The Great Outdoors

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
I've always seen this as a fairly urban-centric forum, but how many of you actually get out into the coutryside for fun? Walking, climbing, canoeing, caving (although I'm not sure whether this can really be considered 'outdoors'), mountain biking, whatever...

I'm a pretty keen hillwalker, and am also looking at getting into more scrambling and winter mountaineering. I find it quite hard to explain why I enjoy it so much, but I think it's partly down to 1) the sense of perspective that comes from seeing quite how much bigger than you things can be, 2) the fact that they tend to look quite nice too, 3) the feeling of self-reliance that comes from doing something that's in some way risky but which you can get through safely by being competent at something and 4) actually getting some exercise and (if I'm lucky) sunlight.
 

reeltoreel

Well-known member
I spend significant amounts of time outside - climbing, mountaineering and skiing - and have done for years. I'm pretty lucky to live in New Zealand, where the combination of active outdoorsiness and urbanity is much easier to pull off.

The feeling of knowing I'm capable of moving competently through challenging terrain is a big part of the attraction for me, but the aesthetic rewards are what keeps me coming back, as well as the silence.

Difficult to quantify/justify/etc. though...
 

barry_abs

lil' beyutch
the best time of my life was randomly exploring india on a childish quest to find the best charas possible! (we eventually did, in pulgar, himachal pradesh)

on our tours we discovered the great outdoors at it's best.. deserts, mountains, valleys, holy lands, heritage etc.. life has never really been the same since - i've been on a comedown, hankering for more for years.. i'd kill for similar adventures in japan, china, africa, south america and the middle east.

maybe, when the kids are grown up, i'll get the chance again.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I tend to go camping once or twice a year. It's not something I would go out of the way to do myself to be honest but I've got friends who live in different towns and they suggest it every now and again and I go along more to see them than anything else.
When we go the main thing we do is go on some long walks and I always enjoy that.
I keep meaning to go on some long walks right out from London, I think I would enjoy that if I took a few days off and planned a route way in advance. Would be cool to walk right out from London to another town or something.
 

martin

----
Mullaghmore, in County Sligo, is incredible during a storm. Ditto the Giants Causeway - best appreciated with a salty gale smashing you in the face. But I don't really check out rural Britain much, I'm scared a pack of yokels will kill me, rape my corpse and then stash me down a well. And I despise camping.
Wouldn't mind hiring a snowbike and riding around Scandinavia though.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
1) the sense of perspective that comes from seeing quite how much bigger than you things can be,
Thing is, you can get this in man-made environments (sky-scrapers, motorway flyovers etc.) - perhaps these things perspectivise you 'in a bad way', whereas trees/hills/mountains/the sea do it 'in a good way'?
Could, of course, have something to do with
2) the fact that they tend to look quite nice too, .

I love the countryside, and don't really get to experience it as much as I'd like.
 

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
the best time of my life was randomly exploring india on a childish quest to find the best charas possible! (we eventually did, in pulgar, himachal pradesh)

Did you try some in Manali? I remember that being very strong. I also remember getting stopped by the police on a bus with loads of weed and them searching our bags and not finding it. Pretty heart-stopping.
 

gek-opel

entered apprentice
Thing is, you can get this in man-made environments (sky-scrapers, motorway flyovers etc.) - perhaps these things perspectivise you 'in a bad way', whereas trees/hills/mountains/the sea do it 'in a good way'?
Could, of course, have something to do with
I love the countryside, and don't really get to experience it as much as I'd like.

I've probably mentioned it before on here, but nothing gives me a thrill in the countryside more than to see electricity pylons in the middle of a field, or jutting out over a dense forest - so beautiful, grimly beautiful perhaps. The same goes for massive wind farms, but perhaps slightly less so as the hi-tech sheen of them fails to evoke quite the same emotion...
 

bassnation

the abyss
I've probably mentioned it before on here, but nothing gives me a thrill in the countryside more than to see electricity pylons in the middle of a field, or jutting out over a dense forest - so beautiful, grimly beautiful perhaps. The same goes for massive wind farms, but perhaps slightly less so as the hi-tech sheen of them fails to evoke quite the same emotion...

and the other point i'd make is whats wrong with the great indoors? theres a lot to be said for exploring inner space, or your living room if you prefer.

windfarms are actually quite pretty aren't they? thing is with pylons, people always like to evoke the image of nature reclaiming man-made structures, but no-one ever romanticises it the other way around - apart from you and me maybe.
 

gek-opel

entered apprentice
windfarms are actually quite pretty aren't they? thing is with pylons, people always like to evoke the image of nature reclaiming man-made structures, but no-one ever romanticises it the other way around - apart from you and me maybe.

Yes to a certain extent it breaks with the romantic ideas which underlies peoples' love of nature, the idea of the sublime etc... but isn't there a kind of tragic beauty in the ranks of pylons as they goosestep like steam-punk robots across the British countryside?
 

bassnation

the abyss
Yes to a certain extent it breaks with the romantic ideas which underlies peoples' love of nature, the idea of the sublime etc... but isn't there a kind of tragic beauty in the ranks of pylons as they goosestep like steam-punk robots across the British countryside?

and also man made structures are as natural as anything else out there, us being a product and a part of the same system that makes green shoots poke up through the concrete. i wonder what the remaining animals will make of the pylons once we're gone? its a bit planet of the apes really isn't it?
 
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Slothrop

Tight but Polite
Yes to a certain extent it breaks with the romantic ideas which underlies peoples' love of nature, the idea of the sublime etc... but isn't there a kind of tragic beauty in the ranks of pylons as they goosestep like steam-punk robots across the British countryside?
I love the massive rows of pylons you get in some scottish glens or in the remoter bits of the pennines. But I think the feeling I get from them is that they're the only outpost of man made things in this environment, and just underline how inhospitable it can get - pylons have got a grimey functional strength to them that makes them about the only man made thing that doesn't look a bit silly in that sort of location. I guess this is partly because it's a bit of a sham that nothing bar a rugged metal pylon could survive in that environment - you could actually build fairly ordinary houses there if you wanted to, and they'd look odd because they'd spoil that illusion.
Mr Tea said:
Thing is, you can get this in man-made environments (sky-scrapers, motorway flyovers etc.) - perhaps these things perspectivise you 'in a bad way', whereas trees/hills/mountains/the sea do it 'in a good way'?
I think it's because those things are all man made and their size reinforces our sense of our own importance (and therefore from a personal point of view, the importance of your own worries and problems) whereas something like the north face of Ben Nevis has been there a lot longer than us, feels intuitively like it will continue to be there a lot longer than us, and has claimed a lot of lives without caring. I guess it's kind of a metaphor for (cliche ahoy) mans place in the universe - and the realization that it's not a very significant one.
 
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