Gait

I have just finished reading a book about the way we walk - 'Born to Walk' by James Earls. It is really aimed at physiotherapists and movement therapists and as such assumes a knowledge of anatomy that I don't have but as long as you don't try to follow every detail, it is still very enlightening. It has really opened my eyes to how efficiently we walk.

The book talks a lot about the fascial tissue which forms a thin casing around every organ, blood vessel, bone, nerve fibre and muscle in our bodies. Fascia has its own nerves and tightens up when it is stressed.

Humans have evolved a very economical way of walking on two legs where we 'vault' over our feet and reuse the energy that comes back from the ground when we put our feet down. Rather than contract and relax our muscles with every step, we use tendons and fascial tissue as springs with the muscles just being responsible for adding a bit of energy and correcting our stance every so often. Of course, more effort is needed by our muscles if we walk up or downhill.
 
This explains why walking around a museum or shopping centre can be so tiring. Instead of getting into a rhythmic pace, we are continually stopping and starting and wasting the momentum of the previous step.

Because walking involves bending and twisting, we counter this by using our whole body and our arms both to maintain balance and also as further energy stores to be released on the next stride.

By evolving these mechanisms our species found a way to wander over a large area searching for food with minimal use of calories.

Each step includes a number of 'key events' that allow us to use the foot as a rocker. The heel strikes the ground and then we flex the leg so that the energy is absorbed into the ankle, knee and hip as we roll over the ankle and then forefoot. As our full weight is taken by the foot the bones in the foot spread out before reforming into a dome as we push off on our toes and start the next step.

If any part of us is injured or stops functioning properly we can compensate by using our muscles but this results in a loss of efficiency and puts stress on the rest of the system.

We have different mechanisms for walking, running and sprinting, just as horses walk, trot, canter and gallop. The faster we go the more we use our arms to counter the rotation caused by our legs so that we keep our head and eyes as stable as possible.

Moving on from the book, another fascinating topic is Gait Recognition. The Chinese company Watrix is developing machine learning software that can identify people by the way they walk. Developers currently claim 94% accuracy. Scientists at Manchester University claim almost 100% accuracy for their AI software that analyses the way you put your foot down on a pressure pad.

The funding for the work comes from companies who are interested in using it for security purposes - at airports for example, but it is also claimed that it can help to detect the onset of mental illnes.

Just like fingerprint recognition, the systems rely on having a pre-existing database of people and their gait.

This link between walking and mental health is important. Personally I love the feeling of being 'in the zone' you get when you are walking at a comfortable pace and rhythm and it is a form of exercise that is available to most people.

Out and About

In July, Dorothy and I walked the South Downs Way with our friends Pete and Angie. We stayed at their house and used two cars or car and taxi for some of it then stayed at a hotel in Lewes for the last three days walking. The scenery is so different from where we live in Hebden Bridge. Instead of soft moorland and sheep there is hard, chalky ground and fields full of crops.

I grew up in South East London and my parents took my sister and me out walking in the Downs on most Sundays. It took me back to that time and forced me to try to remember the difference between barley, wheat and oats.

 

 

In August we drove to St Ives and staying at Chy Morvah - the HF House, we joined the guided walk along some of the North Cornwall Coastal Path. We started at Treyarnon Bay and walked to Cape Cornwall, returning to Chy Morvah each night. There were nine of us in the group plus our walking leader, Carol. Once again, walking by the sea was so different to Hebden Bridge.

 

We stayed on for a few nights so that we could visit Tate St Ives, Barbara Hepwoth's Garden and do some inland walks.

 

 

We walked around some archeological sites including Men a Tol. This is Cornish for 'The Stone With the Hole'. Allegedly the stone is guarded by a Cornish Piskie. If you thought your child had been swapped for a piskie child, you could push yours through the hole and it would be swapped back. Also, if a women crawls through the hole backwards seven times under a full moon, she becomes pregnant!

In September I was leading walks for HF Holidays at their Derwentwater house. For the third time we were very lucky with the weather.

