It was my idea to go hiking in the late autumn, and me who persuaded Frankie to come, arguing against her better judgment. It was me who left the map in the trunk of the car, and it was me who couldn’t be bothered to dig out my hiking boots. Frankie didn’t even have any, walking not being her thing, but I told her trainers would be fine. We’d stick to the paths, I said with an airy wave of my hand. Here are some of the lessons that I learned: 1) Just because it’s sunny in the morning doesn’t mean the weather’s going to stay that way. 2) Fog can come down really fast on a mountain. 3) Trainers offer no support to ankles. 4) Paths can vanish abruptly. 5) Shorts do not keep you warm. 6) Blundering on when you can’t see where you’re going can lead to accidents. The accident happened about two hours after we had lost the path in the fog. I think the right thing to do would have been to immediately retrace our footsteps until we found it again. But that’s not what I suggested at the time, so we carried on walking through the scrubby trees and undergrowth, steadily climbing higher and all the time looking for a path.
