Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2021 i The Great Outdoors

James McHaffie Leading British climber and instructor James McHaffie has campaigned to raise awareness of climate change, including naming new routes in the Dinorwic slate quarries after Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion. “I’ve been concerned about climate change since the 90s – I remember thinking that I didn’t want a car. At university I studied sustainable development, and a lot of the professors there were quite depressed by the science. It was already looking bad. “I wrote a couple of articles on climate change, and in 2019 Extinction Rebellion contacted me and asked if I’d like to make a video on the subject. I said that I wasn’t a doctor of climate change and didn’t feel that confident talking about it, but I told them I’d name a new route…

ON THE WAY to Glenridding, the car thermometer read 31 degrees centigrade. It was about 5.30pm. Driving through Patterdale, we passed a beer garden where pints of ale glinted like liquid gold in the July sun. We saw swimmers gliding through the cool expanse of Ullswater, early evening sunlight sparkling around them. When we arrived in the village, people were eating ice creams under the generous shade of a large oak tree. All these things seemed like very good things to be doing on a ferocious heatwave evening in the Lake District. What didn’t seem like a good idea was to hoist on a large backpack full of camping materials and vigorously hike to the top of England’s third highest mountain. But that was my plan, and I had managed…

As I descended Mam Meadail and the ruin of Carnoch appeared, I had the feeling I was entering a world before words. It brought me to a complete standstill. This year’s TGO Challenge was, of course, held later in the year than usual, and the middle-of-June flowering stopped me several times. At this spot, Loch Nevis washes the shore with salt whilst the River Carnoch and its tributaries bring fresh water. I stooped to look closer. Green fingertips of sundews offered me a cluster of what looked like Christmas baubles. The mauve hoods of water avens shyly turned towards the earth, contrasted with the confident display of orchid and thrift. There was a fragility about it though, this plant community. The Carnoch ruins were a testament to the paradox and…

“I was never lonely or bored on the Challenge. It could have been because almost every night there was someone interesting to talk to. There is camaraderie in the select band of people that choose to walk and camp out in the Highlands.” For me, plotting a route is a way of imagining the future. Looking at a map, satellite pictures, and mentally placing yourself on the terrain as you make each decision. How great will it feel to gaze out from this summit in broad sunshine? But what about in lashing rain? Drawing a line across the map takes seconds, but how will your feet ache after that sixmile roadwalk? Would you prefer wet shoes and a bog? It’s an exercise not only in knowing the landscape but in…

What constantly impresses us about Challengers is their loyalty to and support for the event and us as coordinators. Many have waited patiently to walk routes designed for 2020, but we strongly feel that those who were able to support us by walking this year also shouldn’t be disadvantaged. Most who did participate this year have indicated they also want to take part in 2022. That leaves us with a conundrum, as we already have more people than places for next year – even before we look at taking new entrants. We can’t increase numbers without some other measures as previous limitations are there for good reasons. SO, FOR 2022 ONLY, THE PLANS ARE: ▪ 450 - 500 places, with those who missed out in 2020/21 or walked in 2021…

Start/Finish 1 Small lay-by at Wanthwaite in St John’s in the Vale GR: NY315232 From lay-by, walk S on lane for 80m and take track on L signed ‘Matterdale – unsuitable for motors’. Go through gate, pass Hill Top Farm on R and follow track as it bends L with old quarry workings on R. Continue through next gate, leading to Open Access land, and continue for 220m to a crossroads of tracks. 2 Go straight over, uphill, and follow track (known as the old coach road) across open moor below N slopes of Clough Head. Pass through gate at Hausewell Brow and keep on for 2.2km to cross bridge over Mosedale Beck. 3 Go through gate and then turn R on path through rushes on L side of beck.…

Lucy Thraves Lucy is an editor and writer, living in London and escaping to wilder places whenever possible. In her teenage years she orienteered competitively, then took up marathon running, and now can more often be found walking long distances (see her account of a long walk she undertook in response to violence against women on p24). This year she’s been wild camping in the Lake District, and most recently spent a night in a collapsed tent on remote Jura in order to scale the infamous Paps. She’ll be taking a tent pole repair kit on holidays in the future. Lucy Wallace Arran-based regular contributor Lucy has had a busy few months, working in the hills and on the coasts of Scotland. Guiding and teaching mountain skills over the summer…

