Rumination: Pausing for Breath

Back at the start of this walking season, I said I'd be taking a few more weekends out of my schedule to allow for some recuperation and to prevent myself burning out from too many days on the trail, but as the weeks have progressed and I have found myself intent on hitting the byways on every weekend. Having to catch up on the delayed stretches of the Dales Way and having to catch up on them before Spring Jollies was the major factor behind the activity, as was the need to use as much available Spring as possible after that never-ending blast of Winter, but I also need to relax, as the last few major walks had all proved quite mentally taxing, so I needed a good reason to get off the trail, preferably one that didn't involve a lot of booze...

So, cue up a burst of general unwellness to knock me out of circulation for a couple of days, firstly being plagued with a fearsome burst of headaches after the exertions in Langstrothdale, and then follow that with a rough feeling throat which grips hard for a couple of days. Fearing the possibility of infection, a day out of work is taken after bank holiday Monday to see the doctor, as I've had an untreated throat go very badly wrong a few years ago, but there's no sign of anything serious showing up, so work is re-engaged the following day. Hilariously, I've got a cold coming down, possibly related to the throat, and maybe not, and my body lapses over to trying to produce as much snot as possible, and over the course of three days I feel like I have inhaled several pints of phlegm, so most physical effort is directed to trying to cough that loose whilst my voice is so phlegmatic, I can easily imitate the singing voice of Paul Robeson. Factor in a week of work that is generally acclaimed to have been 'an ordeal', even in the absence of illness and it's as good a time as any to sit tight for weekend and start looking forward, but not too far forward.


Define 'Covered in Shit'

Time out means I need to get my boots good and clean, giving them their first proper scrub in six weeks, after getting them and my gaiters coated in some of the nastiest smelling ooze that I've encountered outside of peat hags, and to get them re-laced with some fresh laces which are not a bit too short like the original ones. Having them nice again, then means I have to give my bath a good scrub too as I seemed to have brought several pounds of Dales soil home with me. This is information that is only shared so that I might also share the picture now showing to the left! It's also time to start reading up on the top half of the Dales Way, as my Spring Jollies are only two weeks away, and get out OL19 and OL7 to start familiarising myself with the route as once out of Dentdale, we are into the virtually unknown again, and it's pretty clear from my early views that beyond Sedbergh there will be many miles featuring not much habitation at all. Mind you, I'm not going to be back-packing again, I'll be using my preferred method of using parents to relay me to my contact points, and spending my money on fuel, rather than bed and board. Plus, if all goes well, we should also have walking my nieces up their first major fell, as they have already summited several but have yet to go up any under their own power.

I need to start planning out my future walks beyond the jollies too as I got an all-singing, all-dancing metrocard, courtesy of the NHS discount scheme in March, which allows me to travel by rail to anywhere in West Yorkshire and I have got to make the most of that before it expires in October because it's not good economic sense to pay for one for a whole year. I haven't actually managed to start any walks from Zone 5, however, and as I start to plan out various trips I realise that I'm still going nowhere near Calderdale, the Colne Valley or the Penistone line. I've still got three walks that I want to do around Lower Wharfedale, and after adding in my next dales trip to do Whernside around solstice weekend, summer will soon be upon us. I'm already shedding plans from my 2013 schedule, as the Wakefield Way is relegated as it'll be mostly accessible by bus, and chances of getting all of the Witton Weavers Way in is unlikely as I'm not going to have many weekends to sync up with My Sis and her plans. The Three Peaks remain on the schedule, and the Bradford Millennium Way is promoted onto it after finally acquiring the guide book, but I need to start getting some more social walks together as I have neglected that as Spring has raced by. I've also plotted out schemes for two weeks of jollies, having mapped out two walks in the Old Country for when I visit my folks in Leicestershire, and having another backpacking break out of Grassington, to put another couple of moors and peaks on the 'completed' list. Beyond, there will be excursions onto the high moors between Calder and Aire as Summer presses on, and it looks like adventures around the Colne Valley will be forthcoming once Autumn is on the way in.

It is a Giraffe, isn't it?

I'm already looking to 2014 too, giving serious consideration to The Dales High Way, the Trans Pennine Trail and the Hadrian's Wall path, as well as looking for walks to the east and south of the usual territory as all my exploits seem to be concentrated in a general trend towards the north and west. Plus, I've got my rather wonderful 1948 book of 'Yorkshire Walks around Leeds' to start delving into, and if considered properly could turn into my own combo version of Michael Portillo, Bradshaw's 1863 Guide and 'Great Railway Journeys'. So many things to plan for and look forward to as I abound with mental enthusiasm for hitting the trail, whilst also feeling somewhat short on physical enthusiasm, but whilst work and its associated pressures might take their toll, I am still getting enjoyment out of nearly every mile traced in this season of walking so far. I will leave this rumination with one final thought, 'How have this year's walks managed to suggest the outline of a Giraffe?'.


Next on the Slate: The Southernmost of the Yorkshire Dales National Park's hills.

EDIT: Well, that scheme for the 18th didn't happen, having woken at 7.30am and peered out of the window to see a day so foul and wet that I returned to bed without even bothering to look further into the weather predictions for the day. That's deeply frustrating as it's the second time this year that I've dropped consecutive weekends and this time around makes it the longest in-season period without any walking since the start of my 1,000 mile odyssey, still it's not a good idea to have a damp and cloud-shrouded wander to a moorland viewpoint when you don't want to be utterly dispirited by the experience. It's annoying to have lost two weekends in May, which is usually my favourite Spring month, but has been rather cold and light on sunshine for the last couple of weeks, and that's not what I wanted to have when I have my next holiday, and four walking days within, just around the corner.

So I'm trying to summon up as much physical and mental enthusiasm as I can for it, and I thought that having the top half of the Dales Way as my next walking target would have me properly geed up, but I don't feel that way at all. The mystery illness which landed on me has left me with a deep chesty cough that is still shifting thick mucus out of my lungs after more than two weeks, and every time it seems to fading it will come back with renewed ferocity. Also, my various aches and pains seem to be getting worse, but remain frustratingly non-specific and I just know that trying to take any of them to my GP would result in greater frustration as I'm told 'come back if it persists' and am not offered any immediate advice or treatment. Factor in more-work related stress and irritation, and my head being in the greyest place it has been in about six years, and it all adds up to feel like I am on the cusp of something going horribly, horribly wrong, physically or mentally.

That doesn't sound like the best state to be in when embarking on a long solo walk in Dales country, but the weather is looking initially favourable, and my last two trips out have started with me in not the best of conditions and have both turned out fine. And as I've said many times, walking is my way to regaining some equilibrium, and I am certain that putting all my regular stresses and strains aside and gathering the family for Spring jollies is the best way to get me feeling normal again, and if this year could use anything, it is a bit more 'normal', so put what ails you aside, and onward to your much-needed break away!


Next on the Slate: The last three legs of the Dales Way, and my Nieces' first proper Hill Walk!