Bad Gear? Is There Such a Thing?

January 18, 2012 By 10 Comments

Earlier today I realised that I haven’t yet posted a proper blog this year so I thought I’d better get on with it in case any of you have missed me! It’s time, I think, for a bit of a philosophical ramble!

A couple of weeks ago I found myself reading a piece from a fellow blogger that asked the question as to whether there was bad gear. His argument seemed to be that there wasn’t (I go into this below) but many of the comments seemed to agree with me that, sadly, there is.

And this got me thinking …

 

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Gear, Latest, Philosophy

Shooting the Wilderness Breeze in Old Soho

December 15, 2011 By 2 Comments

Lovely evening last night with David Lintern who many of you will remember as the producer of a series of podcasts with Chris Townsend, Alan Sloman and myself. David was also a Guest Blogger here while I was away on last year’s TGO Challenge.

We met to catch up with each other, to talk about his trek along the Pyrenean HRP last summer, to compare notes for our routes for next year’s TGO Challenge and to talk about David’s new Challenge as he prepares to move North and develop a new career with the John Muir Trust.

Our conversation was a reminder that in these difficult and austere times the exploration of wild land doesn’t need to be massively expensive and yet can still provide you with one of those rare, life changing, experiences. There is – quite frankly — nothing I like better than talking about the Pyrenees. As we sat in a Pizza Express in Soho we ranged across the globe and backwards and forwards in time as we discussed the life of great wilderness explorers and mussed on the challenges faced by wild land over the coming years.

I was pleased that David remains an optimist although as a seasoned campaigner he appreciates how hard it is to really win your case. In my experience the best and most successful campaigning organisations are those who retain a real idealistic edge to their philosophy but who are focussed and pragmatic in their campaigning. I pleased to see that the JMT fits into this category and I’m sure we are going to see some interesting campaigning from them over the next few years.

I’ve supported JMT in the past but now I thing I’m going to become a member. They might be the kind of organisation to make a real difference in just the way — to be fair — that they have in helping communities in wilderness take control of their own destinies, like they did when they became key partners in the creation of the Knoydart Foundation.

Evenings like this are not only fun and exciting but I come away from them brimming with ideas. Now, all I have to do is to spend some time making a few of them happen!

Filed Under: Latest, People, Philosophy

Highland Hobos

October 10, 2011 By 4 Comments

The Scottish Highlands are wild and wonderful and each time I’m walking through them I find myself being frustrated at the short timescale of each visit. I should be finding some way to facilitate a linger trip. This summer I’ve bumped into two people who have managed to spend really big chunks of times in the Highlands and, to some extent, they were both fascinating characters but travellers who, nonetheless, only hinted at a small part of they story.

I met my first ‘Highland Hobo’ during the TGO Challenge in May. The weather had been appalling and we were a day behind our schedule when we dropped down to the bothy in Loch Chiarain (a morning’s walk out of Kinlochleven). This a fine and sturdy bothy sitting above a small and picturesque loch. We set ourselves up in oven of the downstairs rooms to brew some hot chocolate and make some lunch when we are joined by walker who descended from the upstairs room.

I didn’t catch the name of the walker but he told us that he had spent the previous evening camping near Corrour Station, but that the weather had been so bad that he ‘d moved along in search of some more substantial shelter for a few days. He told me that he was up in the Highlands for the entire summer, indeed this was how he spent very summer — he’d been mounting these long trips for (I seem to remember) over fifteen years. Each summer he made his way North spending some o his time working on bothy restoration and maintenance and the rest of his time walking in the mountains. Almost inevitably there was a solitary feel about him. I found myself wanting to express real admiration but just held back as I could sense another side to the story, the need to escape, perhaps? Or a desire to forget? Before I could go on he announced that this would be his last summer in the Highlands. The trips were taking their toll and there were other things in ice to consider, though he didn’t elude to what they were. He wasn’t in anyway an old man, being in his mid forties somewhere I guess.  There was a sense of transition in the conversation, a maybe a notion of reaching a tipping point. The benefits of spending such a long time in the hills were there, but they were — maybe — beginning to be out-weighed by other factors. It would have been nice to have carried on the conversation, and he looked like a man in need of a longer chat. But we had to push on and left to march on to Loch Ossian with fellow Challenger Rob Slade.

