Chocolate and Kendal mintcake helped power a fellwalker up England’s tallest mountain on his 90th birthday.
Gordon Bambrough, of Caldbeck, climbed Scafell Pike with his daughter, Joanne Balmer, in celebration of his milestone birthday.
“It was amazing,” said Joanne, who runs the Barn Door Shop which is next to the Wasdale Head Inn.
A retired woodwork teacher who was in the Penrith mountain rescue team for about 16 years and latterly taught at the town’s Ullswater School, Gordon said: “We took two packed lunches up, but what we ate when we got to the top was about half a ham sandwich between us and then we just ate chocolate.
“Neither of us were very hungry. We just kept eating chocolate.”
As part of the birthday celebration, Gordon and his wife, Pauline, who also taught at Ullswater School, along with other family members, stayed at the Wasdale Head Inn.
This enabled him and his daughter to get a nice and early start for their hike up Scafell Pike. They got up to the summit in three hours, but the walk, on Thursday, 26th January, took seven hours in total.
Of the outing, Joanne said: “I just thought, well let’s see how far we get on the day, because we didn’t know what the weather was going to be like.
“But on the morning of the 25th, I could just tell that the weather was going to be perfect for it.”
At 3,210ft, Scafell Pike is the most prominent mountain in England, but it proved to be a very accessible challenge to Gordon who last climbed in the September of his 85th year.
“When we were coming down we met a poor guy who was going up and he was complaining he was too old at 77 and was going to have to turn back.
“We met various people on the walk, the fell was not that busy, but everyone we met was delighted to meet my dad and they were shaking his hand,” said Joanne.
Gordon added that he had a very good birthday, but could only manage half a pint when he got back to the Wasdale Head Inn.
