I’ve been going to the Banff Mountain Film festival semi regularly since first going while I was at uni. This time I decided to follow in the spirit of things and have my own ‘adventure’ – instead of driving to the theatre, I would walk.
To create an interesting route between my house and the theatre in Tunbridge Wells resulted in a planned distance of over 20km, which is double the distance if I just walked the most obvious route. I also planned to walk to a campsite after the festival and then walk home the next day too.
As the weekend got closer the forecast continued to look changeable at best and the ground was already saturated with water, so it was no surprise that I spent a lot of time splashing through puddles and negotiating flooded paths & fields.
Part of my route followed a river and I hadn’t thought about how the recent weather might effect things. I passed two people walking their dogs, who commented “you’ll need waders” to which I kind of chuckled and carried on, assuming that as people often do, they were making a light hearted comment on the conditions.
Five minutes after meeting the dog walkers I picked my way across a field that could have been exhibit A in a Geography lesson about flood plains and assumed this was what prompted their comment about waders – I was wrong.
Another ten minutes or so along the path I came to a short section where the path was completely flooded and obscured. A small distributary (I spent the remainder of my walk and the walk the next day wondering what, if anything, the opposite of a tributary was) complicated matters as it wasn’t clear if a bridge was submerged under the water and what I might be walking into. I quick check of the map showed that there wasn’t a quick diversion, but a single step in front of the gate which went up to my shin confirmed the planned route wasn’t a good idea. I decided to backtrack and re-route – losing about an hour, but avoiding an impromptu swim in a swollen river.
The rain continued and the mud never ceased – I was grateful to be head to toe in a Páramo Velez jacket & trousers and wearing gaiters. My walking poles also proved very helpful in keeping me upright through the slop.
My boots however weren’t getting on very well with my feet. I could feel a hot spot on the inside of my right heel from about 1/3 of the way in, but didn’t feel like trying to take my shit caked gaiters and boots off in the middle of a field to have a look – while getting rained on. So I hoped it wouldn’t get too bad by the time I got to the theatre, which, with about twenty minutes to spare, I finally did.
The films were good and as usual I hadn’t checked them out beforehand. There are two sets of films “blue” and “red” and I purposefully don’t look at the selection so that I don’t choose which one I think I’ll prefer and instead just get what I’m given.
Sometimes that works better than others, and I found that this year was one of the times I was left feeling, not underwhelmed but not as excited and motivated as I have done previous years. I enjoyed the films, and none of them were bad in any way. I think the main thing is that I’ve been going out and doing more things more often, so I don’t have the seem need or desire to live vicariously through the films to the same degree I have in the past. I think that past films have done their part in getting me out, doing things, instead of wishing I was.
In the past couple of years I’ve done more outdoor activities more often, across all seasons, than I ever have before. A new outlook on weather and what ‘good’ conditions are, as well as some key new pieces of gear have combined to make ‘bad weather’ largely a thing of the past for me. My multi hour walk to the theatre in the rain instead of a twenty minute drive is testament to this.
During the interval I moved to an empty row and removed my boot to check my foot – nothing too bad. I put on some Bum Butter (yes, that is the actual name) and hoped for the best.
After the films were finished I left the Tunbridge Wells via Five Guys, having missed lunch – I continued out through town eating my burger and chips out of a bag, looking like a mud splattered weirdo, who’d forgotten to get ketchup and was now sadly eating dry chips.
The first section of my route out to the campsite followed the last section of my walk in, so for a while I was on familiar (wet) ground. On from this, after a short unknown section, I felt a sense of familiarity and realised I was approaching a bridleway I’ve enjoyed cycling along, always from the other direction. It was with more confidence than I probably should have had that I walked along this stretch without my headtorch on, despite being well into a gloomy dusk.
By the time I couldn’t see my boots any more I decided I should probably turn a light on. Having already covered over 25km at this point, I was very tired – happy, but tired. Tiredness and darkness combined to make progess slower than originally anticipated – I had mostly overlooked how long I’d end up walking in the dark for and was grateful to have a good, fully charged, headtorch.
Exhausted, I eventually arrived at the campsite a few hours later and got set up. Still fairly full from the takeaway I decided to skip the faff of making dinner. Instead I just enjoyed being in my tent and laid down to sleep.
The temperature got down to a couple of degrees above freezing, and I used my sleeping bag like a quilt, otherwise I would have been much too warm as it’s comfort rated for -10º. I slept well and enjoyed taking my time to pack in the morning. A warm mug of coffee was a welcome hand warmer and I’d opted not to take gloves.
I used some scissors from my first aid kit to trim the footbed of my right boot down to alleviate the rubbing it was causing on my heel (this did the trick and prevented things getting any worse on the walk home).
It took a while to warm up to the day that morning, with stiff legs and a generally tired body. It began to dawn on me that I had completely overlooked how far the route home was (I’d really underestimated this whole thing), and that today would be another 15km, on top of the 35km walked yesterday.
But, the sun made an appearance, and I was outside. How could I not be happy?
I’d been walking, I’d seen some inspiring films, I’d seen some friends, I’d been walking again, I’d been camping, and now I was walking again – again.
I hadn’t been anywhere on anyone’s bucket list but I had been walking and camping and spent two days outside, enjoying the elements. What’s not to like?
A small disclaimer – I work for Páramo. No one has asked me to write this and don’t think anyone is really reading it anyway, so it’s far from a marketing effort. If I thought Páramo stuff was rubbish I just wouldn’t say anything, but thankfully I don’t think it’s rubbish. The Velez jacket has been a key piece of gear that has allowed me to want to go out when most people would probably take a look out the window and stay inside. I continue to be genuinely surprised at how good it is. This was the first time I’ve worn the Velez trousers and like the jacket, they didn’t disappoint. I was moving fairly fast in changeable, wet, conditions and I’ve never been more comfortable while out in conditions like that than when I’ve been wearing Páramo kit.