Rewilding - a review of Feral

 I have just finished George Monbiot’s excellent Feral, but have had a tint of sadness since. My perceptions and sentiments towards the British countryside have been altered, what I believed to be sublime is now just a brutal manmade landscape.

There is clearly still beauty in the rural environment, but this is subjective. Is this beautiful landscape defined by the idyllic visions of 19^th Century pastoral existence, or is it the beauty that was unrestrained several thousands year ago when a totally different scale of flora and fauna existed.

Monbiot unleashes some devastating stats on how this environment has been decimated by humans. Arguably what is left does not resemble closely the original terrain. Britain has the lowest forest … 

The deck is stacked against the rewilding project. Land is distributed to a small landowning class who are resistance to wild animals. The farming lobby is influential within government. The British public have a fixed vision of what the British countryside should be. We also have a hysterical media who exaggerate any issues around “wild cats” such as the “Beast of Bodmin”.

But humans have an innate condition that connects them or makes them long for the wild. The wild cat stories are symptomatic of this.  There is an excellent early chapter on the numerous tabloid stories of sightings of supposed large cats like panthers and leopards. There is absolutely no evidence that these exist in the British Isles but our desire to re-connect makes many residents believe in the possibility.

The main body of Feral though is about the merits of rewilding. The loss of original flora and fauna is quite staggering from when humans first crossed the English Channel. We now hold a fraction of this abundance. The proposal is to reintroduce wolves, lynx, beaver and lesser known species of bird and small mammals. The benefits in terms of the food chain, educational and wildlife tourism are great, arguably outweighing the risks to livestock and farmers livelihoods.

Particular criticism of current conservation policy goes to the Cambrian Mountains and British sheep farmers. The desolate landscapes that are revered as finest British upland have a false appeal according to Monbiot. The landscape has been chewed down into a monoculture of scrub and short grass. Wildlife that could flourish has felt a knock on effect from this pared down flora.

I had a look at the Sussex Wildlife Trust website after reading this to see what the practice was. Wildlife Trusts have their own grazing policy that encourages this. Have we become accustomed to the benign view of sheep grazing to see this as typical British landscape? There is a lack of imagination perhaps on what the countryside could be. The Woodland Trust see sheep and trees as being harmonious and having benefits.

Dartmoor return

It’s been four or five years since I visited Dartmoor. A mysterious place littered with bleak hills, lonely tors and ancient settlements. Dartmoor feels like an abandoned space. Its bleakness and lack of paths means it receives less visitors. Once covered in trees with roaming hunter-gatherers, it now seems like a neglected relation to other national parks. 

I had previously wild camped on Dartmoor, but this time we stuck to very pleasant campsite in Cockingford, near Widecombe-in-the-moor. We left Widecombe on a day trek up to Hamel down.   This took us onto a hill and a series of cairns and tors. Once you reach Hamel Down tor, you drop down to Grimspound, an ancient settlement. 

From there take the Two Moors way across to the B3212 and a half way pub stop -  the Warren House. This is a really nice traditional pub with benches out the front to take in the view and Otter ale on tap. The return route heads towards Soussons Down, a peaceful conifer plantation, which has a stone circle on its south side. 

Follow the yellow road from Sousson for 2 or 3 kilometres. This leads back up to Hamel Down, where you finish with a glorious view of Widecombe church surrounded by green hills. 

Some French mountains

I have just returned from Chamonix Mont-Blanc where the mountains really are awe inspiring. Resting below the highest peak in Europe, Chamonix town is a mountaineering mecca, rich in alpine history. A short drive up the valley to Le Tour offers great walking and views. In the winter this is a popular ski area but in summer is green pastures.

Mountain Leader training – weekend 1

I’ve just spent the weekend in the Peak District for the first weekend (of three) on the Mountain Leader (ML) training course. This qualification is the UK’s main mountaineering course for those wishing to lead groups of any type over mountainous terrain. I have spent the last few years logging the necessary experience, at least 20 days in mountainous areas. Although living further away from the mountains has slowed down this progress.

The essence of the course is to confidently and safely take groups around mountains. The core areas are navigation, group management, climate considerations, first aid and emergency measures, and campsite organization. The navigation aspect is one of the most difficult to learn, but being able to get around the mountains (or off in an emergency) is probably the most important element of mountaineering.

