The Bewilderness

Europe Juncked

A story that we have not seen for a long time: A British Prime Minister isolated in Europe with the spin of principle attempting to obscure the overwhelming defeat. And the battle chosen over the new European President was symbolic but a diversion.

When Cameron had the opportunity to retain powers, especially in the field of criminal justice, he signed them away. I reserve nothing but contempt for a government that upholds the European Arrest Warrant and puts our population at the mercy of laws which are not a criminal offence in this country. His whole performance is a tactical charade designed to appease his backbenchers.

Juncker, the 'leading candidate' of the Christian Democrats in the European Parliement, has interpreted the results of the European elections as a legitimation of the leading candidates. However, as more decisions of the Commission, undermine British national interests, the elite on these islands is becoming ever warier of Brussels.  

Some would argue that a Union which no longer takes the interests of one of its largest members into account (and has economically devastated most of its southern periphery) is beyond reform. The rejection of the populist protests in many countries is indicative of this. 

Cameron has been bruised by his encounters with Europe. It is not clear what his next steps will be, but a further dilution of Member State powers has taken place with the co-operation of EU leaders who have become further ciphers in a process where obscure non-entities are elected by a clownish Parliament who claim to represent a people that could not recognise them. 

Surrey does not have three peaks

Tonight I shall inveigh against the Surrey Three Peaks. This was a challenge that I would find posters for scattered across the woodland south of Dorking near Leith Hill. It was an admirable endeavour for charity whereby walkers, runners and the can't make your mind up crowd of joggers complete three hills in Surrey. The usual route is 26 miles though the peaks can differ. The highest hills (Box Hill, Leith Hill and Holmbury Hill) are usually included.

This a good stiff walk and could be accurately called the Surrey Hills Challenge (a more fitting tribute to the locale) or the Surrey Three Hills. I am unconvinced that any of the hills in Surrey could be described as having a peak. One expects snow, technical scrambling and walking up for a few hours. The ups and downs of Surrey just don't cut in and these titles do encourage a Trade Descriptions Act moment.

Does this appropriation actually detract from the Three Peaks itself? Not really. Those who experience the proper challenge understand what is required and can look down on such error from a great height! The lesson is that you do not need to clothe your route in another's garb. I am sure that there is a better name for these routes. Though I would balk at the Surrey Stride which is also intellectual property theft. I would prefer the Surrey Hills marathon.

Barraboy Mountain

During my sojourn in Ireland, there was one opportunity for scouting future trails and taking the air in the mountains. The weather was so bad (indeed equivalent to the rain now beating down upon my conservatory) that there was no alternative to bundling in the car and taking off for the Misty Mountains (my parochial mythmaking for the Dingle Peninsula).

There are three trails that criss-cross through this beautiful and mournful country: the Beara Way, the Kerry Way and the Dingle Way. All of them are exceptional in terrain and landscape. All three will be walked.

My sole attempt in Ireland was a useful primer in the bogs and mountains of Kerry. Having been bought a guide: "Walks in Kerry", I flicked through the pages and selected one of reasonable challenge. Words such as "don't do it alone" and when the mountains are in mist proved irresistable. Hardest first is a foolhardy motto but I chose it. As with all such books, the time and the distance was wrong. It took four hours, not six: and the distance was 13 miles, not 9. These are mere quibbles.

The first section followed the Beara Way up minor roads and up an old track called the Esk Way to a radio transmitter. The incline was steep and the track petered out but the off-road element gave me an alluring taster for this trail. (Added to the list!) After that, there was no path: just picking your way across a ridge walk for four miles in the mist and rain. Sometimes conditions were clement, especially as you trudged down into a saddle; sometimes conditions were ferocious. I last saw my baseball cap in a howling gale sailing north on the wind whilst rain battered me. Luckily these conditions were infrequent and didn't mar an enjoyable walk too much.

The peak of the walk is 519 metres near the Priest's Leap following which you turn back down into the valley on a tarmac road (a wonderful respite) and leave the heights behind. On a sunny day, the ridge walk must give a wonderful view of Kenmare and Bantry Bays. Even in the rain, one could see glimpses of this.  

The path is good experience as the ridge walk follows a fence due east for four miles. A compass is essential but it is hard to get lost. I never needed to look at an OS map, just the sketch outlined in the book. You can do worse than the Barraboy Ridge for an introduction to the Irish Mountains and bagging Barraboy Mountain (456 metres)

All to play for in 2015

The Labour party have not maintained the lead in the polls that they commanded during the years of declining living standards. The parallels with the balance sheet recovery of 1992 are clear. During that election, Labour were also unable to persuade enough voters that they deserved their trust on matters of economic competence. As the recovery has accelerated and living standards have commenced an upward trend, the Conservative party enjoys a tepid recovery in the polls.

This polling trend is, in some ways, indifferent to the European election results or potential upsets in Newark. Since the underlying compass for voters is the economy, psephological upsets magnified by the Westminster bubble are far less influential that real asset bubbles elsewhere. For the Tories, their real risks lie offshore: in China, Europe and the United States. 

