An adventurous 94-year-old has achieved her main bucket list wish after conquering a Lake District fell.
Beryl Lilley, of Lincolnshire, who is known as granny to her family, has ticked off her wish of climbing a mountain thanks to the help of her family and Windermere’s accessible path up Orrest Head.
Laura Lilley, Beryl’s granddaughter by marriage, said: “Granny lives with my husband Matthew and I and she is incredibly adventurous, she is a granny full of passion and life. She has Alzheimer’s, so within five minutes of doing anything she forgets it, but she is there in the moment.
“She’s got a bucket list and we said to her what would you like to do more than anything in the world and at the top of her list was climbing a mountain. We heard from friends we have in Cumbria that they had a wheelchair friendly hill, Orrest Head, and we made it happen for her.”
Beryl’s family including Laura, her husband, Laura’s parents Maureen and John Franks and her husband’s mother Elizabeth Lilley and their friend Polly Greaves all joined Beryl in climbing the fell.
But at the very start of their journey, Beryl’s wheelchair broke, leaving them struggling to fix it. Laura said: “We had somehow broken her wheelchair getting it into the car, the wheel was clacking and then buckled and came off.
“We tried to fix it, but it just wasn’t working, but a man pulled over in his vehicle and asked if he could help and his friend who was walking on the path bumped into him and recognised him and they both stopped to fix it. They were so friendly and spent a good 20 minutes tinkering with her wheelchair and got granny rolling again, it was just so very kind. The people in Windermere were just so lovely.”
On their journey up the fell, Matthew, who is Beryl’s grandson, pushed her wheelchair up the whole way up until the final 20 steps, where Beryl, with a leaf flag in hand, left her chair and climbed to the top with the support of her family around her.
Laura added: “Granny was elated, her face was shining and everyone was cheering for her. She understood what was going on in the moment and felt very proud of herself. The sun came out at the top, and there was a rainbow, which was the icing on the cake.”
Alongside her big fell climb, Beryl has walked 45 miles with Matthew and Laura, tried out bumper cars and ridden a horse. Laura said Beryl loves her adventurous life and that it’s thanks to Matthew, who carries her over things and pushes her wheelchair everywhere, that she enjoys every minute.
Talking about her achievement, Beryl said: “We did very well, we weren’t on the very last line, but nevertheless we tried very hard.”
Laura said that during their visit to the Lake District, they had been blown away by the friendly atmosphere and kindness of strangers and bus drivers who were willing to go out of the way to help Beryl with her chair.