The first day looked at the basics of navigation. Firstly what it is, then pacing and also how navigation can take in a range of techniques. Pacing is one of the most important parts of navigation. Maps are divided into 1 kilometre squares, then using a compass rules, you can measure 100 metres. Before leaving on a walk, you should pace and time yourself over 100 metres. These numbers will help you calculate how long it will take to walk over 100, 200, 300, etc metres. My pacing for 100 metres on the flat was 58 paces, in about 1 minute 5 seconds. We also paced ourselves walking uphill and downhill: 100 metres uphill took 78 paces and 1 minute 40 seconds. When pacing during a walk, a range of factors can affect the timing and pacing. These might include uneven terrain, wind, obstacles, size of backpack, energy levels.

Part of the day was getting to understand contours. This is one of the trickiest sides to navigation. The contours on a map are one of the best indicators of location. Fences and man-made markers can disappear, lakes and rivers could dry up, but contours are fairly permanent. Knowing the contours will affect calculations for pacing.

The other main technique in navigation is taking bearings. This involves placing the compass on the map between the current location and intended location, turning the red arrow to north on the map, and removing it then lining up the pointer and north. You need to add 2 degrees as the north on the map is not the same as magnetic north. When following a bearing, you need to hold the compass at waist level, but not too close to your body. A bearing should only be followed for not much more than 500 metres, as any slight inaccuracies in the direction will lead you further away from the intended point, the further you have to walk. You can also take a back-bearing where you turn around and check the bearing leads to where you originally started. Other techniques include aiming off, where if you want to find a fixed spot on a fence or a wall, you can aim to one side by enough margin so that you know you when you reach the fence, you can walk along it to get to the fixed spot.

We undertook several micro navigation tasks, moving from point to point on the map. Often these were small dots.

The second day was firstly a discussion on how to deal with different groups, whether young people or adults, but also difficult party members. This led to a discussion on the legal side of the qualification. How to ensure you were covered if something went wrong. The main point of preparation is to cover all aspects of a trip and to complete a risk assessment. The factors to consider would be ensuring each group member had the right kit and clothing, especially footwear. Also important is being aware of weather conditions, managing expectations, first aid and emergency options, and setting the timings for completing the journey.

The weather was quite bad up on the Peak, so this provided a tougher training environment. We navigated from spot to spot, whilst crossing quite difficult terrain of fast flowing rivers, bracken and steep hills. How to plot your route around tricky terrain is a quite important part of the ML. As the weather got worse, we discussed how to deal with group management in bad conditions.

Welsh 3000s - almost!

This was my second attempt at completing the Welsh 3000s. The first go, two years ago, was hindered by very poor weather and some slightly dodgy navigation. But also by lack of mental preparation. This year I was possibly more mentally up for it. And had visited Snowdonia a few times in between so knew my way around better. I wasn't as fit as I was two years ago though!

My two co-trekkers had not attempted it before either. We decided the set off early at 5am. This was earlier than my previous, but could have been earlier as the first ascent up the Pyg track was quite easy in the dark. After a quite easy climb we arrived at Snowdon summit at just after 7am. From there you take a short descent to Garnedd Ugain, arriving about 730am. The next stage down Crib Goch ridge is probably the highlight of the trek and good to do with fresh legs. The knife edge descent is not as bad as I thought. My previous was in thick cloud. There is some scrambling, but if there are no strong winds, this shouldn't be too tricky. The view from Crib Goch summit at 830am was sensational.

From the summit you take a due north unmarked path along a ridge. Staying to the right initially then to the left, this leads to a sharp shale descent. The route down in unclear but a few bear trails show the way. We lost a fair bit of time on this bit. So after walking along the road back to Nant Peris we got to the campsite for a pitstop at about 1030am. The next ascent up Elidir Fawr was one of the hardest of the day. As the midday sun came out, the slow ascent up over 800 metres was really tough. One of our group dropped out half way up this. We finally reached the summit at 1240pm, quite a lot of time had been lost. The Glyder section is quite straightforward, but heat was hitting me quite hard. After Y Garn, you take a tough shale ascent past the Llyn Y Cwn tarn to Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach. By this time it was about 4pm so time was passing quicker than we would have liked.

