Into the 2020’s
1st January 2020 2019 had its share of preoccupations, both political and professional, and I did get out and about more during the first half of the year than the second. Weather had its part in that as much as those aforementioned preoccupations but the dividing line appears to be my trip to British Columbia in July. That also needed recovery from jet lag together with financial restoration.
Before all that, there were numerous trips to Yorkshire and Scotland between February and May. The Yorkshire outings took me around Settle and Malham after a visit to the North York Moors near Great Ayton. Easter was spent around Edinburgh with excursions to Linlithgow, Peebles and Penicuik getting me out into more natural surroundings on a sunny weekend that rather spoiled me. Subsequent return visits in May even featured a return to Stirling as well as another stopover in Linlithgow.
The Canadian trip was the highlight though and my base in Vancouver allowed for plenty of exploration around the city itself as well as fitting in side trips to North Vancouver, Squamish and Vancouver Island. The introduction was so thorough that I struggle to think of an excuse to return and there should be plenty of those as long as I figure out how to spend time on any associated long flights.
To some, 2020 is not when the new decade begins but popular opinion is not awaiting 2021. For me too, a certain wistfulness has descended and I look back to 2000 when I began my career and 2010 when I changed jobs. The 2010's have been life changing too and unwanted political developments to come in 2020 will bring more change. For that reason, I am not planning very much and will see how the year goes.
It this was 1990 or 2000, my sentiments would be more optimistic since that was the world view at the time. However, all that has dissipated and popular dissatisfaction is causing all sorts of upheaval. Throughout all this, it is important to keep a sense of perspective so it is likely that sunny days will lure me out of doors like the last days of 2019. After all, my late mother left me with a constant desire never to waste bursts of sunshine.
We appear to live in a time when making one's own new happy experiences is never more needed and then there is the necessity to share them. Distractions in 2019 have lengthened the trip report backlog though I am writing one at the moment. As I now look to 2020, that motivation is one that feels sound even if I largely will let the opportunities come to me. Then, less of them get wasted and more stories are there to be told. If a few are uplifting too, that will be even better.
Revisiting Calderdale after a long absence
23rd December 2019 2007 became a year that was dominated by walking sections of long-distance trails like the Pennine Way. That in turn led me to Calderdale during the spring of that year. Two trips stand out for me with the first being near the start of February and the second near the start of March. Since those, I hardly have explored the area with other places gaining my attention.
This is a part of the world laden with so many public rights of way that it is difficult to pick out a few to facilitate some wandering. Maybe it is better to ramble from one to another in a more haphazard way and civilisation is ever at hand in the valley below the moors in any case. That sort of approach lay in the background as I plied my circuitous way from Hebden Bridge to Todmorden during the autumn of 2017.
It was a sunny if chilly Friday so it was little surprise to see others wandering about as well. Even so, I was about to find plenty of those quieter interludes that I relish so much. The advantage of having many paths to follow is that people can spread out everywhere. Some of these rights of way were not as clear or as well signed as others, but there was no conflict with landowners either.
There may have been a problem with train services going east from Hebden Bridge but it did little to delay my arrival and was soon forgotten as I scaled the steep slopes to reach the moors in the autumn sunshine. Because of all the path options, that also meant correcting a wrong turning and I got to wondering if having a GPS receiver with me might have been better. These days, the OS app on my phone would have been enough to put me right but that lay in the future back then.
The constant sunshine and the multitude of quieter places meant that I could navigate from right of way to right of way in peace and with ample time for ensuring that I was going in the right direction. Some of these followed clear tracks while others took me straight across boggy ground. Along the way, I took in views towards Heptonstall and Mytholmroyd though any sights of Hebden Bridge were lost in the steep-sided cleft of Calderdale. On any hike, some views are left behind you as you proceed towards others.
My eventual destination was Stoodley Pike and getting there meant passage along part of the Pennine Way, so the direction of travel was easy to follow at this point even if the air was chilly enough for me not to tarry for too long. Cloud may have started to fill the sky, but any disruption of sunshine was momentary so I started on my way towards Todmorden. That took me down a steep incline using part of the Calderdale Way to Mankinholes and Lumbutts from where a mixture of road walking and footpath rambling got me to my final destination in ample time for the train journey home again after what had been a satisfying stroll with an added element of problem-solving.
Travel Arrangements
Train journey from Macclesfield to Hebden Bridge followed by a train journey from Todmorden to Macclesfield.