This year, Granger’s launched its ‘Wear and Care’ survey in order to understand how individuals use and look after outdoor clothing and footwear. Carried out in collaboration with ‘Women in Adventure’, the survey aimed to discover how we can reduce our environmental impact. Here are some of the results… 1 IN 2 PEOPLE stopped wearing their waterproof jackets because they weren’t effective Half of the respondents own more than 10 sports tops – half of these end up in landfill 29.9 PER CENT OF PEOPLE EXPECTED THEIR INSULATED JACKETS TO LAST 5 YEARS THE AVERAGE LIFESPAN OF HIKING BOOTS IN THIS SURVEY WAS 4.95 YEARS THREE in FIVE people throw their hiking boots and walking shoes away once they have stopped using them 66.5 PERCENT said they had reproofed their waterproof jackets…

“I want to talk to everybody I can as deeply as I can. I want to be able to sleep in an open field, to travel west, to walk freely at night. All is spoiled by the fact that I am a girl, a female always in danger of assault and battery.” Sylvia Plath FOR AS LONG as I can remember, I’ve sought solace in solo walking. I think more clearly, delight in the freedom of solitude, and feel a kind of clarity of purpose that shares a border with deep contentment. As a child I walked to and from school, using the time to turn over thoughts like stones on a beach. At university, I walked to locate myself in the volatile terrain of early adulthood, through spaces carved…

I’m falling asleep in my room at the Park Hotel in Montrose, on Scotland’s east coast, tired but exhilarated after this long-awaited Challenge. Headandlegssay“Hooray, youdon’thavetowalk tomorrow, it’s done, never lift that heavy pack again”. My heart says: “Not walking tomorrow? Think what you’ll be missing…” A slideshow of the last two weeks randomly plays in my head as I drift between wakefulness and sleep. Huge open skies. Stony track under my boots, stepping on stones through burns, forest paths, dried-out peat hags, squelchy off-piste bits. Glorious flowers in profusion, a June bonus – glowing banks of acid-yellow broom, white frothy Queen Anne’s lace, tall grasses, masses of fragrant pink wild roses. Flower colours mingling by the path – blue, white, pink, yellow. In the damp places, starry butterwort, sticky red…

“A bus?” The man asked shaking his head in confusion. “How did you get here?” Too quickly I replied, “Walked. We walked from Mallaig!” Pat grinned next to me, tender feet resting on the warm sand. “Where’s that?” the man asked. “The west coast.” We had just walked the 180 miles from the west coast to the east coast of Scotland, ending at Dunnottar Castle on a day with perfect clear skies. Blisters, sunburn, aches and even midge bites were temporarily forgotten. We were simultaneously overjoyed to have achieved the Challenge we had spent months preparing for and desperately sad that it was all over. Our rucksacks, dirty and battered, lay in the sand next to us. For two weeks we had hauled them through rain, blistering heat and clouds…

I finished preparing for the 2021 TGO Challenge by January 2021. However, what I didn’t anticipate was my daughter testing positive for Covid shortly before I was due to set off on June 17. My isolation period would end on June 24. The Challenge was due to end on 2 July. This would give me eight days to complete the route. Would it be possible? I had previously done the Challenge within 11 or 12 days, but never eight. My daily distance would need to be a minimum of 30 kilometres (18.5 miles). It would require early mornings and late nights. There could be no rest days or easy half days. But this was exactly the sort of Challenge I needed. “It’s an exercise not only in knowing the landscape…

The Great Outdoors BEST BUY NEMO Riff 30 Down Sleeping Bag Chris Townsend is impressed by this unusually-shaped and roomy sleeping bag, specially designed for people who sleep on their sides £350 930g (Regular) roomy shape, ventilation, lightweight external draught collar Fill: 280g 800fp hydrophobic RDS down Shell: 20D nylon ripstop w/DWR outer, 30D nylon taffeta w/DWR lining, 40D nylon ripstop OSMO w/DWR footbox Construction: box wall Zip: two-way, ¾ Sizes: Men: Regular, Long; Women: Regular, Long Rating: -1°C nemoequipment.com How do you sleep? On your side? Front? Back? The standard mummy-shaped sleeping bag assumes the last. It also assumes that the sleeper lies with their legs together. Now some ‘mummy’ bags are roomier than others, but they’re all designed with these assumptions. People like me who don’t sleep on their…

