Why do I love hiking so much

My passion for hiking started when I was a little kid. The funny thing is I am absolutely frightened of insects, bugs, spiders or snakes, but for some strange reason I love hiking. I grew up in a little ranch in the south of Brazil and I remember I used to sit in front of the telly and mum was always telling me to go outside, the sun was out and I should go and play in the garden. I did not want to go because of the bugs, but I was kinda forced to. Mum would not allow me to play video games for too many hours either. So I had no choice but go outside and explore the garden. This is when my passion for staying outdoors started.
Later on in school I met some more outdoorsy friends and I used to cycle with them on a regular basis. One day I invited them over to the ranch we lived. I had many books about walking in the forest and how to explore things, so I had this brilliant idea to go all the way to the back of the ranch with my friends and go through the fence so that we could trespass to the neighbours ranch, which was almost like a wild forest. They immediately agreed so we put some wellies on, took some wooden sticks and there we went. After 10 minutes one of my friends saw a piece of a branch on the floor and she thought it was a dead animal. She started screaming so loud that we believed her, so all I remember is those three little girls frantically running downhill, almost tripping. This was my first experience and despite the fact we did not finish the hike, I absolutely loved it. I think it was that sense of fear and adrenalin mixed with the smell of nature that became one of my biggest passions.
The scary branch looked more or less like this:

Hiking in the Lake District

My great grandfather was an Englishman called James Frederick Clark. Since I was a kid I heard he was from an English town called Keswick and heard of its breathtaking views and lovely lakes. This summer during July I decided to arrange a hiking trip to the Lake District. It was the most amazing and challenging hiking trip of my life.
Be able to hike in the Lake District under nice weather conditions is such an amazing experience and I think every hiker needs to do this at least once in their lifetime. On the day before our trip we were not expecting good weather but luckily the forecast was wrong and the weather changed dramatically on our first day of hiking so we could hike up the famous Skiddaw peak, one of the most challenging hikes I’ve ever did.
No need to write much more, I think the picture below is already showing everything:

6 Must Read Tips on what to do before you start hiking in the UK

In my desperate efforts to do something not so urban, I decided to look for ways to go hiking in the UK. To my surprise I found a lot of expats that love to go hiking here and many hiking groups you can join. Below are a few things you should do to start hiking in the UK:

1) Buy a Time Out London - 52 walks in London guide so that you do a different hike every weekend.
2) Join a hiking group. www.meetup.com has many groups or www.ramblers.org.uk
3) Always carry waterproof hiking clothes and boots. The weather in England is very unpredictable.
4) Do a navigation course, useful in case you get lost or if you want to organize hikes for your friends. Do not rely on sat-navs, they might not work in remote UK locations!
5) Get a head torch in case you need to be rescued.
6) Get travel insurance that covers hiking. Be careful because many providers will not have it.

Have fun and be safe!