Never An Uphill Struggle

A former police officer poleaxed by kidney failure found dogs were great medicine following a transplant.

- Emily Rothery

Rescue dogs Jack and Skye are the best of pals and there’s nothing they like more than taking to the hills with their owner Carolyn Hastings. But they’re not just any hills and she’s not just any owner.

In November of last year they made it to the 1,887ft summit of Maiden Moor in the Lake District to celebrate the fact that they had achieved Carolyn’s ambition of climbing all 214 Wainwrights.

‘I had done the Wainwrights previously but it felt that the time was right for the dogs to tackle them too. I chose rescue dogs as I feel strongly that unwanted dogs should be given a home,’ says Carolyn, a retired police officer who achieved her feat after two years on energy-sapping dialysis caused by life-threatening kidney problems.

It was appropriate that the dogs were adopted from the Kapellan Kennels, also known as the Wainwright Centre, at Grayrigg, near Kendal, which is run by the charity Animal Rescue Cumbria.

Lancastrian Alfred Wainwright, the author of the legendary guide books, became its chairman in 1972 and he was instrumental in helping to establish the centre.