Flying Start

When I think back to great days; epic days that lasted forever, usually involving aching limbs, (good aching), an earned drink, a meal with soul, a backpack (unfailingly some sort of backpack), bright skies and weather with an edge.

When I recall those days they always had something in common and that was an early start.

Whether it was a 5am rise to drive 2hrs to Scafell Pike and bag as many mountains as we could, or waking in your tent on top of a mountain to watch the sun rise.

The days when I've felt most energised, most alive, have always been early starts.

Today was a great day; started with watching the sun rise from Baildon Moor, tail-fins from the waiting aeroplanes lined up on the horizon to take people to places that couldn't be more beautiful than this.

Some domestic necessaries and then an epic walk of following new local trails. Discovering future possibilities for further exploration, finding the elusive chimney that's featured in the distance on many a photo but never confronted, a cold pint in a new pub, cows, so many cows, so many blips, but it seemed right to blip the start of an epic day.

I'll try and remember that getting up early when the day belongs to you is always the right thing to do.

I'll remind myself because I will forget!