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Writer's pictureTom Finn

Failure & Fun

Updated: Apr 6

Going into the winter, Madeline and I set a goal to “run” all the classic horseshoes…the lake horseshoes. We failed spectacularly, and it was great.




Let’s rewind a bit so there’s a little more understanding. We get every Monday and Tuesday off; we spend all of Monday at the Kendal climbing wall before doing a small session on Tuesday, finishing around 12 noonish; we then head to get changed and go to the trailhead of wherever we were going that day. Resulting in a start time of 2:30pm to 3:30pm. It’s the middle of winter in the Lake District, meaning it will start getting dark very soon. Most of the time, it will be wet, low visibility, and cold.





The what - a collection of Lake District horseshoes of our choosing. I’m unsure if there is a “set” of Lake District horseshoes, so we chose the following: 

-Kentmere Horseshoe 

-Coledale Horseshoe

-Fairfield Horseshoe 

-Deepdale Horseshoe 

-Half Langdale horseshoe 

-Full Langdale horseshoe



We had some experiences out there. To begin with, simply pulling out 10+ miles in the fells wasn’t the limit, but it felt like a long way. So, merely trying to get around such a distance felt somewhat outlandish. We had plenty of team-building opportunities. We also got lost a lot...a lot-a lot…sometimes a little lost but sometimes lost lost like this is the wrong valley lost. 


Sometimes, there were blizzards, knee-deep snow drifts, and bullets of snow being driven into our faces.



Firstly, I’m grateful that we are fit and able enough to turn the lakes into a playground, with the biggest real consequence of mistakes being discomfort (physical & emotional). Second, I’m lucky enough to live in such a great playground; third, I’m glad we failed. Well, kind of. 


Failures give much better lessons than successes. My ability to navigate in zero visibility has gone from theoretical to vigorously, practically tested, and moderately reliable (for the most part). Our fitness level has increased dramatically, and having a medium-long run to do every week has proven to be a great yardstick to measure our progress. And we had a fantastic time.



The whatever, wherever, whenever mentality that going on these adventures has fostered is something quite special. So what...if there is a blizzard, we are still going out to make our best attempt around Fairfield horseshoe. So what...it's hammering it down, and we have zero visibility in the Braithwaite car park. Coldedale awaits. 


We may have failed to succeed in all our efforts, but we got ready, laced our shoes up, and gave our all out there. This may be wishy-washy, but that's what counts. When the chips are down, and we don’t have a choice but to suck it up…it will feel normal. We have normalized suffering and dressed it up as fun. We have taken more lessons about navigation and “fell craft” than we would ever have done if we had waited for good weather or started at 9am.



Finally, we have learnt a hell of a lot about ourselves but, equally important, how we work as a team through the “second-degree fun.”(the odd bit of "third-degree fun")



We could revisit the locations of our previous mistakes and complete the rounds. But the nights are getting longer. The time for reccy runs for our summer missions is upon us. So, for now, we will save our horseshoe ambitions. We will take our hard-earned lessons into the spring and summer seasons. Who knows....maybe next winter, we will make a few more "successful" attempts at completing our Lake District horseshoes.


Peace.


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