Wild Places & Denial

Our Lent "mini expeditions of reflection" begin to move toward the events of Holy Week encompassing denial and betrayal:

We slipped the canoes silently into the water under dark, greying skies. The forecast wind hadn't yet materialised but the threat of it was clear. An hour's paddling, followed by an open crossing which approached a mile, was completed and the gusts began to build. There were still over ten miles to journey and a hard day beckoned, the rain began to fall. In short transits, interspersed by periods of tracking the canoes on ropes along beaches, we progressed slowly down the loch in a westerly direction. A long day passed, early evening approached and sunshine began to make the odd fleeting appearance. As the wind abated we landed the boats on a shingle shore with over twelve hard miles completed.

A simple camp was established on the beach. Fire lit and the midges held at bay it was time to cook. The food was good; a dram was enjoyed; the company and the conversation in the smoke filled atmosphere quiet but full of the joy such a situation brings. The evening ended all too soon, the following day it was time to return to civilisation.

Days on expedition like the one described are special times: mobile phones don't work; there is no internet; lives un-cluttered by the white noise created by the so-called essentials of modern life. To quote a famous wilderness practitioner "an opportunity to disassimilate from the cyber-hive". Times like this demand a choice to be made, the choice being to deny oneself of the perceived trappings and comforts afforded by life in twenty first century Britain for the simplified existence of our ancestors. 

Its nearly two years since our last open canoe expedition and I have been a part of numerous conversations around this subject in the meantime. In some there is a delight at the prospect of a temporary lifestyle that is more basic in nature, where the priorities of finding a spot to camp for the night; establishing fire and cleaning water more than compensate for the dis-functionality of their mobile phones. However, for most the notion of no: brick walls; central heating or personal "electronica" is abhorent. Denial becomes an interesting concept, does the denial lie in embarking upon the expedition in the understanding that the comforts of daily life are to be forsaken? Or is it that the denial lies in shunning the truth and intrinsic connection we retain with these instinctive human needs for food, shelter and warmth in a simplistic way?

Achievements

No big rapids or exposed open crossings; no wild and remote campsites just a gentle "family-friendly" float in North Yorkshire. We travelled across the Pennines to a cool early Spring day picking up a family on the way and joining a collection of folk at the "get on" point. There were fifteen of us in all. The start was leisurely, even civilised, as there was a sandwich shop at the water's edge - tea and a bacon roll for me! The early part of the day saw us leaving the bustle of the town behind as the setting became increasingly pastoral.

 

The day was one of those that offers so much satisfaction and inspiration; challenge is all relative. A teenager back in a canoe for the first time after major surgery; a good friend returning to a day on the water after a decade's journey dealing with illness; ten year olds sharing the same experience as folk several generations older - just a few examples of the achievement and endeavour of a seemingly straightforward day in open canoes . Magical really!!

 

 

 

 

 



Wild Places & Temptation - Part 3

 

 

Wild Places & Temptation - Part 2

Looking again at yesterdays blog:

“At other times these same struggles were undoubtedly mental in origin as mind tried to persuade body that it could no longer continue. This temptation became a familiar running mate …

…As we ascended into low damp cloud with burning thighs and for me a deep sense of fatigue the temptation to quit at this point was overwhelming. I didn't and the rest of the round was the most enjoyable part of the day, a goal achieved and temptation denied.”

 

 

 

 

Can our desire to do something that is unwise or wrong often seem much greater when we are weak and vulnerable?

Are our thoughts taking us to choices and decisions that are destructive or constructive?

 

 

 

Wild Places & Temptation

I don't have many regrets in the whole area of outdoor activity..... Maybe not having cracked on and pushed some areas further in terms of qualifications rather than becoming a "General Practitioner"; maybe not having done much more sea kayaking, something I enjoy but haven't really done a lot of? However, the one thing that stands out the most is what was, for me at least, a relatively short-lived spell as an aspirant (but not very talented) fell runner - I'd like to have done much more.

The seven or eight years spent living at Blaithwaite House provided a great platform for this activity, the first two or three of these years were beset by the self manufactured issue of living in the Lake District and experiencing all of its problems but few of its benefits. The "busyness" of Centre Life swamping leisure time. However, after a re-think on how best to enjoy some of these benefits whilst still giving the Centre the time, effort and attention it merited one outcome was to enjoy the local fells as a runner!

With hindsight this was possibly an ill conceived plan from the outset as knees already beginning to show early signs of the wear and tear of an active life were always unlikely to survive the demands of fell running. However, a combination of evening runs in our local Northern Fells and getting up early on a Sunday morning so that I could travel farther afield; tick off three or four summits and be back before guests were getting ready to leave was a combination which practically fitted very well into life and gave a real sense of the benefit of living in this beautiful part of the world.

