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Backpacks and blisters - the walking thread

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    Maybe it's a photo quiz.

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      I'm rather proud to say that I've pinpointed Paul, or the area in his photo, to the Hartland Cornwall Heritage Coast, just south of Morwenstow.

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        Yep, quite right, taken close to the radar station. A stunning day but you have to do at least ten combes (deep valleys) between Hartland and Bude and I am now exhausted. That's my first week on the SWCP completed, I'll be back in November to do another one.

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          Great work Paul and lovely weather, though you’d probably prefer a bit cooler. I imagine November will oblige.

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            My brother in law, known as Hobo to his friends, was one of those people who simply loved being out and experiencing the beauty of Transylvania. Every weekend, every holiday, he hiked and biked all over the place. He had a fairly low paid job, basically in the land registry mapping people's property and so on, but it was perfect for him. He loved making maps anyway, on his weekend trips, noting down all the things that he found as he explored the mountains. He would go up to some point in the hills, and start exploring, coming across springs, world war I trenches, even a roman road at one time. He not only went hiking himself, but loved it so much that he would mark trails for others, and put up signs. He collaborated with map makers and shared what he found (We own a number of the best maps that are available of Transylvania, and most of them mention his name as a collaborator). He volunteered at times for the mountain rescue team, and was always available to help people. Ten years ago this month, he was up in the Fagaras mountains, which is Romania's highest range, setting up a checkpoint for "Carpathian Adventure", which is a kind of teamwork/orienteering race organised by Outward Bound. He felt unwell, with a really bad headache and sickness, and his best friend called in the mountain rescue team. For reasons I won't go into here, it took then 36 hours before they brought a helicopter in and got him to hospital. Turned out he'd had an aneurysm. Two operations filled weeks later he died. He was 38. Anyway, this weekend, by way of a memorial and a kind of pilgrimage we (my family and the guy he was with that day, and his family too), hiked up to his favourite spot, among many places he loved. There is a memorial there to him, that his mountain hiking friends had erected. The last time we were there in fact was the day that it was put up and dedicated. Anyway, I just wanted to share that and put up some photos.


            he will have made these trail marks



            Signs at the summit. The green ones are ones he made.



            The memorial - this is a kind of locally popular totem pole which is hand carved in wood - you find them in cemeteries usually



            His name on the memorial



            Difficult to tell, but this is an old WWI trench he uncovered, from when the retreating Hungarian army were digging in against the advancing Romanian troops




            A couple of views from the top. It's not especially high at 1080 metres (my older daughter had been to the top of Romania's second highest peak at 2535 metres the day before), but the views (on a clear day) stretch for at least 100km.

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              A lovely commemoration for what seems like a lovely guy, ad hoc.

              does Hobo have the Woody Guthrie connotations in Romania that it does here?

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                Possibly indirectly. I think it became his nickname, partly because he was a fan of Hungarian 70s/80s rock group "Hobo Blues Band" and partly because of the part of the definition of hobo that implies wanderer/living to some extent off the grid.

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                  That’s lovely ad hoc.

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                    Yeah, a lovely dedication to a man that seemed to be the kind of chap that gave so much to the hiking community without any desire to exploit it. Rare.

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                      Very nice. A lovely tribute and some stunning photos.

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                          Posing on Crib Goch....

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                                    Above my backpack is some of the original Everest expedition kit (the Hilary/Tensing one), the team trained in Wales and stayed at this hotel, Pen Y Griwd. Lots of memorabilia, an extraordinary place.

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                                        Wow

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                                          I'm getting a little bit of exposure vertigo on some of those... But as Sits says, Wow.

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                                            Yes, wonderful pictures. MS.

                                            I wish that I'd had that sort of cloudless sky when I climbed Glyder Fawr.

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                                              I climbed Croagh Patrick two weeks ago. Clear weather, lovely view of Clew Bay.

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                                                That's a really nice tribute ad hoc, a lovely way to remember him by.

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                                                  Back on the SWCP and I am spending a week walking from Bude to St Ives. Today was a bus from Exeter to Okehampton then another bus to Bude and then 10 miles to Crackington Haven.

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                                                    My next hike will be on Gran Canaria. Identified a promising route, compatible with buses transfer. A new kind of terrain for me, the weather conditions seems good, high 20s but dry, sustained breeze. Best err on the side of caution re water, took note of a spring just off my route just in case...

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