Grandad Does Everest Base Camp: From Keswick to Kathmandu

JOHN WYLLIE ran (or "worked out", in modern terminology) every day, from 1968, when he became the first Cumbrian school-boy, at 16, to run 880 yards (the "half mile") inside 2 minutes, to 2018, when he reached retirement age. A chance encounter with a Nepali friend, in his hometown of Carlisle, resulted in an opportunity to trek to Everest Base Camp. A life-long interest in the natural world and an active campaigner to warn of climate-change, John was keen to see whether the tragedies of inundation (floods, in Carlisle, in 2005 and 2015) and epidemic (foot and mouth disease outbreak, in 2001) suffered by Cumbria, were isolated events which can be dismissed as "freak" aberrations - no more than "normal" cycles - or part of a much more insidious man-made trend in the destruction of a sustainable eco-sphere; the tilting of the environmental balance against the long-term health of the planet. An opportunity to visit the base of one of the world s the most magnificent natural features was just too good to miss and maybe, just maybe, gain some insights to the issues which will affect not only ourselves but our children and our children s children! This book is an account of that journey of discovery, which culminated, in November 2019, with arrival at the iconic location below the world s highest peak. It opens with the early school days, at Keswick, in the northern Lake District, running hundreds of miles, training in the High Fells, with his friend, coach and mentor, the late John Cameron, one of the UK s leading, middle-distance athletes of the 1950s.In 2023, he is planning an expedition to return to Everest, in an attempt to reach the summit. By then, he will be 71 which, coincidentally, will also be the 70th anniversary of the first successful ascent to the top, by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay Sherpa.Email: john.wyllie@alphatutors.co.ukInstagram: "trekerjohn"Facebook: "johnwyllie.21"

Author: John Wyllie

Publisher: Independently Published

Publication Date: Jun 07, 2020

Number of Pages: 198 pages

Binding: Paperback or Softback

ISBN-10: NA

ISBN-13: 9798643517054