The Derwent Fells

 

Last week, Dorothy and I rented a flat in Ullapool and went walking in Sutherland. We did have some sunny days but also some very wet ones.

Beinn Dearg from above Sheneval

 

 

 

 

Dorothy looking North from Sgurr am Fhidleir

 

Me on a damp day.

Back Leading Again

At last I was back leading with HF at their house near Glencoe. The walking programme has been cut down to one week to reduce the journey times and the need for ferries. We also had three coaches turn up each day so that guests could socially distance on them. In the evening there was no social entertainment like quizzes and you had to wear a face mask unless you were eating or drinking. Also we had to sit in smaller, spread out groups for dinner which was served across two rooms.

No walks talks in the evening. Guests had to read about the next day's walks on a poster. We were around to answer any questions and did a short briefing before setting off on the coach in the morning.

All very strange. It was lovely to be back there leading walks but as a social experience it really wasn't the same as it used to be. Let's hope things get back to normal soon.

 Dorothy and two other guests about to swim in the loch!

It's a Wash Out

Well, I managed the first three days. 26 Wainwrights in three days isn't bad going. Unfortunately the weather was on and off showers day and night. Also, walking with a heavy rucksack takes a lot longer than I'd anticipated. Sometimes it is possible to put the bag down and nip out to a summit without it but this wasn't often. I had a rain cover on my rucksack, a big plastic bag inside and then everything in waterproof bags within that. So there wasn't a problem with keeping my stuff dry during the day. However, when you are putting up a tent that is already wet from the night before, it is inevitable that once you've put it up, the things in it will slowly get more and more damp; including your sleeping bag. I really couldn't face putting on damp clothing and walking for another eleven hours or so. So Dorothy very kindly came and picked me up on day four.

Helvellyn from Fairfield

Answers to a few questions you might ask:

Shouldn't you have expected it to rain? After all, how do you think the lakes in the Lake District got there?

I did expect it to rain and I did expect things to get wet but the actual experience of being unable to get anything dry was worse than I had anticipated.

Will you carry on if the weather improves? 

I think I will try to do all the Wainwrights, but I may not try to do them as a continuous walk.

What about all that time you spent plannning?

Oh, I love planning. I enjoyed every minute.

Did you enjoy the walk?

Yes I did. It is satisfying to set yourself a big challenge and then go out and do it, and for the first three days that was exactly what I did. The shifting clouds and changing lighting were very atmospheric and the scenery is magnificent. I also enjoy just walking and thinking about things. You also spend quite a lot of time 'in the moment' thinking about where to put your feet or what you need to do next to get yourself up, breakfasted and packed up. The trouble is that I also began to think about being dry and comfortable again.

Ullswater and Plaice Fell from Hartsop Dodd

Are you disappointed?

It would have been amazing if I could have done it but I suppose that's because it was difficult. It was just a bit too difficult.

How do you poo?

Once I had put up the tent in an out of the way place, I dug a hole with my trowel as far away as possible from streams. When I packed everything up in the morning, I filled it in and put the grass back on top.

Were you really fit enough?

Clearly not. I did manage three days but my muscles were stiff in the morning and my knees and hips kept giving me ouch messages during the night. It's amazing to see how many fell runners there are.

Wouldn't it have been better not to broadcast what you planned to do?

I don't think good friends feel let down if you haven't met a challenge you set yourself. However, knowing that they want you to succeed does help to motivate you. It's easier to give up if no-one knows you are doing it. So telling people does help to push you.

Were you all smelly when you got home?

Yes!

Was it safe?

I'm not sure it was. I was following a route designed by a fell runner. I had adapted it a bit but occasionally I was going down very steep slopes with 15kg on my back and even with two walking poles you can't help wondering how you would stop yourself if you tripped.

Does the rucksack get lighter as you go along because you have eaten some of the food?

I thought this would be true but the fact that everything was getting more and more damp, seemed to be making it heavier!

