30 MY PATH TO THE LOWLAND LEADER AWARD By Simon Holmes My parents met in a swimming club, when much of its activities were outdoors, and that rubbed off on me. I’ve been a keen swimmer all my life, and I love the ocean. However, I spent many of my weekends as a youth in the Dublin and Wicklow mountains, and I maintained my interest in the outdoors over seventeen years while living and working in England, southeast Asia, eastern Europe and the Balkans, and spending some time in central Asia. I enjoyed scuba diving – I became a PADI Divemaster – and also sailing – I gained a Day Skipper certificate – and I had fun skiing in winter while living and travelling in colder climes. I was fond of walking and hiking too during my travels, in time away from work. I joined Mountaineering Ireland in 2019 and took a Mountain Skills 1 course with professional mountain leader Wayne Jenkins in Wicklow. I and the other course participants had fun learning navigation and other practical and useful walking skills and hearing about Wayne’s experiences as a mountain rescue volunteer. Pictured this page: Lowland Leader candidates during the Lowland Leader Assessment. Photo: Simon Holmes
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