author Susan Griffith. It contains nothing but stories and advice on working and travelling in all the most exciting and far flung places you could ever imagine. Right, I said to myself.....I’d better give up this steady well-paid job (manager of a Timber and Builders Merchants now known as Jewsons), which I had studied for since entering as a trainee manager many years previously. They thought I was mad but it was the making of me.
After finding my wonderful future wife Sandra, at a fancy dress ball in Munich - I was dressed as a Christmas Tree and she as a Star, or so his-story goes.... we circumnavigated the world overland, except for a few flights where water intervened, heading eastwards for two years. We had both been working in Europe for a few years previously and so by the time my five years had finished I had ended up cycling in Ireland, grape-picking in France, drinking beer and working for the American army in Munich, skiing and being a rep in Austria, teaching English in Nepal, farming in New Zealand, working for Outward Bound with Papua New Guinea students on Magnetic Island in Australia, surveying in America and so on and so on.
Whilst we were teaching English in Nepal for 3 months, Sandra who is Irish, had a teaching aid. A cue card of the most beautiful place she had ever seen. When I looked, it was instantly recognisable as the Lake District and she gave a throw-a-way remark ‘Can we live there?’ and so we do (and remember we were amongst some of the finest mountains in the world The Himalayas).
Having trekked, and to a lesser extent mountaineered in the Himalayas, when I got back from that magnanimous trip I was at a loose end. As they say in Nepal ’Kay Garnay’ which translated means ‘What to do’. Unbelievably I was then to realise that for first time in my life I understood what they meant when they talk about ‘finding yourself’. I felt like I had been everywhere and had been given the time to work out what makes me tick. The love of the great outdoors. Hallelujah!!!!
After this I met the larger than life, Gideon who had escaped real life and was hiding out in the back-waters of the Lake District. This was in 1996 and now many years on WalkWise are still providing their safe and sociable guided walking holidays and I am still enjoying finding new and interesting UK and International destinations to run our holidays and it is wonderful that our two lovely and lucky boys Tom and Seán get to see all these new destinations too.
It is also true that there is nothing more pleasurable than spending days in the outdoors with like-minded people, away from the strain of the ‘rat race’. Finally, in the words of Heinrich Harrer, mountaineer and friend of the Dalai Lama:
“Guides belong to that rare and enviable group of men who, in ideal fashion, combine a hobby and a calling”.
