Hiking
The Devil’s Punch Bowl at Hindhead used to be a notorious traffic bottle-neck, now it’s blessed with a tunnel, one of the few UK tunnels which specifically protect areas of natural beauty. Now the traffic noise has been banished underground, the valley echoes with just the noise of the wind in the trees atop the rim, the rustle of small mammals and the songs of the birds. And us visitors.
The beech, ash, oak and chestnut trees growing in this valley and the holly bushes and stream in the bottom of the bowl, readily support the tales of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight or Siegfried and Fafner; the garden gates around the periphery of the woodland have notices reminiscent of Pooh Corner (“Trespassers will”).
There are paths now deprecated by the National Trust which lead to vast meeting places under the tree canopy (not unlike stone age meeting places in Polynesia) and secret valleys accessible only by the adventurous.
The legend is that the Devil, who lived at the Devil’s Jumps (three small hills nearby at Churt), often tormented Thor, the god of Thunder, who lived nearby at Thor’s Lie (Thorsley), by jumping from hill to hill. Thor would retaliate by trying to strike the Devil with thunder and lightning but on one occasion the Devil scooped up a handful of earth and hurled it at the Devil leaving the Punch Bowl at Hindhead.
Gibbet Hill is now marked by a cross in the Celtic style: the main road once passed this spot; the gibbet was used to hang highwaymen, their rope-strained remains becoming an exhibit to deter the rest.
Lucky choice with a fine autumn weekend in The Lake District to explore two passes, routes from one valley to another with resonances of tribal, Roman and mining traffic as well as the thrill of seeing the view outside of one valley.
A dry day after a misty start in Langstrath above Borrowdale; the route up Langstrath passes Blackmoss Pot (infamous for skinny dipping, though not in October): on up to the small tarn at the summit of the newly-refurbished Stake Pass.
And a clear night leading to a frosty clear Sunday dawn; starting early to bag one of the very few parking places at Hallow Bank. Hiking above Kentmere reservoir up Nan Bield Pass on to Mardale III Bell, (760 m.) on Striding Edge, with clear views over Hawkeswater and on to the Pennines, the Lancashire coast and maybe even a glimpse of the Isle of Man through gaps in the Lakeland peaks to the west.
Selecting these routes from the map alone, not consulting guide books or the ubiquitous Wainwright guides, had the advantage of paths without people, in contrast to the well-tramped high level routes at the summits of the both passes.
Difficult to overstate how gorgeous is the location of the Lac d'Oô.
A stiff climb for a rewarding view. And interesting to revisit the valley below, which was a location for LWT's drama “Wish Me Luck” in the 1980’s.
High above the spa town of Bagnères de Luchon, dominated by a residence that looks like the mountain-top hospital of last resort in “The Magic Mountain”, the novel by Thomas Mann about a sanatorium of last resort, from which the patients seldom returned. Also a location for LWT’s drama “Wish Me Luck”. We walked another part of the GR10 that had passed the Lac d'Oô. A break in the weather gave us views of the peaks and allowed the eagles and hawks visibility to forage.
Back home in Provence having been driven down from the Vercors by wind, rain and low cloud... The clear blue skies of Provence lured us up the twisty road from Gemenos up the col de l'Espigoulier (725m) towards to the cool and forested heights of Mont Sainte Baume. The ancient path up to the ridge at the Col du St. Pilon (955 m.) has been improved by religious pilgrims since when Mary Magdalene spent the last thirty years of her life in a cave looking out over Roman Provence.
