Today was the first of hopefully many more guided mountain trips with Alex, a family friend’s son who is autistic and finds it difficult to be around groups, however he loves going to the mountains when there is someone available to take and look after him. My long term plan with my ML is to guide people into the mountains who are unable to go by themselves due to their disabilities or learning difficulties. I had done this route before so knew it reasonably well although I did have a map/compass and had OS maps / Trail app on my mobile to track our route/time/distance. I also carried a first aid kit and shelter just in case of any emergencies - I had packed as a ML. I found this journey very interesting and I also realised how much I knew and have learned over the last 12 months with all my ML training I have undertaken. When I was guiding Alex I was able to identify flowers and provide some history of the local area which Alex loved to hear. I also found out that Alex has a fascination of Dinosaurs which was incredible, someone who has learning difficulties yet he’s knowledge on this topic was fascinating and thorougher - a topic I will find out more about when we visit other mountain areas so I can say what dinosaurs roamed that area. So I learned a great deal from this trip with understanding alot more about me and my abilities, and who I am walking with and how finding out about someone’s interests can open someone up to talk that usually only says a few words if you are lucky. Throughout the walk I checked on Alex how he was feeling and if he needed to stop to take water on or rest. We stopped at one point to admire some mushrooms growing on the mountain which were a good 20-30cm in diameter, I found out later that these were called Parasol mushrooms. The journey although not very high (425m) was undulating and therefore was quite a test of fitness, also Alex is 18 so it was interesting for me to see how I would cope with this level of fitness. My fitness and cardio is an area I have been working on and this really helped during this journey. The weather conditions changed throughout the day from being cloudy and poor visibility in the morning to clear and sunny later in the walk. We ended up walking 8miles of undulating terrain taking 3 1/2 hours with a 20min break so I think we covered a lot of ground in a good time. Unfortunately I cannot identify this as a QMD, however, I believe I learned so much more as a trainee ML in how to take responsibility for someone’s care , manage situations, lead and make a journey interesting.
Area :Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and the Borders
Today was the first of hopefully many more guided mountain trips with Alex, a family friend’s son who is autistic and finds it difficult to be around groups, however he loves going to the mountains when there is someone available to take and look after him. My long term plan with my ML is to guide people into the mountains who are unable to go by themselves due to their disabilities or learning difficulties. I had done this route before so knew it reasonably well although I did have a map/compass and had OS maps / Trail app on my mobile to track our route/time/distance. I also carried a first aid kit and shelter just in case of any emergencies - I had packed as a ML. I found this journey very interesting and I also realised how much I knew and have learned over the last 12 months with all my ML training I have undertaken. When I was guiding Alex I was able to identify flowers and provide some history of the local area which Alex loved to hear. I also found out that Alex has a fascination of Dinosaurs which was incredible, someone who has learning difficulties yet he’s knowledge on this topic was fascinating and thorougher - a topic I will find out more about when we visit other mountain areas so I can say what dinosaurs roamed that area. So I learned a great deal from this trip with understanding alot more about me and my abilities, and who I am walking with and how finding out about someone’s interests can open someone up to talk that usually only says a few words if you are lucky. Throughout the walk I checked on Alex how he was feeling and if he needed to stop to take water on or rest. We stopped at one point to admire some mushrooms growing on the mountain which were a good 20-30cm in diameter, I found out later that these were called Parasol mushrooms. The journey although not very high (425m) was undulating and therefore was quite a test of fitness, also Alex is 18 so it was interesting for me to see how I would cope with this level of fitness. My fitness and cardio is an area I have been working on and this really helped during this journey. The weather conditions changed throughout the day from being cloudy and poor visibility in the morning to clear and sunny later in the walk. We ended up walking 8miles of undulating terrain taking 3 1/2 hours with a 20min break so I think we covered a lot of ground in a good time. Unfortunately I cannot identify this as a QMD, however, I believe I learned so much more as a trainee ML in how to take responsibility for someone’s care , manage situations, lead and make a journey interesting.
