Hillwalking

4 mins read

My alarm goes off. It's 8 am. 

I need to get up and be at the station in one and a half hours. But for some reason, I am very tired from last night. After thirty minutes of a battle against myself, I am winning and finally starting to get ready. But since it took me so long to get up, there is no time for breakfast now. Leaving the house without my sacred brekkie routine? This happens only a few times a year. Hoping on my bike and going to the Lidl. Because I don't have time for preparing my lunch as well. Then cycling back and finally to the station.  

My legs are automatically dragging me to the Starbucks. Because first there are only two options near the station, and anything is better than Costa. Second, I know for sure I will be very grumpy if I don’t have my daily caffeine, especially today. Getting an americano and a banana as breakfast- which I will be paying with a bad stomach ache later. Then running to the station. But guess what, the train is delayed, for an hour! This also happens only a few times a year. My last time was a few months back when I was trying to catch a wedding. But anyway, one hour delay means that our walk is going to be one hour extended. Now the old me would have been already super upset. But new me didn’t care much and caught up with the family instead. One hour passed. We got on board. Then the journey began.

As you can guess from the title, this is about one of my walks with Hillwalking Society, which I cannot praise enough. And today I was thinking- why did I never write something about them. Because if I like something, I write about it. It's as simple as that. But I guess it's just so much happening all the time and there's very limited time to sit, think and reflect.  

Hillwalking Society is one of the societies of the University of Southampton- the best one in my opinion. I met them back in October 2020, when I first came in here. It was a pretty hard time for me, with adjusting to a new place, trying to keep up with the PhD and coping with loneliness. And it was the hardcore times of the pandemic. So, Hillwalking was the nicest thing I have ever come across at that time and helped me get through that phase of my life.

I remember my very first walk, the Isle of Wight- a fantastic place. It was 22 km or something like that and it literally killed me. I got so tired- like deadly tired- but there was nothing to do except keep walking. And I was wearing my white sneakers on that day- rookie mistake. I remember very clearly that at some point I was so exhausted that I searched for an Uber, lol. But with hillwalking, you usually walk in the middle of nowhere. Thus, there are no buses, taxis or nearby cafes and you just have to move with the group. And when you come to that realization, the walk starts getting less painful. I enjoyed that walk so much thus signed up for next week's. This time, with a proper walking boot.

So, from that day onwards, I have been on so many walks. I met lots of people during the walk, some of them became very good friends. I have seen so many places. And I have walked, too many kilometres, that I did not even know I am capable of.

Now to me, hillwalking is something that I truly do for myself. The place where I absolutely feel free. An escape from my life, my responsibilities and everything that is unpleasant. And even though I am not a regular walker anymore- failing at time management these days- it always excites me. And there is one thing that I am sure of that there will be very friendly people and a warm environment waiting for me.

I also realized that it nurtures my child-side, as well as soothes my angry side. See, I tend to complain a lot when things don’t go the way I want. (great personality, I know) And at these walks, there is a high chance that something will go wrong. Because you are in nature and it's not very possible to reach home immediately. So you just kind of stick with the group and bear with that thing. If it rains, if you are stuck in the mud and get dirty, if you get hungry or sick or desperate for some coffee, you just have to wait.

Of course, it is not all wild, you are getting your lunch and toilet breaks and everything but it's clearly outside of your comfort zone. And since my comfort zone starts one step away from my home, this is way outside of my comfort zone. But the interesting thing is, even though I get upset from time to time in the walks due to weather or tiredness, I never regret it. I mean, all your discomfort goes away when you come home, have a nice shower, food, hot tea and some sleep. The next day you only remember the good memories.

Today there was this moment that I almost fell into the mud. And I was a bit angry because I have never experienced this much mud and my boots were ruined. I was so close to complaining but then I heard someone was saying ‘look at me, I'm skiing.’ It was also another person who was sliding in the mud, just like me. Do you see the difference? It's never the event itself but how we react to it.

Hillwalking contributed to me a lot on different levels. But I think one thing worth mentioning would be showing me that I have the capability. Before that, I was thinking I was weak. Because I never pushed myself and stretched my limits. But now I don’t think that anymore. My record in the walks was 32 km and I don’t think I have ever felt prouder. Thinking of putting that on my CV, lol.

Lastly, if you want to check their website and meet these wonderful people, here is the way.