Members of the West Ham United squad discuss their main hobbies away from the football pitch, explaining what sparked their interest and advising how fellow Hammers can get involved. Scottish midfielder Andy Irving discusses his love for mountain climbing, cycling and open water swimming...
How did you get into it?
As a kid growing up, I used to up to Aviemore and the Cairngorms and places like that all the time with my family, so I’ve done plenty of walks and plenty of cycle rides up there. The Ryvoan Pass is probably my favourite route, which takes you up onto a plateau which you walk along with a lovely view down over the Green Loch and then back down again. You can walk or cycle it.
Not so long ago I climbed Ben Vorlich with a couple of pals. That’s a mountain known as a Munro because it’s over 3,000 feet high at the summit, situated in the southern Highlands. The Pentland Hills are quite nice as well. They’re not so high but are a lovely walk. I just love getting out walking, cycling and even doing a bit of swimming as well.
When I was in Austria, we obviously had lots of mountains and lakes so I was there with my teammates and we’d go walking and swimming. Even in the winter, we’d use them for recovery instead of ice baths. I do like my outdoor swimming!
You grew up in Edinburgh, a city, so how did you get into it?
As a kid, my Dad would go with his family up to Aviemore every summer and he loved the outdoors. Then, my Mum and Dad would take me and my brother up there and we loved it as well as we had so much fun cycling and swimming. Scotland gets two weeks of good weather every summer, so if you get a week of it up there, you can feel like you’re wherever you want to be. I’ve got amazing memories of being out there. I just loved it and still do.
Would you consider yourself a ‘Munro bagger’ then – someone who tries to climb as many mountains over 3,000 feet high as you can?
If I’m being honest, if I wasn’t a footballer, I would do something like that! Being a football player, it’s hard to balance, as being up a mountain is not something I can do during the season. Three days before pre-season started, my pals said ‘We’re going up to climb a Munro and camp in a tent’, and I was like ‘I don’t think I can do that three days before pre-season’, as much as I’d have liked to!
What would your advice be to anyone who would like to do something similar, then?
Personally, I think water is key, as you have to have that with you when you’re out. Make sure you wear decent clothes and have the right kit, and let people know where you’re going. I made a few mistakes myself as a kid and had to be rescued once! I was 13 or 14 and we went up to Aviemore and me, my Dad and my little brother Robbie set off to do the Ryvoan Pass on our bikes, which is a fair trek. I was full of energy and cycled ahead. I would usually wait for them to catch up, but when I stopped to wait, they never came. I was confused, then worried, and asked people if they’d seen them. Stupidly, instead of going back the way I’d come, I assumed they were on their way and continued on cycling on my own, up another mountain and down, having the time of my life. It was so irresponsible. It took two hours to get home but when I did there was a police van there! My Mum was at the front porch crying because they thought they’d lost me. My Dad was fuming! So, the moral of the story is, don’t cycle off on your own!
