Don’t forget your compass!

Jane Wright continues her pre-season fitness regime, and is reminded of the two golden rules of following walking instructions…

Another week has ended and I’m hunched over the weather forecast like a polar bear over her seal hole in the winter ice. There’s much talk of isobars and a cold front moving in, but in the words of the late, great radio producer John Walters: “Just tell me, experts, IS IT GOING TO RAIN?”

When my train leaves London a day later, the answer is clear, although the view is not. It seems if you can see the Chiltern beeches it’s about to rain and if you can’t see them, it is raining. But I’m on a fitness drive. My spring season leading escorted walks for ATG Oxford begins in a matter of weeks, so I mustn’t allow the weather to get in the way. I can even enjoy its occasional vagaries on a walk. We 21st century city dwellers and office workers have all but lost any direct day-to-day experience of the elements, yet they can make philosophers of us all. That whisper of breeze or sliver of cypress shade on a hot hill is intense. And on my more northerly hood-and-gaiters walk today, the shaft of sunlight through cloud as I emerge from the trees creates a marvellous moment of light: new wheat glowing luminous green against a darkling sky. To walk, is to live absolutely in the present, and enjoy it, because the next moment you’ve moved on and, good or bad, no condition is permanent.

Back in the woods again, I’m reminded too late of two golden rules when following walk instructions: make sure your notes are up-to-date and take a compass. My route today comes from one of my best walk books, Time Out’s 52 Country Walks within easy reach of London. There’s a walk for each weekend of the year, all starting and finishing at a station within an hour of London, so you don’t even need a car. But my well thumbed volume dates back to 1997 and while a great positive of landscape is its timelessness, just occasionally something has changed and a compass bearing is invaluable for keeping me on track. I know I put it in my rucksack…so where is it, so I can finally work out where I am too? Back and forth I go, then round in circles, wasting time and getting nowhere, till I give up with the directions and follow my common sense out of the wood. Now of course the way ahead is clear and within an hour I’m drying out, though not metaphorically, with a glass of red in front of a friend’s fire. Oh, and I found the compass in my safe place pocket!

Twelve more miles notched up and it feels easier than the South Downs last time and that feels good. As for the getting wet and getting lost….I do a full leader’s walk through for confidence before my ATG group turns up and thankfully a season of walking in France and Italy carries a stronger promise of sun. I am beginning to feel season-ready!