A Keswick man has now completed 12.8 million steps in his amazing fight back from a triple heart bypass.
The huge total racked up by Neil Pritt means that he has now walked more than 6,000 miles.
In terms of ascent, he has also climbed the equivalent of Everest more than 13 times, much of it starting and ending in Keswick.
Following the op, Neil, who lost both his dad and his brother to heart attacks, was advised by the doctors to “do a bit of walking” as it would help him recover more quickly.
Taking them at their word, he went out and got a smart watch which monitors his steps, distances and heart rate, and a new pair of walking boots, which he has put to good use ever since – scaling Helvellyn nine months after going under the knife.
Last year he accompanied former Keswick mayor, Alan Dunn, on the last 18 of his Wainwrights – with many of the hardest fells left, including the last one, Great End, part of the Scafell range.
Neil, of Greta Gardens, said: “I’ve just done lots of things after the operation that I couldn’t have done before. I feel a lot more confidence in myself now when I go out knowing that I’m not going to collapse. Walking has got me out of the house, into the Lakes, and out of just sitting around in town or feeling down – it’s not just the landscape you look at but little things like a blue damselfly, and butterflies and even a stag at quarter past seven in the morning and the early mist rising off the lake. I’ve even been up on Great Gable at 7.30 in the morning watching the sun come into the valley.”
For the first time in around 50 years, he also made it to the top of High Street, seeing red deer at Riggendale.
Neil has even extended his walking further afield, managing to tick off Criffel in Kirkcudbright this year, a recognisable peak across the Solway.
“I’ve watched it all my life from England across the Solway and thought I’d go and find it and look back the other way to England.”
Such has been the speed of his recovery that he has now also come off beta blockers which he took to stop his heart going too fast.
Neil, who lived in Lazonby for a time, remains full of praise for the NHS and the benefits of getting out walking, habitually taking a map and compass, but with the routes committed to his memory.
Earlier this year too he returned to the hospital in Newcastle for tests and popped in to see his consultant Dr Ramesh.
He took along a copy of the Reminder of February 25, 2022 featuring Neil’s front page story, and some chocolates for the nurses.
“They were absolutely over the moon that I had taken the time to go and see them,” said Neil. “My message is just to have confidence in the National Health Service, they are all here to make us well. I am in full admiration for what the NHS has done for me.”
Neil now thinks he’s done enough in terms of targets and may even turn off the smart watch which counts his steps and return to a normal one.