Do you really think anyone would really ask all these questions?

You are still reading aren't you?

How do you get water? 

Fast running streams. Believe me, there was no shortage. I did have a pen that emits U/V light to kill bacteria and viruses if I felt there was any risk of contamination e.g. by sheep, but I think I should have also taken a filter. Anyway, I seem to be OK.

How do you feel now?

Camping in the wet makes you really appreciate normal life. I'm so lucky that I can go back home. What must life be like for refugees and other homeless people?

Pete's Wainwright Walk

The Wainwrights are the 214 Lake District hills (known locally as fells) described in Alfred Wainwright's seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells (1955–66).

A while back I watched a film about Steve Birkinshaw running round all the Wainwrights in six days and thirteen hours. He ran about two marathons every day basically. This set a new record. I think it's been subsequently beaten but one of the most inspiring things about the film was all the support he had from friends, family and the people of Keswick.

Many people try to climb all the Wainwrights, just as they try to bag all the Munros in Scotland and this was something I had been considering. Then I thought I could do them as one continuous route by following in Steve's steps. I am not a fell runner but I do like a bit of backpacking and wild camping. I really enjoyed doing the Cape Wrath Trail and it would be good to have another challenge. Especially since I have been unable to do any Walks Leading with HF Holidays because of Coronavirus.

This is not an original idea. In fact a guy called James Forrest is trying to do it in 18 days at the moment. I am planning to do it in 27 days, broken down into five separate backpacking trips. 

1. Rydal to Patterdale (6 days: 1 to 6)
   
2. Patterdale to Keswick (5 days: 7 to 11)
3. Keswick to Keswick (5 days: 12 to 16)
4. Keswick to Nether Wasdale (6 days: 17 to 22)
5. Nether Wasdale to Rydal (5 days: 23 to 27)

I was originally planning to have a hotel or B&B stay in between each leg but Dorothy has very kindly agreed to drop me off and pick me up for all but Keswick to Keswick. I can just leave the car in Keswick for 5 days for that one. Accomodation is awkward at the moment with the pandemic so it's much easier to come home in between and much nicer. In fact we are going walking in Scotland for two weeks after the first two legs.

I don't know if I'll manage it. I was very lucky with the weather on the Cape Wrath Trail. Wild camping is not strictly allowed in England but so long as I stay up in the hills, out of the way and leave no trace of having been there, I should be OK.

You can see the route here:

Drama in La Palma

On March 5th, Dorothy and I got up at 2:30 am to drive to Manchester Airport. We parked our car and flew to La Palma in the Canary Islands for a holiday and two weeks of me leading walks for HF Holidays. It seems like a very long time ago now and yet it is only 2 weeks. Of course we wondered if we might get stuck there due to Coronavirus or that the whole trip might get cancelled but we didn't really think that either would happen.

In the first week, the weather was fantastic - hot, sunny and so different from the seemingly endless rain we have had in Hebden Bridge. La Palma is so varied with volcanic ash and lava in the south and lush laurel forests in the north. We walked past papaya, avocados, lemons, oranges and lots of bananas. We gazed down into a volcanic crater from a 1971 eruption and we went up to 8000 feet above sea level to where some of the best observatories in the world are located.

Banana near San Andres

Roque de los Muchachos

Unfortunately Dorothy slipped 50 yards from the end of the penultimate walk and seemed to have sprained her ankle. The coach driver dropped us off at Santa Cruz General Hospital and they x-rayed it. There was no break on the x-ray so they strapped it up and we got a taxi back to the hotel. The hotel happened to have a wheelchair that she could use for a couple of days.

On Thursday, one group of guests went home and the next group arrived. Mike, the other leader and I met them at the airport which is only 10 mins drive from the Parador Hotel where we were staying. Dorothy abandoned the wheelchair and managed to come out and do some painting with the walking groups on the first two days by using the service bus and, the next day, by being dropped off by our coach at one of the lunch spots.