The descent from the Glyders to Tryfan was another painful one. A steep shale descent with tonnes of loose rocks. This bit killed John's legs. So we reached Tryfan summit at 53opm. At this point time was really running out. So I decided to go on ahead alone. After crossing the A5 by Llyn Ogwen, I took the steep path up to Pen yr Ole Wen at 978 metres. This was one of the most exhausting bits of mountaineering I've ever done - totally out of breath and still hot..

The Carnedds are thankfully on a long plateau. There is a slight ascent to Carnedd Llewelynn which I reached at 930pm as an amazing sunset was stretching across the north Welsh coast. I didn't have time (and energy) to make it across to Yr Elen, so it wasn't the full 15 3000s. I also accidentally missed Garnedd Uchaf, but this is an unofficial one. Finally I reached Foel Fras at 1040pm. So almost completion. After this, it's still not over, by a long stretch!. The long trail beside a fence is quite easy but goes on for ever and has a couple of small ascents. I finally arrived at the car at midnight.

Snowdonia - damp hut but sunny hills

The initial aim of this weekend's trek was to check out the Imperial College hut, in the heart of Snowdonia, a few kilometres west of Snowdon. Located in Drws-y-coed, it was a beautiful location in between two steep hills. The hut is used by the university's mountaineering club and was well kitted out, but needed a clean and some new appliances. But the aim of the trip was mountaineering not dawdling in the hut. The weather couldn't have been better. We started our trek on the A498, below Pen-y-pass. Rather than paying the carpark, we parked beside the road and walked up. From Pen-y-pass, you cross the road and pass through a gate that leads to the ascent of Glyder Fawr. The north west ascent above the lake Llyn Cwmffynnon is quite steep, going from 350m to over 850m. This took us well over an hour, plus it was quite hot. You have great views of Crib Goch and Snowdon behind you. The ascent probably took 2 1/2 hours in total to the top of Glyder Fawr. From there you have fantastic views of the Welsh coast and Y Garn to the north west. The next stage of the walk is relaxing as you walk along a plateau towards Glyder Fach. There are great views looking down Llyn Ogwen and down a steep slope to Llyn Bochlwyd. As you walk along towards Glyder Fach, you also the pass the famous Cantilever stone. A rock that is balanced flat and can be walked on. At this point, you can continue on to Tryfan or head back to the Pen-y-pass road.

Dartmoor – hunting the megaliths

Part of the attraction of Dartmoor is the sense that time has stood still here for centuries. There are few official footpaths, any settlements were inhabited centuries ago and the hills have a permanence that has and will outlast the surrounding Devon countryside. South Dartmoor is possibly more picturesque than the north, less moody and softer than the ruggedness elsewhere in the park. To access south Dartmoor, it is best to park up in one of the small villages on the edge. I start my trek in Harford, near Ivybridge. After a short descent, you arrive on the Two Moors Way, one of the park's long distance footpaths. Rare for Dartmoor, it is an actual track road. Given how few proper footpaths there are here, it is worth enjoying while you can. After elevating to 461m on Ugborough Moor, you get good views of Plymouth and towards the Devon coast. The disused mine tram line curves deeper into Dartmoor proper.

The Moors Way is fairly easy going and having been injured for most of this year, it was a nice gentle warm up for my knee. But I turned in a north westerly direction towards Red Lake and Erme Pits hill, where there was once a mine. Once you reach the hill beyond, you get good views to the north and Higher Hartor Tor and Princetown in the far distance. I now started to test the knee, heading south then west below Langcombe hill. Eventually you get a sight of the old settlements and as you get closer, the Drizzlecombe stones. The megaliths are lined up over the space of 500 metres or so. There are several other cairns, stone rows and menhirs (standing stones) dotted around. The purpose of these is debated by historians: possible territorial markers; sacrificial altars; calendar tools or ideological symbols. Dartmoor has plenty of megaliths, stone circles and assorted archaeological points, that have all outlived the man made life on its edges. It is one of England's finest locations for unblemished ancient archaeology.

The route back to Harford needs plenty of cross country navigation. You head south west up a long gully, beside a stream to Shavercombe Head. After crossing Stall Moor and Harford Moor you can walk below the Two Moors way or stay lower and follow very bare trails through bracken and clumpy grass. This is bit harder work, but more authentic than the man made track above.