“Don't you know that
There ain't no mountain high enough
Ain't no valley low enough
Ain't no river wide enough”

- Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

Some days can often test us and this day was one of them. I never tend to reference lyrics for inspiration, but when things get tough sometimes the song ‘Ain’t no mountain high enough…’ pops into my head. On this particular day, it’s literally a mountain we climbed and I am proud we never gave up even when we were least expecting what met us at the top. It kind of sums up our experiences as a family this year. Some good days interspersed with several not so good ones. I wanted to post this as a reminder before the year is out for my last 2022 entry in the Artefact Motherhood project - remembering the day when we drew together our love and energy to tackle that big mountain ahead.

Go to the next wonderful photographer in our blog circle, Jess Cheetham.

This day was part of our family adventures earlier in the summer where we headed to the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire. Both of you had never been before, unless you can count the time when I was carrying one of you in my tummy when your dad and I had last visited. Being quite heavily pregnant, it was an effort to climb the steep hills, but the view was worth it to make the journey up to the top - I gulped up the fresh air and breathtaking views down the valley. As we climbed back down, I remember turning to your dad and said that it would be nice to come again and bring you here. He agreed.

Returning to the Peak District

Lots of things has happened during the intervening years and it wasn’t until over ten years had passed before we returned to the Peak District. Our expectation of coming as a three, became a four, as now there are two of you. As it happened, we also had a birthday to celebrate that week for one of you. I am sure you would have preferred to have had a party and be with your friends back at home, but because there were some end of primary school celebrations coming up, it seemed like there were already a lot of things taking place in the weeks ahead. And so we used this opportunity to go away and get some time with you on your birthday. You reluctantly agreed and didn’t mind so much on leaving our dog, Barney, with our relatives to take care of him while we were away. Barney was getting old and frail, and we didn’t know at the time quite how close he was near to the end of his life he was. If we had known then all of us would have had second thoughts. (He died a few days after we got back from this trip).

Hiking to Mam Tor

We try to go often for walks in the countryside as a family, but one thing this trip has shown us is that we really aren’t used to climbing mountains! Other than the experience of climbing Mount Srd in Dubrovnik, Croatia, where we then took the tram rail back down to the walled city; both your collective experience of mountain-climbing is rather limited. Living in East Anglia, which is a low-lying flat region there is no chance to practice some form of mountaineering. We also normally go on walks for 1-2 hours at most before one of you would complain of boredom or tiredness. So, we’d rather expected that this would be a tough challenge, but hopefully a new and fun experience too.

Before we had set off from our rental cottage, I had made sure to triple-check the weather forecast and pack our rucksack full of drinks, snacks and food. The day was already looking sunny as we arrived in Castleton. We could see blue sky with large patches of white clouds casting shadows over the hills. We saw lots of other hikers too, although the majority had probably started walking earlier in the morning and had already done a great distance by the time we came at midday, which goes to show that we aren’t seasoned or serious hikers at all! It didn’t really daunt any of us, as we made our way through the uneven and open trails; slowly climbing upwards and towards towards Mam Tor. We took a couple of wrong turns and both of you tried to cunningly suggest taking a shortcut. After some moments of thought and encouragement, we carried on the way we were heading and found the path that took us to Mam Tor.

We kept an eye on Mam Tor as we made the final trek to the peak. There was a signage next to the road that told visitors about the problems of sliding movement along the mountain ridge, and explained why the road was closed to cars but allowed hikers to get through. We found evidence of this on our walk and you both loved jumping across the giant cracks in the road that was caused by the landslide. Well above sea-level you could feel the air getting cooler and there was more breeze as we climbed higher up. It was very welcome as we were all getting quite hot on the climb. We stopped for some food in the long grass and watched other hikers walking along the Great Ridge Walking Trail from another side of the hill. They were carrying poles with them and had their heads down most of the time, focussing on their steps on the trail.

Finally, we reached the top of Mam Tor. There were a handful of other people there, some looking like they were passing through, take a quick picture and check on their map before continuing on their hike. Others, like us, finding less urgency to continue decided to stay for longer to take in the stunning view down the valley. Indeed, we might have been so absorbed and spent a little too long up there, because we didn’t notice how quickly the large swathes of dark grey clouds that were rolling in, which we had only seen a little earlier far in the distance. The next thing we knew, we were underneath them, and with nowhere to shelter, I quickly grabbed both of you and we huddled against the base of the vantage point to try and avoid being pelted 360 degrees by hailstones. At this point, we were all regretting how little we were dressed as one of you cried how cold you felt. I did the best I could to shield you with my arms, and we threw our hat and jacket over you both to stop some of the hailstones painfully hitting onto your skins. My mind was thinking about the Mount Everest climbers and thinking surely this is nothing compared to their experience. But, of course, this is no consolation for you both. As the sudden hailstorm dissipated, we quickly made our way back down the slope where we came from. By now the muddy paths were wet and slippery, and we slipped in places, but it was the least of our worries.

The sun came out by the time we descended to more safer and level ground. It felt very bizarre what we had just experienced. As we were running down, I looked up and saw the smiles coming from your faces. You were both talking animatedly about what happened afterward. From the sound of your chatter and remarks I could partially tell that you both felt at times annoyed, scared and confused, but at the same time rejoiced in the strange and new experience. A memorable day that we won’t forget for a long time.