Yet, with the economy as ballast, a recovery hits the oddities of the British electoral system. Left-wing Liberal Democrats have tactically defected to Labour in part; anti-Tory distaste trumping devotion to the protest vote. And the protest vote has turned to UKIP: disillusioned with a party now in government. 

The range of outcomes is wide open and complicated by the potential results of the Scottish referendum. That, rather than the European elections, could prove the earthquake that cracks open English politics.

Tea is best appreciated after 40 miles

The Ridgeway 40 is not the hardest or the most enduring of routes, and the wide track can induce a certain ennui after twenty-five miles given the monotonous series of views one walks through. On a slower and more sedate pace, it is a splendid trail, but this all lost to the pain of slogging. 

Is the pain of weary feet and sore legs worth the small Certificate given out at the end and the bone-weat satisfaction of sitting down with a cup of tea? It is not a question I can answer. But ne'er did a cup of tea taste so good!

Unobtainium is not an element

Additions to the periodic table are announced periodically. And we have element 117. This new super-heavyweight is not yet named. And usually they are here for a fleeting time before vanishing in the winds of the collider. More info here. So long as they don't call it unobtainium....

So tempting to X Hadrian's Rubicon

The  most successful party that has fed on the disillusionment with Westminster and run an insurgent's campaign is not UKIP. It is the Scottish Nationalist Party under the command of Svengali Salmond. It is doubtful that the nationalist populism has proved a positive message; all they have needed is some pompous oaf to wail Cassandra lite for the Scottish voter to weigh up the cons of economic ruination and the pros of no longer hearing MPs. I would take a Yes vote if it meant no more Miliband, Cameron or Clegg. A leap of faith into the unknown but these colourless vile bodies would be silenced north of the border. So tempting to X Hadrian's rubicon.

The beauty of the High Weald

If I leave my house and trend in a southerly direction, I find my way blocked by Gatwick Airport. Some would view this as a blight on any ramble, inhibiting an appreciation of the countryside and destroying vaunted pace with engine roars and frenetic activity. This is a wholly one sided view of the airport. Public footpaths run round and through the grounds so you skirt this vast machine following rivers or paths. One can marvel that a pleasant river meanders not five minutes away from a runway, once one has tracked away from the roads and hotels.

If the small pleasure of finding pleasant fixtures on the margins of Gatwick provides a small satisfaction at the start of the walk, then the commencement of the Weald a few miles further south becomes a splendid secret rarely sought by those outside of the area. The rolling hillsides and small villages provide a small landscape of fields and woodland. The paths may seem tame but you soon start to descend up and down steep banks leading to rivers passing through the woods and carved out deep channels in untouched settings.   

The principle paths that run through this small-scale land with its unseen challenges are principally three: the Sussex Border Path, the West Sussex Literary Trail and the High Weald Landscape Trail. I have walked parts of two out of three. All the paths fall below the Crawley blight and meander through small villages with ancient churches and crumbling cemeteries. For me this rivals the Surrey Hills as an area of natural beauty.

A quest for the bouldering glove

I am not sure why bouldering gloves are such an obscure product line. Meandering around the outdoor shopping cluster in Covent Garden, I asked about this in two shops. Neither were much help. The term scrambling appears to have gone out of fashion in favour of bouldering. I am not sure why! 

The first response was an "Urk!", as if I had asked for the moon. The second asked me to define a "bouldering glove": light, with grips and acting as a backstop if the surface is cold, snowed or wet. Their recommendation was diver gloves for working underwater. Not as daft as it could sound and could possibly work well.

But with retail efficiency like this, no wonder we turn to the net for all things emporium.

The Clarendon Way

The Clarendon Way can be viewed as an extension or the final part of the South Downs Way. The hills become more attenuated after you leave the National Park and they are punctuated by the Test Valley. Yet, the path begins where the South Downs Way ends: at Winchester Cathedral. 

The first few miles wound around the countryside and suburbs of Winchester before finding its stride after leaving Oliver's Battery. Then, for the next six miles, you get a good hilly walk with views before the path finally declines to the Test Valley and the village of Kings Somborne. All of the villages are currently feeling the effects of flooding. I bought lunch at Kings Somborne and had to cross sandbags and a bridge to get to the village shop. This was a taster for the lake within which the various branches of the River Test flowed. I was perturbed but the track is well-maintained, raised and presented no problem in reaching Houghton. 

From here. the landscape undulates and flattens out. the track passes through fields and woodlan before the settlement of Middle Winterslow is reached. Of irritation is the difference in tracking between the map and the signs. Variation allows different routes to be tried out, though they all end in the same destination, Salisbury. 

And as you walk through the woods and walk down towards the town, you can see the immense spire of the Cathedral rising through the mist. Measured at 30 miles, the Clarendon Way is one of the most beautiful walks accessible from London. And you get in a measure of the Monarch's Way and cross the Test Way!