HIKE INTERPRETATIONS

HIKE INTERPERTATIONS

         In England we learned quickly that our guide’s interpretation of a few undulations   meant there would probably be nearly a full day of ups and downs and that little or slight could mean 500’ straight up.

        He said the first morning, “Most Americans determine English walks are really hikes.”  It did not take us long to absolutely agree!  In spite of the fact that hiking boots and walking sticks are difficult to pack in limited luggage I was most grateful for both.

        Toodleing is a slow walk and cracking on means to walk smartly or move quickly.  In reality toodle (rhymes with noodle) meant a pace of about 3 ½ miles an hour and to crack on meant to walk as fast as your legs would go. Everything was so well planned that we seldom had to crack on.

         Loo the favorite expression for toilet, has two explanations of how this abbreviated word came about. One is that years ago the contents of  chamber pots were thrown out the window into the street below. When doing so, one yelled, “Watch out for the loo” or some equivalent which eventually got contracted down to just plain loo.  The other explanation is that the word waterloo, meaning watering hole, just shortened to loo. In any case they were pretty scarce in the areas where we were hiking, and each morning at the briefing we would be advised of the loo availability. Most days it was the green room which I think is a delightful expression for back to nature, or  behind a bush.
       The English do a really smart thing by having a totally equipped free-standing restroom in their carparks (parking lot). We found these consistently clean and well stocked. You always know where one is available. What kid doesn’t have to go as soon as you park the car? 
       In ancient times before roads or maps existed, people used Celtic crosses to mark the way. We saw many such crosses when hiking in the moors. It was the custom to leave a few extra coins, if one had them, on the top of the cross, and if one needed them he could take what he needed---ah the days of honesty! One ancient cross we stopped at was about six feet high and sat on a 30-inch base. It was impossible to put coins on the top, although our guide made a valiant effort.
      The definition of a moor is a flat high area that is treeless, but usually is scrubby. Walking the moors we noted the heather was beginning to bloom so our guided explained, “There are three kinds of heather: bell, ling, and cross leaf. It is the bell heather that is beginning to bloom. You can see fairly large patches of it. Heather is the life blood of the red grouse, which is indigenous to the area. The grouse eats the young shoots. When the heather is 6-7-inches tall it provides nesting areas, and at its full height of 12-15-inches it provides protection. Grouse hunting season is in August. There are controlled burns of the heather every 12 years from September to April so there are patches of different stages of growth all the time. When burning, only the top growth is burned, then the fires are put out before the roots are burned.”
       When the wind blows, and I think that is most of the time on the moors, the heather sways in undulating waves in a sea of color. We were lucky to see three grouse leisurely cross our path!