I met my second ‘hobo’ during a trip to the North West in August. My walking partner Carl (the bagger) and I descended from Maol Chean-Derg to the small bothy that sits alongside the Fionn-abhainn on the descent to Coulags. The weather was ciil and miserable and the rain had been coming down for reveal hours, not a deluge but that fine Scots rain that seems to find its way through any layer of clothing.

In the bothy we met Graham, a backpacker and hiker who had spent much of the Spring and Summer on the road. He had set off from Gloucester and had walked up to the Highlands and then seemed to cover quite a lot of Highland ground. I think Carl was surprised that Graham had chosen to spend the day warm and cody in the bothy — there was  warming fire burning in the hearth. (Carl was busy trying to convince me that the weather was gorgeous and that we should knock off another five Munros before dinner).

Graham explained that he only had a tarp for shelter and that as the weather had deteriorated he had made camp in the bothy. He was not a lightweight hiker though as I could see from his gear which was strewn all over the bothy table. His cooking kit was strong and robust and his outdoor clothing was based on thick, Highland woollen jumpers rather than on the latest, featherlite, fabrics.

Graham told us that he had left both his job and his rented home to tackle this trip. He only had a few days left and next day was due to begin to make his way to inverness and the train journey home. He would be sleeping on the floor of friends. His first task was to find work and the second to find a home.

Such dedication to hiking is admirable but, again, there was a strong sense of walking to if not forget, to put life and the world in a better context. Whatever Graham was seeking, I hope that he found it in the Highlands.

There are both only fleeting contacts and yet they seemed to say so much. Graham told me of a number of other ‘hobos’ that he had met during his travels, including one man who had been living in bothies for several years. Although permanent bothy dwelling is frowned on I’ve heard enough stories over the years to realise that this goes on quite a bit, indeed I remember reading somewhere of a bothy dweller who was a skilled furniture maker and who built a fine piece of furniture for his bothy only to really annoy other bothy owners — who liked things as they were.

I can’t help having admiration for walkers like these two. There may well have been some deep-seated reason for spending extending summers amongst the heather and blue of the sky and the water, but there was clearly great joy and pleasure to be derived from them as well. Some plan such trips with a clear objective — say to climb the Munros in one tripe — but for these folks just ‘being’ in the hills was reason enough.

These two reminded me of the importance of movement and travel to us all. The late writer and adventurer Bruce Chatwin felt that travel was very much the natural state of humans, and that walking was our natural speed of movement. I’m sure he is right.

Somehow — and without being able to tackle such a trip myself — I felt better for knowing that there were still people who would, whatever their reasons or their motivation.

Filed Under: Latest, People, Philosophy

Outdoor Blogging: Commercialisation and New Hybrids

September 23, 2011 By 4 Comments

Once there were simple bogs, written by keen enthusiasts. These bogs were started by people who wanted to network and to share knowledge and experiences with others. Then companies like Google and Amazon allowed us to make a little cash by included ads in our pages. Then companies began to supply us with free to goods to promote and ‘review’. Out of this mix has developed a much rider — and richer — range of blogging products including some new kind of hybrid, commercial blogs. But it isn’t always clear to the reader whether these blogs are impartial or supported by big business.

I have no real moral message of any of this; it is a logical development in a more network and connected world. But I do know what I value personally and wonder whether it is time for us to be much clearer about what we are?

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Gear, Latest, Philosophy

Blogging Commercialism and some Learning from the Software Industry

September 23, 2011 By 1 Comment

My piece on the commercialisation of the outdoor blogging world has certainly prompted discussion here and elsewhere, and in the way of things the debate has helped me with my own thinking. I shall finish my contribution in two contributions in which I will look to see if we can learn from other industries and then go on to suggest how bloggers might usefully approach what seems to me is rapidly becoming a new world.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Gear, Latest, Philosophy

More on Blogging and Commercialisation

September 19, 2011 By 5 Comments

It’s nice when a kind rambling blog — well really more a stream of consciousness — draws out such thoughtful comments from readers.

Most people have highlighted the importance of bloggers reviewing gear that they have use over an extended period of time, after all this is not something that the mainstream media does that often. Of course, there is a place for reviews and I have used blogging reviews extensively myself to find new gear. And thanks for those of you that have found good gear as the result of my reviews. But that’s just one part of the reason for blogging.

