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BB2127
: Was it Dvořák’s
9th Symphony?
Wednesday
7th July 2021
As
Stan and I were climbing up
to Arant How, why was it that
I could not stop thinking about
the Czech composer Antonín
Leopold Dvořák?
Something
was nagging at the back of my
mind.
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It
was market day in Sedbergh- quite unexpected-
so we had been unable to park in the centre.
Instead we had to go up the hill to
park the car- something we regretted later.
The
day was fine and the ground drier than anticipated.
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We
were making good progress. From Arant
Haw and up along the Dales High Way.
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However,
as we crossed the strangely named Rowantree
Grains Fold to Calders and on to our target,
the Calf, that 9th symphony was still gnawing
at me. Like my memory, the summit
pond was totally dried up.
The
route back was to be alongside Cautley Spout.
Neither of us liked the man-made path
as the slabs were too narrow and covered
with small stones that acted like marbles.
The descent was very steep and my
legs are still aching, I am so out of condition.
Stan, of course, skipped down.
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Cautley
Spout was impressive,
despite the shortage of rain.
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We
stopped for our butties, enjoying the peace
beside one of the lower falls. I remembered
now. It was the beautiful Largo.
I wondered if the folk in the iron
age settlement would have liked it.
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Our
return used the track featured
by Wainwright as part of his
Pennine Journey. It is
an ancient bridle path, frequently
passing through short tunnels
of hawthorn trees.
I
found myself thinking, not for
the first time on BOOTboys
outings, of
Paul
Robeson.
Of
course! The Largo was
based on an African American
spiritual, a version of which
he had recorded.
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After
passing through a couple of scruffy farmyards,
the path drops down to the River Rawthey
which we followed back to Sedbergh where
waiting for us was that cruel climb back
up that hill.
Back
at the car, I phoned home. I suddenly
realised I had it all wrong. That
tune. That song. It wasn’t Dvorjak.
It wasn’t Paul Robeson. It wasn’t
his spiritual “Going Home”. It was
Baddiel and Skinner's Three Lions.
It was "It's
coming home".
“Margaret,”
I sang “We’re coming home, we’re coming
home, BOOTboys
coming home!”
There's
people reading this report. They think
it's all over. It is now!
Don,
Wednesday 7th July 2021
Afternote;
For the benefit of anyone happening
to read this years after the event (or currently
living on a different planet) who find themselves
totally baffled, it might help if I explain
that today was the day of the semi-final
of the EUFA European Football Championship
and England were playing Denmark. And
if you haven't done so already, do click
on Three
Lions.
Kendal
Walking Festival
Bryan,
who is one of the organisers, confirms that
the Kendal Walking Festival is going ahead this year, but in a slightly
different format.
In order to cope with the uncertainties around Covid they have made all the walks
local and free.
Doing it that way means it can be cancelled at short notice with minimal cost.
So instead of the Kentmere Horseshoe this year he
has put together a
14 mile / 2,200ft walk around the Scars.
Click on the picture
to the right for the brochure
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