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BB1227
: Singing High, High, Low
Tuesday
28th August 2012
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Do
you remember Brian Johnson?
I
mean the singer, not Brian Johnston, the
redoubtable cricket commentator.
If
you are under 60, it is unlikely.
Back
in the early days of the Eurovision Song
Contest, the UK generally did quite well
and the aforementioned singer actually came
second in 1960.
You can watch the video at
British Entry.
If this don't get you whistling, nowt
will! But do listen out for the Truck
Driver's Gear Change.
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Brian
Johnson
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What’s
the relevance to today’s outing? Well there were
three of us, Bryan, me and my now Dorset-based university
pal and occasional BOOTboy,
Tim, whom we had asked to suggest a destination. To
our amazement he burst into a hitherto unknown adaptation
of Johnson’s Euro-song: High, High, High:
I’m
thinking High, High, High
Not so low, low, low
High
Street, my feet, is where they want to go
From here,
Kentmere, I’m told is good and so
I pray, the way
to me show, show, show.
How
could we refuse? Initially I was a little worried
that it might be a bit too strenuous for him but then
he started discussing with Bryan the various expeditions
they had been on- Himalayas, including Everest base
camp, the highest point in Africa and the highest point
in Europe. I felt quite outclassed. I haven’t
even done the highest in the UK - Lochnagar is my upper
limit at a miserly 3,789 feet. More like High,
High, Low.
Consequently,
I then burst into song with a second verse:
They’d
been high, high, high
I’d stayed low, low, low
They’d
breast Everest and Kilimanjaro
And Mont le Blanc or
Monti Bianco
But Lochnagar was as high as I did go.
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Kentmere
Institute
Garburn
Pass
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So,
whilst the two Margarets (Tim’s and mine)
were plotting an excursion around the lower
part of the Kentmere valley, we strode up
the Garburn Pass until we came to Bryan’s
short cut.
This
went direttissimo to the ridge, thereby
overtaking the only people we saw all day
who were going in the same direction.
Yoke,
Ill Bell, Froswick and Thornthwaite Beacon
all succumbed in quick succession; the path
between them sadly having been spoilt by
the so-called “Fix the Fells“ people.
Fells
fixed. Sadly.
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Panorama
to the west- Conistons to Dunmail
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Fell
sculpture
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Approaching
Ill Bell.
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Another
bespoiling, at least Bryan thought so, was a stone left
on the Froswick summit marked with the text: Froswick
100 10:46 26/8/12.
Presumably someone's 100th Wainwright. If
everyone did this, the place would be littered with
such graffiti (and worse) and anyway, the time to celebrate
the Wainwrights is after the 214th, not the 100th. So
the text no longer sees the light of day.
Afterthought-
perhaps it was the persons' 100th birthday, in which
case, apologies and great respect!
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Froswick
summit with graffiti
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Thornthwaite
Beacon.
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Looking
down Kentmere
Fairfield
and Helvellyn ranges
Surprisingly
soon, we reached the High Street summit, although it
is actually quite difficult to be sure exactly where
the summit lies. After a bit of a wandering about,
we crouched down by the wall, near to the trig point,
but the increasingly strong and cold wind seemed to
be blowing along the line of the wall, thereby curtailing
our lunch stop.
Comitibus
: High
Street
Ullswater
and Blea Water from High Street
Mardale
Ill Bell has also been blighted by the Fix the Fellsers
but it was now blowing a gale so we were unable to have
a moan about it until we reached the Nan Bield shelter.
And shelter was needed. The wind was seriously
strong.
We
briefly contemplated doing the full Kentmere round but
saw little merit in climbing the less interesting side
of the circuit in such conditions. Anyway, the
drop down into Kentmere has much more to offer with
the reservoir, fell ponies and various mine workings.
Kentmere
fell ponies
Also,
it was out of the wind and provided a fine view or our
circuit.
Looking
High High High- the round trip
We
reached the car bang on time to drive to Staveley for
our 4 p.m. rendezvous at the Brewery with the two Margarets.
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The
likely lasses
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As
we reached Scroggs Bridge we saw two likely
lasses hitching so we stopped for them.
To our surprise and delight,
it was the two Margarets! [creep-
Ed.]
They
had been helping a lady and her two teenage
daughters who were in some distress as they
were lost, their wellies had split and they
could not get a mobile phone signal.
Our
two angels sorted them out and sent them
in the right direction.
Hopefully!
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Naturally,
we did the decent thing and gave the Margarets a lift
down to the Brewery for a celebratory drink.
Whilst
we were there who should take us by surprise but Mike?
He hadn’t been able to be with us on the walk
due to staff meetings but could now join us for a quiet
pint. I won't go into detail about the misfortune that
then befell him. Let's just say he had a dental
mishap!
All
of which leads to the concluding verse of today’s ditty:
We’d
been high, high, high
And now were low, low, low
Just
then, d’ye ken, two Margarets said “Hello!
“We think,
a drink would be rather nice, you know."
Then
Mike, gap-like, needed tape-sello!
Don,
28th August 2012
Lummox,
Dummocks and Aquinas
The
reference to Dummock in BB1226
caused my brother, Alan, to query whether the word should
be "lummox" . After consulting various sources,
we concluded that Lummox was a word for a fat, heavy
and stupid fellow or an awkward clown, so a not very
different meaning.
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In
the course of the research, I came across
a reference to St
Thomas Aquinas.
In
Thomas' younger days, his teacher, St Albert,
said:
We call this man a dumb ox,
but his bellowing in doctrine
will one day resound throughout the world.
He
went on to become one the greatest of the
medieval Doctors of the Church, an unrivalled
theologian who used scientific rationalism
to support the doctrines of Christian faith
and revelation.
Yet Aquinas the man always remained modest and unassuming, as rich in spirit as in mind.
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This
may well be the origin of the word "Dummocks"
which then became singularised.
BOOTbabiesЯUs:
Another Satisfied Customer
Business
is booming at BOOTbabiesЯUs.
Another
satisfied customer, my school pal and long time follower
of the BOOTboys,
Vlad, wrote to say:
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Having seen your BOOTbabiesЯUs advert, we ordered
the Little Annie model.
She was on special
offer as she has no volume control.
A bit of an impulse buy but I never could resist
a bargain!
We also ordered the heavy duty earplugs.
Here
is BOOTbaby
Annabelle Elizabeth, as she has now
been named, arriving by parachute to meet
her new family.
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Give them a BOOTbaby
The Gift of Love
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STATISTICS:
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BB1227
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Tuesday
28th August 2012
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| Distance
in miles:
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11.8
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| Height
climbed in feet:
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3,548
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| Wainwrights:
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Yoke,
Ill Bell, Froswick, Thornthwaite Beacon,
High Street, Mardale Ill Bell
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| Other
Features:
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Nan
Bield Shelter, Margarets
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| Comitibus:
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Bryan,
Don, Tim
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BOOTboys
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our route in detail by downloading bb1227.
To
see which Wainwright top was visited on which BB outing
see
Which
Wainwright When?
For the latest totals of the mileages and heights see: BB Log.
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Wainwrights
To
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outing see Which
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To
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