Feel a bit like Major Tom this morning. Can anyone hear us, or are we just spinning in space out of contact with everybody? Or the bit in "The Wall" just before the air guitar classic "Comfortably Numb" where someone says "Is there anybody out there?" The blog has been going a month now, and we've had one posting from the outside world...do tell us what you're doing. Have you booked your tickets for Leonard Cohen's World Tour yet? Although we don't know why we should publicise him (twice, now) as we never get mention in any of his songs - the nearest we get is "I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch" in "Bird on a Wire" but he doesn't say if it's knobbly or not. In fact, are there any references to a Knobbly Stick in any song anyone knows? Now there's a challenge! There could just be one in the second line of the National Anthem, but we're not too sure, and we don't want to get hauled off to the Tower for treason.
Enough random wittering on. John has been on a first aid refresher course this week - refreshing his knowledge of what to do if anyone damages him or herself, although we do take care to ensure that this doesn't happen, but, as they say, "You can never be too careful." Pete (doesn't need refreshing yet) has been doing some more reccying - in fact we were both out on the Dales Way on Monday checking our self guided directions, so that anyone who books on that will have brand new up to the minute notes. In fact, they do change quite a bit on routes like the Dales Way - new waymarking, new stiles and gates, and even the occasional re-route. Pete has also done some more wandering around the Coniston area ready for the new Ambleside-based week in May. It really is a great area, and, of course, especially attractive in spring and autumn, we think.
So, don't eat too may Easter eggs, send us a blog (done any decent walks yourself recently?) and we'll see you soon, we hope!
Friday, 21 March 2008
Saturday, 15 March 2008
Good news!
It's nice to wake up on a Saturday morning and be able to feel positive about life in general. Sports Relief raised shedloads of money, so every reason to feel good about the world... Oh, and Leonard Cohen is starting a world tour!
On the domestic front, we've managed to get out reccying after the wind and rain, although it wasn't as bad up here as in some parts, by the look of it. We were out yesterday in the Coniston area, looking at some low level routes for our holiday in May, to go along with no doubt epic ascents of Crinkle Crags, Bow Fell etc. It was good to get our boots on again, after a miserable couple of days midweek, and we envisage spending much of the next fortnight or so wandering around muttering into our dictaphones (people always give you such funny looks) getting ready for the April and May holidays. We had a good half day out yesterday, finding some really picturesque little corners, and looking up at some snowy peaks, which will no doubt be all clear by the time we start on them in May. We've also had a single walker earlier in the week, who came up to the Lakes from down south for the first time, and, as usual for first timers, was bowled over by what he saw around Ambleside and Grasmere. And what's more, thanks to Knobbly Stick's outstanding meteorological management, we didn't even get wet!
Don't forget, we're looking for any contributions to our blog, so don't be shy!
Happy walking!
Pete and John.
On the domestic front, we've managed to get out reccying after the wind and rain, although it wasn't as bad up here as in some parts, by the look of it. We were out yesterday in the Coniston area, looking at some low level routes for our holiday in May, to go along with no doubt epic ascents of Crinkle Crags, Bow Fell etc. It was good to get our boots on again, after a miserable couple of days midweek, and we envisage spending much of the next fortnight or so wandering around muttering into our dictaphones (people always give you such funny looks) getting ready for the April and May holidays. We had a good half day out yesterday, finding some really picturesque little corners, and looking up at some snowy peaks, which will no doubt be all clear by the time we start on them in May. We've also had a single walker earlier in the week, who came up to the Lakes from down south for the first time, and, as usual for first timers, was bowled over by what he saw around Ambleside and Grasmere. And what's more, thanks to Knobbly Stick's outstanding meteorological management, we didn't even get wet!
Don't forget, we're looking for any contributions to our blog, so don't be shy!
Happy walking!
Pete and John.
Saturday, 8 March 2008
First addition from a Knobbly walker!
I will endeavour to be the first to congratulate the Knobblies on their new Blog. However, I am not up to speed with all this new technology, being a blog virgin - can I say that? well I already have. I was very envious to hear of their day at Morecambe Bay, mostly spent on Humphrey Head by the sound of it. Anyway, am looking forward to some good walking and good company (with or without the jokes) in 2008"
Monday, 3 March 2008
A serious bit to provoke a debate, maybe
Access to the mountains is a real issue. Just how much access should we (the walker, skier etc) have? What facilities should we expect?