Ryan Jordan of backpackinglight.com responded on Twitter:

“… outdoor blogging should exist to inspire, commercial or not. Gear reviews dilute that”.

I think Ryan has this spot on. Blogging helps us connect with the outdoors when we can’t get out there, not least because many of us live in cities or far away from the hills. I know that it this that sees me join back to my favourite blogs time and time again.

One final point on the commercialisation issue. They key issue for me here is the finesing of Google results. We now know that consumers put a lot of faith in  the reviews of users as opposed to the views of manufacturers and retailers. When those reviews are thorough ad based on experience these are indeed useful, but when they are not really then they can be misleading. If we are reviewing gear — and especially if we are sent gear/books, etc to review — then we should be careful in our writing and mindful of how our comments might be anticipated!

Filed Under: Latest, Philosophy

The Telling of Stories

September 2, 2011 By 1 Comment

Last weekend at Shirley’s was pleasurable in many ways, not least because we all had a chance to catch up with each other and to tell our favourite stories. The story telling itself then became quite a topic conversation, not least as Kate has this theory that story telling is one of the most important activities on a long hike.

We weren’t talking about story telling in an egotistic kind of a way, you know the kind of “I did five Munros before breakfast”. No, this was about how the telling of stories validated the experience of the walk and the trek. Of course, many of the great travel books have been written in this vain and didn’t start off as being a simple commercial exercise. But for ordinary walkers the telling of the stories is a way of not only reflecting what you have just experienced, but of making sense of it. It seems to me that many of the walking blogs exist simply to meet the need of not only telling stories but of sharing them.

Story telling is especially important on the TGO Challenge. The opportunity of sharing stories with so many people is one of the things that makes the event so special. I didn’t really enjoy my first Challenge that much until I got to the Tarfside Hostel. I’d not met many people — in my novice state I managed to leave Braemar on saturday morning! At Tarfside I spent a wonderful evening with fellow walkers, delighting in the story telling of better Bernie Marshall, or Super Legend as some of us know him. Listening to Bernie’s stories was a magical experience. The listening was not just a passive event but a cycle that allowed us to chip in with our own more modest stories. During the whole evening all of these stories combined, reacted with each other, until we had created the most marvellous cocktail of ‘actuality’.

On this year’s crossing we had really bad weather for day after day. In some ways, the story telling not only allowed us to come to terms with this but, on reflection, seems to have been one of the highlights of the whole trip. Thank goodness for the telling of the stories — they are probably the only decent memories left of last year.

One thing sticks in my mind. We left Braemar this year without a rest day and ambled down the long and winding road to Ballater. At the campsite we were greeted by Humphrey W. Immediately — without even time to put up the tent — we were into story exchange mode.I remember Humphrey having some trouble remembering some of his encounters simply because he couldn’t quite remember “which persona I was adopting at the time”. Wonderful.

Next week we will back in West Cork for our bi-annual visit. Walking here is often a more strenuous experience than you might think, due the passion that local farmers have for barbed wire fences. We might walk the Sheeps Head again, or revisit the high hill and bogs of Knockboy. But one place I’m sure we will be visiting will be Cape Clear. Each year, in September, this tiny island plays host to an international story telling festival. Story tellers descend on the island from all over the English-speaking world. While never having been to the festival the whole island has a magical feel while the story tellers are there. One year, I’ve promised myself, I will take in the whole festival. Maybe this year we will be able to take in some of it.

So, the stories are important. They connect us to each other and they connect us to the landscape. The are a means of exchange of important information. But more than this they are an exchange of the human spirit.

Keep on telling those stories.

Filed Under: Latest, Philosophy, Ramblings

A Meditation on Time and Distance

August 4, 2011 By 4 Comments

My forthcoming trip to Scotland is an eye-opener in many ways, not least because we will be using the car to jump from place, disturbing my minds existing ‘map’ of the Highlands.

Will I ever see the area in quite the same way again?

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Philosophy, Scotland, Spotlight

Urban Walking: Five of the Best European Cities for Walking

May 11, 2011 By 3 Comments

Last night I got talking to a friend who occasionally reads this blog. He was quite intrigued by the idea of urban hiking. As you will know I often feature urban walks and while I’m away in Scotland Kimberlie will be writing about walking in New York.