Endings
10th December 2019 For one reason or another, it feels as if many things are coming to an end at the moment. Clearly, we are coming to the end of a year and some would say that it also is the end of a decade, while others suggest that there is another year left in the current one. As if that is not enough, Virgin Trains no longer operate on the West Coast Mainline, so that is another change that adds an end of era feel. There is also a wider unwanted political changeover in the offing too, and that brings an even bigger ending.
For me, an ongoing work contract is coming to an end while other possibilities are being explored for 2020. That has weighed on me heavily this autumn, so I have not been out and about as much as in other years. The appetite for countryside wandering has abated for now; uncertainty is ahead of me.
Nevertheless, there have been urban visits to Bath, Oxford, Edinburgh and Sheffield, all day trips, together with several days at a conference in Amsterdam. There, the weather was inclement, but we were indoors most of the time anyway, and it was useful to meet old colleagues, catch up with what is happening in an industry and necessarily discuss opportunities for next year.
Given the current situation, I am not embarking on a mid-winter getaway this year, so the Christmas and New Year break may not see me straying far from home. Having some time for reflection and recuperation will prove useful anyway, and I hope to get out and about should the weather allow that, since it has not been all that encouraging these last few months. It is all too easy to let grey days bring wistfulness, so a new start during next year is in order. Only time will tell what that means.
A loss of interest?
1st September 2019 Recent weather probably should have had me out and about, but other things have been weighing on my mind instead. Current political uncertainty is among these, as is the impact that my summertime trip to Canada had on my finances. Sorting them out is as much a priority as sorting out how my work arrangements might look in 2020. Thoughts of taking a longer stretch of time away from client work to develop the details are appealing ones.
Aside from a reluctance to embark on trips away from home, the effect on my relish for reading also is being felt. Currently, I am working my way through Christopher Somerville's The January Man. This should be precisely the type of gentle reading that allows a break from the troubles of the world, but it appears to reveal a lack of enthusiasm for exploring the British landscape, so is it because I might be after new pastures? That is a thought to hold as I explore what world events might mean for me.
It probably also is opportune to survey the breadth of what I have been reading this year. Some have made for difficult reading, and this set includes an anthology of writing about Nepal that includes content from La.Lit magazine together with Dan Jones' The Templars. There has been uplifting reading too, with Alastair McIntosh's Soil and Soul being among them while contemplating a business proposal that could have deflected me from my own intentions. In the end, I rejected the latter in order to maintain the independence that I want to retain; saying no was a difficult thing for me to do.
All the while, there are trip reports that awaiting writing and photo galleries to be created or updated. As the hours of daylight shorten, there may be time for those much-needed diversions from news watching. There even may be scope for daylight wandering if I could lessen the weight that is dampening my spirit before a change of year provides even more of a release.
So many destinations
4th August 2019 It used not be the case that my mind went went roving the world when compiling lists of places to go. Then, I limited myself to Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man but 2015 changed all that. International possibilities not only became realistic but even became a necessity during times of work dissatisfaction and domestic political tumult before the latter began to feel international in its own way.
Even so, overseas journeying has not stopped with Canada becoming the latest country that I have got to visiting. Others like the U.S.A., Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Chile also are tempting though I may need to temper such thoughts given how far away Seattle, Portland, Tasmania and Patagonia actually. To get that far afield needs a little stability in my working life and there may be some big changes ahead of me.
Even within Britain and Ireland, I need to exercise control for Donegal, Kerry, the Ochill Hills and numerous other places all call in their own way. It is when the list grows so large that the limits of human capabilities and lifespan start to dawn on you. It is then that you get to wishing that books of things to do or places to visit refrained to mentioning human mortality in their titles. After all, who can do 1001 different hikes in their lifetime when other matters need more attention?
There are some whose lives are focussed around such things but, aside from being obsessive, all this needs to take is place among other priorities. A recent career break had me assessing just those because we all need fulfiling work lives without depending solely on pleasurable experiences to keep us going. Thinking back to 2016 and 2017, I know all about the futility of just that.
Satisfaction is what lasts even if it does not feel entirely like fun at the time. That was the driver for my recent trip to Vancouver though I got a lot of enjoyment too. The same needs to apply to working for a living and that will be in my mind over the next few years while I may need to allow appealing thoughts of visiting far flung parts of the world drift away from me so I can deal with more important matters while still exploring what surrounds me.