Start/Finish 1 Achnashellach Forest car park at Craig GR: NH039493 Cross rail line and take track, which runs E then S for around 5km to reach wire bridge over Allt a’ Chonais. 2 Continue SW on stalkers’ path to Bealach Bhearnais. 3 When path fades, turn E 3 to head up west ridge of Sgurr Choinnich. 4 From summit, drop E to col and then up again to Sgurr a’ Chaorachain. 5 Head N down Sron na Frianich ridge, dropping to north of lochan, aiming for two smaller lochans at Drochaid Mhuilich. 6 Climb NE at first, turning E to Carn nam Fiaclan, then continue round to N to Maoile Lunndaidh. 7 Descend NW parallel with line of Fuar-tholl Mor to pick up path further down, which leads to ruin,…

Start/Finish 1 Small car park at Dan-y-Garn GR: SN127308 Head NW along a signed bridleway, crossing the saddle to continue NE to Carn Geodog. 2 About 1km beyond Carn Goedog, leave the path to the right to make for Carn Alw (written as Carnalw on the map). 3 From Carn Alw, head almost east, following a faint path through marshy land, before climbing the north slope of Foeldrygarn. 4 Drop down the south slope of Foeldrygarn, taking a clear path SW to meet the Preseli ridge path, deviating south to visit the Carn Menyn, before returning to the main route. 5 At the top of the rise beyond Carn Bica, take a faint path left to cross the hill to the west of Carn Siân, dropping down the slope at…

GRASSROOTS PROJECTS around Europe are set to deliver thousands of days of outdoor activities after securing support from the It’s Great Out There Coalition. In the latest round of #itsgreatoutthere grants, seven non-profit initiatives will receive between €1,000 and €5,000, which will help them to deliver over 2,000 ‘Outdoor Activity Days’ (OAD) in a natural environment, bringing together physical activity, inclusion and nature conservation. Projects in France, Finland and the UK will now be able to give many young people new experiences in the outdoors, safely and responsibly. Launched in 2017 by the It’s Great Out There Coalition, the grants programme helps community-based projects that take new participants into the outdoors with a particular focus on younger and more diverse audiences. Four UK projects have received grants. True Nature Project…

It will seem strange to any seasoned Challengers reading this, but I thought I might get lonely and bored on my first crossing. With the TGO Challenge you spend a year planning for two weeks of walking. For 2021 it was two years of planning. The extra preparation time meant that I delved deeper and thought: what will I do once the day’s walking is over, and I am on my own? My ideas for filling this spare time included reading a book playing Solitaire. These ideas did not fill me with joy. So I hatched a plan to paint a picture each day. Taken altogether a pad of paper and some watercolours were lighter than a paperback and, I hoped, would provide more hours of amusement. For me painting…

This was our first TGO Challenge. Why did we want to do it? Many reasons: the challenge of plotting a route, the challenge of completion, the opportunity to walk through parts of Scotland we’d never been through before. We set off, fresh-faced and ready from Oban. The day dawned bright and clear; how unusual in Scotland! Would it last for two whole weeks? Highly unlikely! But, hey, this is what it’s all about. The journey, the adventure, the challenge. The first few days took us through Taynuilt, along the shores of Loch Etive, through Glen Kinglass and to Bridge of Orchy. Stunning views, peace, tranquillity; exactly what we had hoped it would be. But come Blair Atholl, it was apparent that the continual toll of walking in this heat was…

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Start/Finish 1 Holy Trinity Church, Howgill GR: SD633950 With your back to the church, turn L and go R at T-junction. When road later forks, bear left. 2 About 430m after fork, take walled track on L. Beyond gate, continue ENE up pathless slope. Join broader path from R. 3 From trig pillar on Winder, continue on clear path. As it begins climbing from saddle between Winder and Arant Haw, ignore narrow trail to R. A little higher, though, bear R (NE) at more obvious fork. Bypassing Arant Haw, follow path onto Calders and then The Calf. 4 From trig pillar, head NW. As main path swings W, take less well-walked route NW. 5 On climbing from trail junction at Windscarth Wyke, keep to clearest path (NW). From Breaks Head,…

Start 1 St Just bus station GR: SW369313 From bus stop head towards nearby fire station and turn L past it and library, then immediately R. L at T-junction, R at next junction and R again at T-junction (Cape Cornwall Road), then almost immediately L (Chapel Road). At crossroads turn L and follow lane to end at Boscean. 2 Keep ahead down path (signed for Cape Cornwall). Path runs above Kenidjack valley, soon joined by coast path (CP) from R. Route direction very straightforward from now on, following CP all the way to Mill Bay/Nanjizal via Land’s End. Headland of Cape Cornwall itself well worth including – after ascending to chimney atop its summit, head down W tip to NCI (National Coastwatch Institution) lookout, then continue round S side of…