The Great Outdoors – July 2019

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Share your views, your experiences and your

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The Editor, The Great Outdoors, Kelsey Publishing,

Cudham Tithe Barn, Berry’s Hill, Cudham, Kent, TN16 3AG

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Letters may be edited for clarity or to fit the space available.

LETTERS

day hike with a 25l sack I prefer

not to use poles, but encourage

their use to anyone with worries

over a knee, hip or ankle. Some

prefer using one, some two, it is

individual choice. 

Few people use their poles

(the traditional ski pole style)

correctly, with the hand going up

through the strap, grasping the

pole and pulling downwards. 

My poles have often been lent

to a flagging youngster with

benefit to morale,  but taken

back when the youngster starts

using the pole to practise a golf

swing. Rubber stoppers should

be used for hard surface walking,

but removed  on soft ground,

ice and snow. The little pockets

on the waist belt of a sack are

a handy place for the stoppers

when not required. 

I can’t take the issue of

footpath damage by poles

seriously, when  aeration of

soil is a positive contribution

to drainage and plant growth,

especially in clay soils.

David Syme

High points of the NYM

Arguably, Stony Ridge at 434m

on Stockdale Moor could be

regarded as the second highest

point in the North York Moors

(Wild Walk, Urra Moor and

Wasted camping gear
I was interested to read the
editor’s comment in the latest
TGO, having for several years
been a member of one of the
post-festival salvage teams at
events such as Y Not and Leeds
Festivals (see photo, right)
Our aim is to salvage as much
useable gear – such as tents,
mats and sleeping bags – to ship
out to people who really need
them in areas where disasters
either natural or manmade have
occurred.
It’s a sad indictment of our
society when literally thousands
of perfectly good tents and other
gear are just dumped when other
humans in the world are literally
dying for want of these items.
We can only salvage a small
percentage in the one day we
usually get allocated by the
festival organisers. Everything
that’s not salvaged then goes
into landfill. The level of waste at
these big festivals never fails to
shock and enrage, no matter how
many times you see it.
If retailers stop marketing
‘festival tents’ then that’s a step in
the right direction.
Tim Mellor

The great pole debate
Mike Gibbons (Letters, TGO
May 19) may be 83 but is a
recent convert to pole use.  I
brought the two-pole habit back
from a year in Tirol in the 60s
(Lots of banter in Scotland then:
“Have you forgotten your skis?”)
and still use them when carrying
a heavy pack, when a sudden
lurch can be checked. 
On steep slopes – up or down –
the stability offered by two poles
is comforting. If a hand is needed
for another task, I stop. On a

Stark contrasts

at the edge of the

Brecon Beacons

National Park

Social Media

There was some lively debate on Facebook in response to UK

Wildcamp's brief trial exercise (see Roger's column, facing page)

Cold Moor, May issue). Then,

Drake Howe on Cringle Moor at

432m is equal third highest with

the Loose Howe triangulation

pillar at 432m on Glaisdale

Mo or.

Ray Horner

Plastic bags for mags

I subscribe to TGO which

every month comes in a single

use plastic wrapper. Your

editorial in the June edition talks

about the problems of single-

use plastic and the amount of

litter in the great outdoors. Isn’t

it time that TGO is delivered in

a biodegradable wrapper like,

for instance, BMC Summit

magazine?

Chris Wood

The true wild

Hi there. My friend recently

took this photo, which shows

the fence-line between the

Brecon Beacons National Park

and the highway verge.

Sadly, the one on the right is

the National Park. It shows the

devastation that sheep farming

had done to our upland area:

grazed to a tightly cropped turf.

When walking in the

National Parks of the UK

it’s extremely rare to see any

wildlife and when we do it’s

few and far between. With

the appalling decimation of

our wildlife by 56% in the last

50 years and numbers still

falling, it would be great if

your brilliant magazine could

include more on our wildlife,

make people aware of the

problem and maybe campaign

for the restoration of our

uplands back to its true wild

wilderness packed with wildlife

and adventure.

Keep up the good work.

Andy Wilkinson

Ian Price: “It wasn’t

bringing anyone into

the wild – not the sites

that had been made

available anyway. They

were just bits of land

with no facilities - so

you could pay £20+ for

a camping site without

facilities (although

one did offer toilets,

showers and even

firewood!) I think

UK Wild Camp need

some help regarding

what wild camping is

actually about (as does

DEFRA). The whole

thing was nonsense,

really.”

Becca Humphreys:

“So what would

happen if having paid

the fee, you arrive

at 'your' spot to find

someone else already

in place? Surely the

point of wild camping

is the spontaneity and

flexibility rather than

an overly pre-planned

affair?”

Dermot Breen:

“I want land reform,

in England and Wales,

which enshrines a

legal right to wild

camp. Not another

entrepreneurial

endeavor to relieve

me of my hard-earned

cash!”

July 2019 The Great Outdoors 29