Mountains Talk

Mountains tell of small feet scratching their backs.
And of the scars they make.
They tell of the long hours that bring out these feet,
And of the shorter ones,
When the feet were sometimes lighter,
Sometimes,
Heavier.
But non were heavy enough to give them scars.
Mountains tell of the tiny feet, light feet, touching there a bit and here,
And of the tickling snow as it falls,
And the wash they get as it rains, And the great hair drier,
The wind,
And the sun that makes their grow.
Mountains have many tales to tell in many languages.
My favourite is Scottish.

Ghostly goings on.

As I was out exploring the Scottish wilderness the other day with my fellow explorer, that's him up there, I saw for the first time an awesome spectacle.

We were well up the slopes of Beinn a'Bheirthir on our way to Sgorr Dhearg, in Glencoe, when we stopped to look at what Scotland has to offer regarding truly wild and fantastic scenery.


The clouds were resting in the glens after their long climb down the slopes of the high mountains creating a sense of brooding majestic magnificence. The feeling of being surrounded by the quiet power of nature was palpable and we both took many seconds to soak up this feeling, it was like we were recharging our spiritual batteries to keep us going until the next encounter with the natural world. Fortunately this was not long in coming.

Mick let out a shout! Thinking that some disaster had befallen him I turned to see what the noise was about, on the cusp of leaping to his aid, or to admonish him for tripping up over his walking poles, I saw him pointing furiously down into Gleann a'Choalais and shouting about some ghostly spectre! Not being able to see what he was pointing at I thought that he may be suffering from low altitude illness or tiredness brought on by early starts and steep slopes. Then I too saw what he had seen.

At first it was the coloured halo, a rainbow round my head with the pot of gold on one of my ears! Then slowly the ghostly figure materialised on the cloud that had come up to have a look at who was on his mountain,


my first mountain ghost! A Brocken Spectre! Caused by the sun behind our backs casting our shadows onto that curious cloud! We both watched in awe at this natural phenomena, seeing the large ghost follow us up to the peak, watching us, maybe looking after us. It was a rare moment in mountain days when all the conditions that are needed to do this meet and include us in their games.

We continued on to Sgorr Dhonuill followed by our own mountain guide. Then as we descended into the glen, he left us and slipped safely into the cloud that had become denser, his job done.

It was a fantastic experience and reminded me of all the similar experiences John Muir would have had on his many adventures in the wilderness. Two friends went back to the campsite happier for this rare privilege.

The Students perform.

The short play:

Those who make it a bit easier for me.

In order to deliver the various John Muir awards to the candidates, there are a number of different factors that must came together: the students must be willing to work in all weather conditions, must be willing to want to learn, be receptive to new ideas, and be ready to embrace the need to be aware of what is happening to the environment. What it also takes is the help and support from those who are involved with the teaching.



Without all those who have helped throughout the delivery of the awards, it would have been a longer journey and meant a great deal of work for me, so thank you for all your help.

The Gathering

Holly, Shane, Jordan, Cheryl, Ethan, Mary, Mark, and myself, attended the Providers Gathering at the Crosthwaite Centre, Keswick to meet other providers to see the work that they are doing and to exchange ideas on how to keep the Award exciting for the candidates.

After the introductions the group set about their given task of producing a 'short play' (our choice) to highlight how wild places could be used to educate people about trying to do something constructive for the environment.


This was a great chance for the students to work together, along with Mark, Mary and I, on a task that was not based on using tools, but the knowledge gathered on their journey through the Discovery, Explorer and Conserver awards. The task was a difficult one as they all had to contribute so they had to talk, listen, and discuss what they wanted to get over to the other groups.


It was a stressful time for them all as they almost battled to get their point of view across but with help and guidance form Mary and Mark they managed to produce a short play in an hour that told the story of excess leading to decay but with a chance for hope for the environment. Well done to you all!

A delicious lunch followed, and a time for the group to meet and chat to other providers,







All the students mixed well and had a great deal to say about their experiences of discovering, exploring, conserving, and sharing, and they listened to the adventures of others.



The final task that the groups had to do was go for a walk and 'map out' the route they had taken using natural features, i.e. trees with ivy growing on them, clusters of mushrooms and any other identifiable features that were present on the walk. The 'map' they had produced was then given to someone else to follow.














The students worked well well today, at times under difficult circumstances. They had to think of a script, discuss it amongst themselves, then act it out in front of strangers. Their personal development is progressing well and the knowledge they are gaining is evident in their interactions with other people.

Puddle splashing.

Tuesdays morning is the time for the Conserver group to work in the forest, but they also take with them candidates from the Explorer and the Discovery group. This helps the Conservers pass on their knowledge to others on a regular basis, a great opportunity to practise this skill. It also gives the Explorers a chance to work more frequently in the woods, watching the more experienced candidates and learning from them, also adding to the hours they need to work. The Discoverers love to come out as often as they can!

It was a wet one. As we stood by the Log Cabin waiting for Mark to let us in I was watching Shane standing under a drip if water and Denver and Ethan splashing in puddles and for a moment I was back to being a youth and thinking of the times I did the same thing. Why do you enjoy doing that enjoying? " I asked.

"Because it's fun! and being our ages, it's allowed!"

"Listen lads", I said, "never let the child in you go completely," and joined them puddle jumping. It was good.

The aim today was to encourage the group to tell us what they wanted to do to keep the work interesting. This is also good practise for them to develop their conversational and social skills.

The group did very well, sitting down for a good hour and contributing well to the discussion.

We then went to Sean's Plot, Bowkerstead, to show Ethan the site as he had not seen it before. As Shane was telling him all about the woodland management programme that he had been working on, Ethan looking shocked said:

"How does he remember all that information?"

"Simple" I said "he enjoyed learning it".

We all left the forest deep in our own thoughts.

Megan had a fantastic two days on her Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Expedition. More of that to come.

Scary times

The Conserver candidates are doing well with their sharing experiences so far. They have had some good opportunities to talk to many different people during their adventure and are progressing well on their journey.

One of the interesting things that I have found about working with the many different award candidates, is that they all take sightly different paths but get to the end eventually. Some of the candidates skills are stronger in communicating with other people, some stronger in getting their hands dirty, some stronger in the more technical aspects of their work, but what is important about each of them is that at some point in their journey they have to face a difficult situation. For some, looking out at a group of expectant faces is enough to make all the leaves on a pine tree fall, but to see the self confidence develop and the fear gradually receding, is to see a positive move in a personally advantageous direction.

So for all the candidates who have put themselves into a potentially horribly scary situation......well done and keep going!

Coming scary events:

1) Duke of Edinburgh Expedition,
2) John Muir Gathering,
3) Abbeyfied Residential Home,
4) Bendrigg Lodge Trust,
5) The Abbey Care Home, Stavely.