Almost a human kite
07th January 2014
As soon as I left the car I was greeted with heavy rain accompanied by a strong and gusting wind? I wanted to get back in the car, turn on the heater and just be comfortable and safe.
Days like this you cannot help question your own sanity. Why do this? Why head off into that wilderness of rocks, steep paths covered by overflowing streams and be blasted by a devilish wind that comes at you from all angles? A wind that even blows your leg as you lift it to step forward, making it land not where you planned and certainly not somewhere you will be balanced and able to make the next step?
Rebecca Solnit (American Author) argues that, "travel offers the opportunity to find who else one is, in that collapse of identity into geography". I could not agree more and know not only my proposed walk would better define me, but it would also impart some of myself into the landscape! as a memory, that I could return to time and time again. Therefore, I pulled up my waterproof zip high to my throat, put my head down and wandered off into the geography of me.
It seems the universe wished to reward me for my decision as having not gone more than a few hundred metres up the marshy, though infrequently visited Greenburn Valley that I was visited upon by a Red Squirrel. I had hunkered down behind a stone wall, as another storm was rolling up through the valley, when I noticed the Squirrel run across the track 30m below me. I lost where it went, but next thing I know it is running towards me along the wall I am sheltering behind. Soon we were both face to face and only a few feet apart. We starred at each other for a few seconds, enough time for me to observe and fully appreciate how beautifully red it's coat was and how wonderfully poised and able it was in these harsh surroundings. It's claws nimbly held onto the rocks that made up the wall, limbs ready to spring away if required. It's dark eyes seemed to penetrate mine as if it was trying to see into my soul....should I trust this human? With no alarm it sprung off the wall and headed towards the only tree, I guess on its constant mission to find food.
After this encounter I carried on with enthusiasm, even the rain had stopped. Climbing steadily I eventually met the main ridge and I also met an almost impenetrable wall of wind. I had been in relative calm whilst walking up the valley, but now I was in the thick of it. The wind pushed me back, trying to flatten me into the soil of the mountain. This would be too much geography for me.
I fought on, keeping myself parallel to my route, but just below the crest of the ridge. This way I could avoid the main power of the wind. Later after reaching the summit of Steel Fell I gingerly descended back to Grasmere (the wind threatening to blow me off every steep crag I approached).
Near the bottom of the valley I saw a Lesser Speckled Woodpecker amongst a flock of Long Tail Tits. I was alerted to their presence by the almost elf like singing coming from the trees. Later, driving back, I came upon a herd of Red Deer, grazing in the woods alongside the road. I would, therefore add to R Solnit's supposition...travel offers the opportunity to find who else one is, in that collapse of identity into geography, it's environment and the life that they sustain.
Days like this you cannot help question your own sanity. Why do this? Why head off into that wilderness of rocks, steep paths covered by overflowing streams and be blasted by a devilish wind that comes at you from all angles? A wind that even blows your leg as you lift it to step forward, making it land not where you planned and certainly not somewhere you will be balanced and able to make the next step?
Rebecca Solnit (American Author) argues that, "travel offers the opportunity to find who else one is, in that collapse of identity into geography". I could not agree more and know not only my proposed walk would better define me, but it would also impart some of myself into the landscape! as a memory, that I could return to time and time again. Therefore, I pulled up my waterproof zip high to my throat, put my head down and wandered off into the geography of me.
It seems the universe wished to reward me for my decision as having not gone more than a few hundred metres up the marshy, though infrequently visited Greenburn Valley that I was visited upon by a Red Squirrel. I had hunkered down behind a stone wall, as another storm was rolling up through the valley, when I noticed the Squirrel run across the track 30m below me. I lost where it went, but next thing I know it is running towards me along the wall I am sheltering behind. Soon we were both face to face and only a few feet apart. We starred at each other for a few seconds, enough time for me to observe and fully appreciate how beautifully red it's coat was and how wonderfully poised and able it was in these harsh surroundings. It's claws nimbly held onto the rocks that made up the wall, limbs ready to spring away if required. It's dark eyes seemed to penetrate mine as if it was trying to see into my soul....should I trust this human? With no alarm it sprung off the wall and headed towards the only tree, I guess on its constant mission to find food.
After this encounter I carried on with enthusiasm, even the rain had stopped. Climbing steadily I eventually met the main ridge and I also met an almost impenetrable wall of wind. I had been in relative calm whilst walking up the valley, but now I was in the thick of it. The wind pushed me back, trying to flatten me into the soil of the mountain. This would be too much geography for me.
I fought on, keeping myself parallel to my route, but just below the crest of the ridge. This way I could avoid the main power of the wind. Later after reaching the summit of Steel Fell I gingerly descended back to Grasmere (the wind threatening to blow me off every steep crag I approached).
Near the bottom of the valley I saw a Lesser Speckled Woodpecker amongst a flock of Long Tail Tits. I was alerted to their presence by the almost elf like singing coming from the trees. Later, driving back, I came upon a herd of Red Deer, grazing in the woods alongside the road. I would, therefore add to R Solnit's supposition...travel offers the opportunity to find who else one is, in that collapse of identity into geography, it's environment and the life that they sustain.