Take Your Time To Admire The Hills
In the last two issues that I have received there have been articles about running up and down Scottish mountains. May I suggest that these super athletes are missing the point? As a child I used to go to my grandmother’s home by the seashore on the Isle of Harris. As I grew up I started walking up the hills there – a luxury compared with the English Lake District hills near where I lived. The open empty spaces, the lack of people and well-worn tracks added to the sense of wonder and awe. I cannot imagine that a hill runner has time to pause and admire the natural scenery, the otters playing near Grannie’s house, nor take in the geological wonders – the rare alpine plants are not just there to crush underfoot, the rare birds will not hang around for thundering feet. No, the runners will miss the mountain hare asleep at the top of the hill, scattering the golden plovers, and startling the grazing deer. Another delight of many hills on Harris was being able to look around and watch St Kilda appear to rise on the horizon from the sea on a good day. But if your main concern is to set a new personal best for the expedition, then you might sacrifice all this. It is not by chance that the ordinary mortal has to sit at the top of the hill admiring the view. Once I sat with friends watching an approaching storm which, driven by a gale, liberally assaulted us with hail, as we sat, watching it come and go. To the runner, it would just have been an inconvenience, but I found that hailstorm very life affirming and something to store in my treasure cupboard of memories.
Godfrey Lomas, Bingley