Knowing your personal limits

With every step the path in front of us narrowed and the sheer drop to the right of us became more evident.  Looking up ahead we were presented with three path options.  An experienced climber route (not even an option really!!) a difficult rocky boulder path leading into the clouds (lots of pulling up onto boulders involved with no clear way up) or a very narrow path with no room for error.  With the wind whipping up and striking us from behind and the clouds drawing in ahead of us I knew this was the point that we had no option but to turn back and not reach that final part of the hike and touch the summit of Pillar (mountain in the Lake District).  

Journey up Pillar Mountain with beautiful waterfall to cross (fun!)

Having successfully hiked many of the Lake Districts highest mountains, Snowdon and others in Scotland and very used to covering 6 or 7 hours of good hiking a day we had to admit defeat on this occasion as we understood the possible dangers and knew our limits (2 children and a dog in tow to consider).  Respect the mountains!! We will however be back to tackle the mountain from a different  route next time and hope to tick it off our list!

Clouds starting to build up as we pressed on.

This one journey made me think, how many of us know our true personal limits or have ever been close to them? Do we really know when its safe to go beyond them and know when to stop in your tracks? In terms of exercise, many are afraid to take themselves to the unknown and never really set goals or achieve them and others take it too far and overdo it sometimes to the point of injury.  

Try stepping back from the present and see how far you have come and where you want to be and never view an underachievement as failure, just learn how to tackle the goal with a different approach next time!

So much is possible when you put your mind to it and believe in yourself!

Final push towards the summit of Scafell Pike (Englands highest mountain)  (Husband and daughter steaming on ahead in the distance and my youngest keeping a good pace!)

Summit of Great Gable Mountain

Summit of Scafell Pike Mountain