New York is a fine city to stroll around but walking is generally not something you associate with cities in the USA. However, in Europe urban walking is almost an art form, indeed when we think of the flaneur it can be considered an art form

The Parisian Flaneur is often described in dictionaries as an idealer or lounger! In reality, the Flaneur is a stroller and observer of the city and all of the life that is in it. To be a flaneur is to be a street artist. If that seems a little far fetched have a look at Edmund White’s wonderful book The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris (see bottom of article for link). While the Flaneur is associated with Paris the Flaneur does not have to be European; there is a good case to say that Hemmingway was one of the greatest Flaneurs of the 20th century. The opening pages of Hemmingway’s memoire of his time in Paris, are one of the greatest descriptions of a Parisian walk and — in true Ernesto style — the prose is a sparse and as efficient as ever.

But the art of urban walking is not to be confined to that of the flaneur. I’ve mentioned Rebecca Solnit’s Wanderlust: A History of Walking here before, a great book that should be read by all and looks at both adventure walking and urban walking. I’m certainly looking forward to Kimberlie’s posts on walking in New York. I don’t often associate many US cities with walking but New York is certainly one those places that rewards those who explore on foot.

Anyhow, all of this got me thinking of some of my favourite cities in Europe for walking. Which are the best? Could I come up with a top five? Well, here are five cities that I’ve had a great time walking around. I’m not saying these are the best, but these are five of those that came to mind quickly.

1. Paris

The City of Light is the best city I know for walking. The heart of the city is quite compact — more so than London — and it is relatively easy to cross in big chunks on day walks. Unlike London the City’s government has protected the historic look and feel of the place. If you want to find the Paris equivalent of the Gherkin or the Sharp best head off to La Defence in the suburbs. Paris is more than just beauty. Walking these streets is to engage in all manner of life. One walk can se you walk through the most chic of neighbourhoods, traverse wonderful ethnic markets, historic squares and parks, quartiers of international power and diplomacy and neigbourhoods that are more edgy and more exciting. Of course, Paris is still a greta city of bas and cafés and nowhere else really does to Café Philo concept quite as well (cafés which are gathering places for philosophical discussion).

Paris is a city to be discovered on foot. There are many good walking guidebooks to Paris and many general guidebooks — most notably the Lonely Planet Guide to paris — feature a number of different walks.

The very best of these is Andrew White’s “Time Out” Book of Paris Walks (see below). Here there are walks on every theme. There’s a historic walk of JKings and Queens, a revolution walk (you just want to know where the guillotine sat), an Existentialist walk, a Simone de Beauvoir walk, an urban green walk and many, many more. My two favourites from this book include the walk around the wonderful Marais district (in which I often stay) and the Hemmingway Walk. the Hemminway walk starts by recreating the walk described in the first pages of A Moveable Feast. As you stroll up the Rue Mouffetard towards the Boulevard Saint Michel you can imagine that you are seing, feeling and smelling Paris much as Hemminway did. The walk links together manymof the important places in Hemmingway’s life, drops you into his favourite watering holes and passes Gertrude Stein’s residence.

Whenever you go to paris be sure to pack a good pair of trainers or trail shoes! And if your a photographer by all means to set out to recreate those great black and white shots , but don’t forget the wide angle lens!

Café des Phares

Lenior Trader

Books

Saturday Afternoon

A Breather Before Lunch

Shakespeare and CoDown and Out on the Place du VogesChess Players

Waiting Patiently

This One Madam?

Paris Gypsy Jazz 1

Rue des Rosiers 2Luxmbourg

 

2. Helsinki

Another compact city but one which is very different to Paris. Here everything is dominated by the greens and blues of sky, water and grass. The Finns spend more money per head of population on the arts that anyone else in Europe and it shows. The Museum of Contemporary Art is a superb building with a great and provocative collection. Helsinki was laid out by the designers who built St Petersbourg and it shows. Wonderful public buildings in pastel pinks and blues are the set pieces that anchor many of the wonderful streets and walkways.

There are some great bars here, one that is an old fashioned tram that just chugs around a circular line. Be prudent and Helsinki is not quite as expensive a place as people often say. Be sure to sample the local street food in summer, rows and rows of vendors selling an amazing array of strawberries and other summer fruits, certainly different from the old hot dog.

