Perrin’s Special Places

One of the (other) things that caught my eye in the current TGO was Jim Perrin’s piece, “The paradise Place”. How may of us, Jim asks, have our very own square mile of the great outdoors?

I know that Perrin’s writing is not to everybody’s taste but for me his monthly column is one of my favourite bits of regular writing, anywhere. (Except for comparative gear reviews of pieces of kit I shouldn’t even be thinking about!).

This piece made me think. Do I have such a special place or not? I’m not sure I do, in the way that Jim described it. Perhaps, you have to live closer (or in) this hills to develop such a deep attachment or affinity to one such space?

Sure, there are places that I can go back to regularly, but maybe they don’t have quite same attachment. As much as I love my Shropshire Hills – which I can get to easily – they don’t have the magic of the other places that I go to occasionally. This is one of the sad things about us urban hill walkers (as most of us bloggers seem to be). Reading Jim’s piece I feel very jealous and maybe this is why so many of us have dreams about moving to the hills in our old age.

The point about a really intimate knowledge of the hills is that you develop a real feeling for the places that are less spectacular on first experience, the places that are not highlighted in guidebooks and not plagued by visitors. I can think of a few of these; I just wish I had a chance to get to know them better.

Jim’s pieces can always spring a few surprises. Here he tells us that he worked as a shepherd for four years of his life; I hope Jim will write the story of his life at some point. His special place is out in the country around the Nantille Ridge. This is one of my favourite places in Snowdonia but one that I realise that I haven’t been to for quite a while. Rather like the Molewyns or the Berwyns – other favourites of Jim’s – these are not the highest hills. But they are airy, solitary and provide wonderful vistas and views of the higher, more dramatic (but crowded) hills.

Walking the whole Nantille Ridge used to be quite a logistical challenge. Usually, this ridge is walked from Rhyd Ddu a little place (with a great campsite) near Beddgelert and the Snowdon Ranger side of Snowdon. You finish somewhere near the village of Nebo. Guidebooks have traditionally suggested using two cars for this walk – driving to Nebo and leaving one there before retreating to the start. This may be effective but it’s not how I want to explore the hills. Bus connections here don’t help but a recently launched “taxi service” has been initiated, which has to be pre-booked but which looks to be promising. Details of the taxi service are here.

The inspiration for Jim’s piece comes from the writing of D.J.Williams. Even Jim only feels he has got anywhere near this state of mind once is his life and, maybe, only because he was living up there with his sheep.

Maybe we can’t aspire to Williams’ almost zen-state of affinity with a piece of land, but maybe I should try harder. I wonder where I might look in Snowdonia. I think I might plump for the Rhinogs and area that is conspicuous by its absence in Jim’s piece. Perhaps, he wants to keep it as much to himself as is possible!

Jim’s writing always effects me this way. Expect lots of rambling posts about the spirit of well-known places