As such, long runs over The Dodds; Eel Crags with Sail & Oughterside; Base Brown and the Gables alongside those Spring evenings on Longlands, Lowthwaite, Great Sca Fell and Brae Fell all fed a growing interest in covering long distances, fast & light, in the area in which I lived. Although the Lake District can hardly be argued to be a wilderness its sense of "wildness" was greatly enhanced in these times when there were few others about. Moving quickly; often alone; across wind swept ridges offered a sense of freedom previously unknown to me in the outdoor world. It was mostly a solitary pastime and never competitive, other than with myself. As the distances grew, with fell based half marathons being almost commonplace so the internal struggles increased, sometimes no doubt physical as issues with fluids and nutrition were resolved. At other times these same struggles were undoubtedly mental in origin as mind tried to persuade body that it could no longer continue. This temptation became a familiar running mate.

Amongst many instances I can recall running a 20 mile Old Crown Round (about 8,000' of ascent) with my son-in-law, it was the day of my fiftieth birthday! We'd set off from Mosedale and ran over Mungrisdale Common and Blencathra before dropping down into the valley of the Glenderaterra for the ascent of Sale How. I found the next section, over Sale How and on to the summit of Skiddaw to be brutal. As we ascended into low damp cloud with burning thighs and for me a deep sense of fatigue the temptation to quit at this point was overwhelming. I didn't and the rest of the round was the most enjoyable part of the day, a goal achieved and temptation denied.

Brownley Hills Mine - Going Further

Its been a little while since we've done any personal mine exploration and whilst most of our group work of late has been in Smallcleugh the mine at Nenthead which has been of most non-group interest over the last year has been Brownley Hills.

After an extended day in Brownley last year with Dave Baines, Graham Derbyshire & Paul Richardson in which we discovered what for us was a new circular route from the entrance and back via the Blue Pool and an evening in there in December with Mykie Jenkinson and Andy Hoe where we confirmed a few key reference points it was time to return. On Thursday night Andy & myself set off via the Bloomsberry Adit in search of Tatlers String and the further reaches of the mine in the Brownley Hills North Vein / Brownley Hills Moss Cross Veins.

We made swift progress along the horse level and took a left onto Welgill and headed straight for the junction to the Blue Pool. At this point we briefly left our bags and continued along Welgill in search of two parallel passages on the right hand side which the survey indicates to go deep into the far reaches of the mine. Across a makeshift bridge and then over a sump using a pre-rigged traverse the two passages duly appeared. We didn't push them on this occasion - that's for next time (amongst other things). Instead we returned to the Blue Pool passage and followed it, stopping briefly to gaze at the false floors high above us, to the first junction. The later part of this passage instantly reminded me of earlier trips to this area, the mine is in very poor condition in places with many roof collapses and areas of wall from which shale is de-laminating. At the junction we were immediately confronted with what others have reported - its very difficult to match the survey with what can be seen on the ground.

We took the only option available to us, a passage running in a NNW direction, it was in places in appalling condition (this is not a mine for those of nervous disposition!). A flat out crawl through a collapse led to an impressive stone arched junction (see below)

There were two clear ways on (each of the above arches) and possibly a third to our right, which potentially gave us a fix with where we were on the survey. We first took the left branch of the stone arching which led us quickly to a fine "stoned out" rise with an old ladder at its foot (below). The rise was rigged with SRT ropes and has a passage off to the left before rising further to access Tatlers String. We climbed to the first passage which doesn't go very far. We'll return for a proper look in Tatlers String on a future trip (shortly)

We returned to the stone arched junction and this time took the other obvious passage quickly entering deep water (see photo at the top of this post) and began to push this route which clearly goes for some distance, after about ten minutes of very mixed going we called a halt to the evenings exploration (our call in time was beckoning). Our own analysis of surveys and post trip discussion with Alistair Myers led us to conclude that we were en route to Brownley Hills Moss Cross Vein. This was a great nights work and we'll be back next week to try to tie up some of the loose ends before what will undoubtedly be another couple of big pushes into the more remote regions of the mine.

Returning to the surface we were greeted by one of those completely awe inspiring North Pennine clear nights. We briefly turned our lamps off and the more we gazed upward the more stars we could see. The big constellations were clear, it felt as though Orion and the Plough were touchable - incredible and equally worthwhile as anything we'd seen underground,

Wild Places & Sacrifice - Part 3