Helsinki is a great place for a weekend break.

3. Frankfurt

A strange choice many will think but I had a great walk around here. Much of the city was destroyed in the war but the main square still exists surrounded by cathedral and traditional Frankfurt buildings. True, much can be made of the business centre but I preferred the municipal markets which provide a scene of multicultural harmony that might surprise many.

The shadow of the war still hangs over the place but in good ways. Just after the war Frankfurt twinned with a number of other European Cities including Birmingham, Milan and Lyon. International friendship is important here and the union of these cities is celebrated in a piece of great pavement art. The Opera is a magnificent building. My host told me that while he was growing up in the sixties this was still a ruin. It took a long time to refurbish as so much of it’s persona was tied up with the war. However, the now refurbished building is glorious.

For me the war seemed to create a backdrop against which it was not that cool to celebrate German history and culture and I hope that is changing. this is the birthplace of Goethe, a German Shakespeare if you like. I knew we were heading to this building and somehow imagined something like Stratford on Avon. What I found was a very modest house with a small shop attached. Do not people flock here from all over the German speaking world I asked my host. No he replied. If this was in London or Paris it would be an international centre of pilgrimage for the literati!

And don’t miss the cathedral. It was here that the electors of the Holly Roman Empire elected their Emperor. The electors were locked into a small room — and it is a small room — and not allowed to come out until they had taken their decision.

This is a city of great coffee shops, indeed my trip started at my friends favourite coffee shop and ended at his second favourite! And very good they were too.

I must go back to Frankfurt sometime soon.

4 Maastricht

Another great place for a weekend break. This city is unusual in holland in that it has traditionally been a catholic community. It sits at the very southern tip of Holland only a stone’s throw away from Germany, belgium and Northern France. You can see why the Treaty was signed here.

Today much of the city is pedestrianised and lovingly restored. It is an arty place which takes its culture seriously.

The Saturday market in the main square tells you all you need to now about the place. There are Dutch traders of course but there are also those from France, Germany and Belgium who regularly come to sell their goods.

This is not the kind of place that stuns you with tourist haunts. But on a warm weekend there are few places a nice to just stroll around and chill out in.

Montpellier

OK another French choice but in many ways this is the city that I’m most fond of. A few years ago this was voted the city that French people most wished they could live in! Sitting in the eastern Languedoc Montpellier hares the climate of Provence but perhaps not the pretensions. It is a long time competitor of Nimes up the road. Nimes may have the amphitheatre but the place has always felt sterile to me.

Montpellier is a university town indeed it has the oldest medical school in Western Europe. It is a young place. In the centre the Place de la Comedie is a wonderful meeting place for people of all ages. On a hot day the walk alongside the amazing water jets is a great experience. Start here and amble off through a wonderful old quarter of character. Or go off to visit the ultra modernist business and tech centre.

Montpellier is French, young, international, radical and chic and has great weather. If that sounds like your kind of place then don’t hesitate!

 

So, there you go five choices. There’s no Vienna, nowhere in Italy and nowhere in Spain and no doubt many of you will advance the cause of Barcelona. But which cities do you think are best for walking?

 

Filed Under: Philosophy

Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed

November 19, 2010 By 5 Comments

Thanks to John Manning for tipping me off about the BBC Scotland documentary (currently on the iplayer) ‘Donald Trump’s Golf War’

This film has been made over a number of years and features interviews and fly-on-the-wall stuff from both the Trump camp and the opposition. It reveals not only the dilemmas of things like this but the attitdes taken by those who are so powerful that they just take it as granted that the things they want will happen, not least because they tend to think that everyone else must be as excited as the project as they are.

The film also shows how the property developer simply can never understand those that are not motivated in money or those that simply value others things more highly. During 12 years as a Councillor in Birmingham I saw this a lot with many different property developers. Trump may seem to a somewhat mad figure but he’s not that unusual.

This programme is still on the iplayer for a few more days and can be downloaded as well if you have the desktop player installed. Really worth watching, a kind of real-life Local Hero but without a happy ending (as yet).

BTW, “Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed” is a song by Steve Knightly of the West Country Band Show of Hands. You can hear an except here. A wonderful band Show of Hands.

Filed Under: People, Philosophy, Scotland
« Older Posts