I’ve just watched the Bill Bryson film about his walk on the Appalachian trail. I walked some of it (500m of it). It was funny watching being sold the top equipment (high tech) for the walk, not knowing what he would need.
It reminded me of my first trip to wild hike in Greenland. I studied as many guide books as I could, not too helpful. My first trip I took my old Blacks tent, plus a load of other things I had no idea whether I would need. My next trip I took a lighter tent, oddly enough one that is popular on the Appalachian trail. There were a lot of things I got wrong on my first trip.
I quickly decided after I arrived that crampons were a mistake, but the ice axe was great for wet steep grass slopes. On my first year I took a two way maritime radio with me for emergency contact (I later switched to a SPOT device).
I remember starting in Brathalid, aiming to walk to Narsaq over a week. A tour group arrived at the same time heading in the same direction (with luggage transport arranged). I had spent weeks walking beforehand. I noticed they had new boots. Bad sign. It was really hot that year (yes Greenland really can be hot). There were very few sources of water at the time. Two of the group were emergency evacuated with hear stroke.
I started walking. One of the guide books had guidance on the way to walk “follow sheep paths – these sure footed creatures never go wrong”. It did strike me that this was a simplification – sheep have four feet and are much shorter than us.
Then you come across things like this. Yes, this is the sheep path I was following walking right in to the lake. And there were others worse than this – some were so precarious on the edge of a precipice that I couldn’t stop to take photographs.
I then got to wondering. Do sheep suffer from mental problems. Are there sheep that are psychopathic? Could sheep actually be trying to lay traps to kill innocent hikers? This was confirmed on a later trip to Greenland. I was walking past some sheep and a lamb walked up in front of me (a bit like the VW add). It clearly decided it was not going to let me pass and tried to headbutt my shins. I planted my walking poles in front of me to stop it hitting me. It then decided it wanted to bite me. However all the books will tell you that sheep do not have mouths that are designed for biting people. So I was faced with the half comical sight of a lamb struggling to turn its head sideways to bite me. It took about 15 seconds each time, so I just walked away each time.
That first year I walked for three days to the hills overlooking Sillisit, I was keen to do the walk to Narsaq. I woke up and made some coffee. Sitting there on a rock a bird came and perched beside me. And I just sat there drinking coffee. I stopped the walk at that point. I changed from “doing” to “being”. Things like the Bible quote “be still and know” started to mean more to me. The creation story – a day of doing nothing at the end of the week.
Every year since then I have taken time to just be. The last time I went I just walked from the airport to the flower valley and put my tent up. I sat looking at nature for a week.
Last night I had a decent length post-midnight walk to the village. First time for 2 months I had walked along that path. Almost every second garden had seen dramatic changes. People have been doing so much since lockdown. Part of the reason, I think, is that “being” can be hard.
I think I need to do less more often.