This Walker’s Life

By grimfarmerLatrigg, People, Selfies

🧙‍♂️ THEY’VE GOT THE RUCKSACKS, THE AUTHENTIC walking sticks, the rugged fleeces, the built-in OS map pockets…

… now this is a prepared pair that’s going places!

In my last Chronicle I mused, as I often do, over why we actually walk. Up hills we don’t strictly have to, I mean. I dared to suggest that it wasn’t necessarily because we enjoy the activity purely for itself. The thankless, step-after-step puddle-plodding, I mean. Although, if we do like that aspect of the activity, great! We should certainly make the most of the muddy-boot madness, if that’s the case!
All the gear and probably
plenty of idea too!
But looking at this picture taken from the upper deck at Keswick bus station, it was clear to me that it’s about much more than that. Dozens of hardy and hopeful mountain hoppers, keen kids and old goats alike, milled around, getting ready for a day on the fells. For this young couple, it’s clearly a calling. We’re not talking casual weekend wandering here; we’re talking a way of life. They’ve got them stones in their bones! And when you think about it, what a complete activity fellwalking is. Of course, there are the obvious physical benefits of regular exercise and keeping in shape. But then we’ve got the companionship and compassion of fellow walkers, the feelings of belonging to a tight-knit community, the shared goals to reach for.

Spiritually speaking, hiking around the hillside can lift the soul and help you feel deeply at one with nature and the rest of the planet and all who live on it, football yobbos and mass murderers notwithstanding.

Our relative insignificance in the grand scheme of things is clear as we contemplate the magnificent mountain ranges with Causey Pike, Catbells, Maiden Moor and High Spy, around to Castle Crag and beyond, from the beautiful shores of Derwentwater. And our frailty is forcefully brought home to us when we’re being nearly blown off the top of Grisedale Pike or Skiddaw Little Man as I was the other day.

The legendary walking-talking
belisha beacon strikes again!

Then there’s the gear; ahhh, the gear! What fun it is to get kitted out in all those fab outfits and specialised equipment and hi-tech gadgets and funky foraging apps and route-plotting maps and camera lenses and goodness knows what else. That’s a big bit of the appeal for many of the geekier amongst us, I suspect.

But let’s get this clear: I don’t think you ‘have to’ walk up hills for any reason at all, or no reason you can clearly articulate. You can do it because you feel like it, or you actually like it, or you prefer it to fuming or fermenting in front of the telly or because it’s just what you do. And that’s fine too.

Happy snapping!

The Laggard of Lakeland 🌄

🧭 (Lakeland Chronicles No.29)

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