The weather was a little cooler than it had been the week before - quite nice for walking. Meanwhile, far away from our little island, a lot more people in Spain and elsewhere were becoming infected by Coronavirus. On Friday 13th (I am not superstitious - I gave it up in case it brought me bad luck), two Italians who lived on the other side of the island were tested positive following a trip home to Italy. Sheila, our evening speaker was advised by the local government not to attend a 'public gathering'. So felt unable to give the excellent presentation about La Palma that I had listened to the week before. Also the film at the Volcan San Antonio Visitor Centre that we visited was no longer being shown for similar reasons.

We enjoyed our walks through the laurel forest and the banana plantations on Saturday and in the evening we had a trip to the capital of La Palma. As he dropped us off in Santa Cruz, our coach driver told us that the only other excursion he was going to be allowed to take us on was back to the airport. Spain, including the Canary and Balearic Islands was going into a kind of lockdown. We thought we might at least be able to go for a walk from the hotel the next day but while we were eating breakfast on Sunday morning, we were informed that the hotel would be closing at 12 noon on Monday and that until then we would be confined to our rooms. Dinner would be room service only!

Parador Hotel and Gardens

We set up a WhatsApp group and I asked HF Holidays to fly us home a.s.a.p. They responded brilliantly. We were booked onto flights to London Heathrow via Madrid departing 2:30 pm the next day. The hotel manager did actually allow us to leave our rooms and walk in the gardens so long as we did it in small groups. The Parador hotel chain is state owned and they wanted them cleared of guests so that they could potentially be used to help people infected with Coronavirus.

Other Brits were moved to another hotel by Tui, who they had booked their holiday with, and were expecting to return on the original flight the following Thursday. Some people had booked independently and were left scrabbling around trying to find alternative accomodation. So we were very pleased to be with HF who even paid for a minibus to take some of us back to Manchester Airport and others back to Gatwick.

The next day Dorothy and I went to Calderdale Hospital and they x-rayed further up her leg. She had a broken fibula! She is now in a very nice Fracture Boot. If it had been correctly diagnosed in La Palma, we might not have been able to fly back for quite a while! I can't help feeling that we left one of the safest places in the world but it is good to be home.

Winter Hillwalking - HF Holidays and Plas y Brenin Collaboration

Last week I drove up to Alltshellach, the HF Holidays Country House near Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands, to help out with a new venture that will hopefully prove to be successful.

Plas y Brenin (PyB) are normally based in North Wales and offer courses to develop coaches, instructors and leaders in adventure sports like climbing, hiking, biking and canoeing. In the winter they take over Alltshellach and offer Winter Mountaineering courses from there.

This year HF Holidays advertised two separate weeks of winter hillwalking where the walks were led by Plas y Brenin instructors. It was one of these that I went to help out with. I'm not qualified to take groups out in winter conditions - I am only a 'Summer Mountain Leader' but I could offer an easier walk each day in the valley and advise on how an HF Holiday normally works.

I organised some evening activies - a quiz and a game of skittles, PyB provided a couple of lectures and there was a local food evening. There were no takers for my walks! Everyone wanted to get up into the snowy mountains.

As it turned out, the first couple of days were a bit of a damp squib as we were hit by Storm Ciara. It wasn't practical for anyone to go too high, as winds were gusting at up to 80 miles per hour! Nevertheless people did get out for walks.

Later on in the week there were lots of heavy snow showers and this resulted in a good covering of snow. Because no-one chose my walks, I was able to go out in the snow with one of the groups. We got to the top of Beinn Dorain and practiced lots of winter skills like ice-axe arrests, wearing crampons and understanding the implications of the way the snow lies on the mountains.

On the last day the sun came out and we could see Ben Nevis, Schiehallion and the Paps of Jura, all in their winter plumage. Marvellous.

Meall a' Bhuiridh

Binnein Mor and Na Gruagaichean from below Stob Choire a' Chairn

The lower slopes of Beinn Dorain with Ben Nevis in the distance