When my cat Louis fell in love with the great outdoors, we had no idea how far he’d go. By Jess Peters, 31
I put my jacket on and grabbed a harness from the coat rack.
‘Come on, Louis,’ I called up the stairs. ‘Time
for a walk.’
I heard a soft thud, followed by the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and then a figure appeared – a glorious mass of fluff on four paws with whiskers and a furry tail.
Louis was my cat. He was a Persian, and when I’d got him as a kitten, I’d planned to keep him indoors. I pictured a life of ease for him, reclining on cushions and barely lifting a paw.
But Louis had other plans. He wanted to explore, so my boyfriend Dan and I took him on walks around the garden on a lead.
Louis loved it so much, we branched out and took him into the woods. He was naturally curious, tugging
on his lead and wanting to go further.
So, one day, I had an idea.
Dan and I had always wanted to climb the Three Peaks – the tallest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales.
‘Shall we give it a go?’ I said. ‘And take Louis?’
‘That sounds great,’ Dan replied.
We decided to
start in Wales with Yr Wyddfa, or
Mount Snowdon.
We filled our backpacks with plenty of treats,
food and water for us and for Louis, and then set off.
‘If he doesn’t like it, we can always pick him up or turn around,’ I said.
But Louis couldn’t wait to
get going, taking charge and leading the way.
‘There’s no stopping him!’ we said, as we made our way up the mountain.
It was only when we got to the peak, above the clouds, that we had to
pick Louis up and carry him to the summit, 1085 metres up.
‘Good job, Louis, you did it!’ I said, giving him a cuddle.
'There's no stopping him!'
‘I can’t believe he made
it all the way,’
Dan said.
When we got back home to Hampshire, we planned our next two climbs.
Ben Nevis in the Grampians was next. At 1345 metres, it was the highest peak in Britain.
As we climbed, people stopped us to ask about Louis and stroke him.
Others did a double-take, and said, ‘Is that a cat climbing the mountain?’
It took ages to get to the top because everyone wanted to stop and chat.
When it came to tackling our final peak – Scafell Pike in the Lake District – we ended up having cards printed with information about Louis and his Instagram account.
‘We can’t be spending all day talking to people!’ I said.
It turned out to be Louis’s favourite peak, as he loved splashing about in one of the streams on the way up.
To keep him warm, we made sure he wore a thermal coat and bodywarmer. We also had a backpack with a heated blanket for him that ran off a USB battery bank.
When we reached our final peak, we posed for selfies and admired the view.
‘Wow, I can’t believe we did this – and with a cat too!’ I said.
We documented all of Louis’s achievements on his Instagram page. He’s the first cat to have completed the Three Peaks Challenge by walking up himself.
He’s such an avid explorer, we’re already working on his next challenge.
For our fabulous feline, there just ain’t no mountain high enough!
• Follow @lordlouis_persian on Instagram