John went skiing in Austria the other week, and whilst he enjoyed his week, and escaped relatively unscathed, what had happened to what was basically a wilderness environment worried him somewhat. Whilst it's great to have a beer or cup of coffee in the mountains, in the sunshine, there does seem to be something not quite right about transporting the 21st century to what should be an unspoiled environment.
And yet, where Knobbly Stick travels, we undoubtedly have an impact on the environment, which we try to diminish by clearing up after ourselves, and contributing to the Tourism and Conservation Partnership. Should we, though, encourage more people to take part in the Great Outdoors by giving better access - more signposts, toilets, even cafés? What about disabled access - should we provide cable cars in the hills to facilitate that? Or, conversely, should we limit access to vehicles and to people in order to preserve our wonderful landscape?
Ideas? Opinions?
John went skiing in Austria the other week, and whilst he enjoyed his week, and escaped relatively unscathed, what had happened to what was basically a wilderness environment worried him somewhat. Whilst it's great to have a beer or cup of coffee in the mountains, in the sunshine, there does seem to be something not quite right about transporting the 21st century to what should be an unspoiled environment.
And yet, where Knobbly Stick travels, we undoubtedly have an impact on the environment, which we try to diminish by clearing up after ourselves, and contributing to the Tourism and Conservation Partnership. Should we, though, encourage more people to take part in the Great Outdoors by giving better access - more signposts, toilets, even cafés? What about disabled access - should we provide cable cars in the hills to facilitate that? Or, conversely, should we limit access to vehicles and to people in order to preserve our wonderful landscape?
Ideas? Opinions?
Welcome to the Knobbly Stick Blog!!!
Hello World.
You'll see we had a little go at launching this blog a couple of weeks ago. John, being an old romantic at heart, decided to put pen to paper (or keyboard to screen, or whatever it is) on Valentine's Day, and wrote that piece when he was still intoxicated from having walked in warm sunshine in the Morecambe Bay area.
The weather since then has varied a bit, but has been pretty good on the whole. Bright sunshine is streaming through the windows of the Knobbly Stick ivory tower, but we did have a mini-blizzard this morning, that covered the fells - and even the streets of Kendal - with magic dust.
It's just about all gone now, and so our minds are once again turning to thoughts of getting out and revisiting some of the places we'll be walking with our groups in April and May - the Langdales, Coniston, Glenridding and the Dales Way.
The idea of this blog is really two-fold. First, so that we can tell you about anything interesting happening in Knobbly Stick land - yes, we know the weather is pretty exciting, but we'll try to calm it down a bit in future. And, second, and, we hope, more important, it's for you to be able to add your own comments. We keep saying (in newsletters and such) that we'd like you to tell us what you think, so this seems to be an ideal opportunity. We're not blog experts, but we think you can do it anonymously - you do need to register (with Google, we think...not with us!), but you can do it under a "pen-name".
Anyway, we're going to finish this message now, have a chat about what we'll put on next, and do some more.
Do keep in touch
Best wishes and happy walking
John and Pete
You'll see we had a little go at launching this blog a couple of weeks ago. John, being an old romantic at heart, decided to put pen to paper (or keyboard to screen, or whatever it is) on Valentine's Day, and wrote that piece when he was still intoxicated from having walked in warm sunshine in the Morecambe Bay area.
The weather since then has varied a bit, but has been pretty good on the whole. Bright sunshine is streaming through the windows of the Knobbly Stick ivory tower, but we did have a mini-blizzard this morning, that covered the fells - and even the streets of Kendal - with magic dust.
It's just about all gone now, and so our minds are once again turning to thoughts of getting out and revisiting some of the places we'll be walking with our groups in April and May - the Langdales, Coniston, Glenridding and the Dales Way.
The idea of this blog is really two-fold. First, so that we can tell you about anything interesting happening in Knobbly Stick land - yes, we know the weather is pretty exciting, but we'll try to calm it down a bit in future. And, second, and, we hope, more important, it's for you to be able to add your own comments. We keep saying (in newsletters and such) that we'd like you to tell us what you think, so this seems to be an ideal opportunity. We're not blog experts, but we think you can do it anonymously - you do need to register (with Google, we think...not with us!), but you can do it under a "pen-name".
Anyway, we're going to finish this message now, have a chat about what we'll put on next, and do some more.
Do keep in touch
Best wishes and happy walking
John and Pete
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