Walkers’ engagement with current visual-cultural context

The previous two chapters have shown how attitudes to and discourses around walking and landscape have developed. The interviews sought to ascertain how aware these walkers were of current visual-cultural context and what role it played in their engagement with landscape and walking. Thus in the interviews there were specific questions about whether the walkers watched TV programmes, were interested in art, what guidebooks they had, and whether they read walking magazines. This section discusses how important current visual-cultural context was for our walkers and how

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they engaged with it. It was necessary to do this in order to establish to what extent the interviewees were immersed in such ideas and images, and whether this differed

between individuals, because this might have affected their response to or engagement with landscape and the countryside. For example, it might have been found that the sample were all great admirers of Turner landscapes, had Turner prints in their homes, and deliberately sought out Turneresque landscapes whilst out walking because this was the way they had been conditioned to respond to landscape. The reality was very different and showed much subtler influences of visual-cultural material.

It has been shown how programmes like Coast encouraged engaging with disparate interests whilst out walking, looking at sites of historical and scientific interest. Whilst programmes such as Wainwright’s Walks promoted Wainwright’s ideas about the central importance of the Lake District as an area for walking, the value attached to climbing to the top of fells, Romantic landscapes, big views, and depopulated

landscapes. However, not all interviewees watched walking programmes on TV. Some preferred books and liked descriptions of landscape and walking in those. One

interviewee did not watch walking programmes because it would make her feel frustrated not to be walking herself. Others would watch them if they “happened to be on”, rather than making a point of watching them.

Most though had watched Julia Bradbury’s Wainwright’s Walks or the older Wainwright and Chris Brasher programmes. Sometimes these inspired the interviewees to go on the walks and matched their experiences of walking:

“Respondent: Yeah, very much, yes. I’m going, “Oh yes, I’ve been there.” When I’m watching them, “I’ve done that. Doesn’t it look hard?”

Interviewer: And do you watch them and think I would like to do that, to go on those walks?

Respondent: Oh yes, because she’s done a traverse I would like to do, yes. Sometimes she’s done something a bit challenging that I haven’t done, yes.” Stephanie (hard walker, walking group member)

“Well I’m there. I go with them. It’s er, it’s like books. I get totally absorbed by books, I’m there.” Joy (moderate to easy walker, walking group member) The programmes were experienced as exciting, presenting new challenges or new adventures for walkers. Joy had also been inspired by seeing the Himalayas in a

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programme about walking in Iceland to take a walking holiday in Iceland. However, Stephanie found the walking programme did not reflect the reality because there would be a camera crew present, whereas in reality walking on one’s own in such a place might be dangerous. There was awareness that these programmes were manufactured rather than reflecting reality.

Harry, in contrast to these experiences said that the programmes had not inspired him to go walking. On the contrary walking had inspired him to look at Wainwright books which then led to more walking:

“No I think walking inspired me to read Wainwright and then Wainwright inspired me even more.” Harry (moderate walker, walking group member)

TV programmes were accessed casually by the interviewees although most interviewees had watched at some time Wainwright’s Walks and Coast. Sometimes they inspired people to do walks or go to particular places but they tended to be in the background of walkers’ lives rather than a key part of their lives.

In contrast to television programmes which were accessed casually, the walkers all had a wide range and number of guidebooks. Wainwright’s guides to the Lake District were popular amongst the interviewees. They had National Parks guides, as well as guides to climbing Munros in Scotland. Wainwright and his guides were held in high esteem:

“There was one walk that I did and he described the wall and I sat down there, and he said, “You get up from here and you walk ahead and you’ll cross over a tumulus”. Anyway, we’d had wor tea, got up and we walked straight over it, and I couldn’t even see it until we got there. But I did what it said, and there it was and I walked over the top and I thought there’s a bloke who knows what he’s saying. I mean that is just one example but he is like that. If he says this is the way, or this is it, he’s right and if you don’t recognise it, you’re either in the wrong place or you’re looking at the map wrong, something.” Harry (moderate walker, walking group member)

Guides were used predominantly for planning walks and there was discussion about how some were better than others for this.

“I use, oh what’s it called? Walking Highlands of Scotland. That’s quite useful for ideas about routes. Um Outdoors Magic can be a source of information about reviews of equipment, and that’s probably it.” Stephen (hard walker, not a walking group member)

“Well local ones actually, and I have all the books that the National Park has done, and so I use those a lot. I use those on the rare occasions I lead a walk, I’ve used those.” Joy (moderate to easy walker, walking group member)

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Sometimes guidebooks were dipped into for pleasure and many enjoyed the wry humour of Wainwright’s writing.

Wainwright’s guides were highly valued and formed a template for other guides. Many of the other guidebooks that walkers owned followed Wainwright’s pattern of hand written script, hand written maps, and small line drawings of interesting features like waterfalls. One interviewee had a series of books for climbing Munros and a coffee table book of the Munros which was more for pleasure. This also had a useful table for ticking the Munros off once they were done and so had a practical use as well.

“Well I use them a lot for Scotland. So I’ve got the Cicerone guide to the Munros which is really useful. Actually I like, I’ve got Cameron MacNeish’s

Munrosand his is just nice to read. He’s not to be trusted on things like the time

it will take but he has got good descriptions in, yes. So it’s a nice read. And actually he’s got, he’s I like, I use his to tick them off because he’s got a list in the front and you can just tick them off and then later you can put them on that Munro chart, if you want. But he also has them in groups and it’s nice to read the descriptions.” Stephanie (hard walker, walking group member)

Guidebooks were used instrumentally for planning walks, rather than books one would read for pleasure. Although guidebooks were used instrumentally, walkers would have been immersed in the ideas presented in the books of planning walks around sites of interest, or climbing to the tops of fells to experience fantastic views, searching out open, empty, Romantic landscapes, and avoiding urban and industrial centres. The continuing respect for Wainwright guides as useful for planning walks, provides testament to how little the landscape in the Lake District has changed. His ways of thinking about landscape and walking perhaps also encouraged feelings of nostalgia for a previous age. The next chapter shows the extent to which interviewees drew on those ideas about the landscape.

In terms of new technology, apps were not used, even amongst the younger walkers, but websites were used by all but one of the interviewees and by all ages. Again, like the guidebooks these were used instrumentally to plan walks. What would have been done by looking at maps or reading guidebooks was now available on the web. Harry who led moderate walks for the walking group regularly used Google Earth, toggling between the satellite and map views to recce walks. This was so he could find paths that might not be on Ordnance Survey maps but were visible and could form part of a walk. The web was another tool as this quotation shows:

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“Now, take the walk we did on Sunday at Cold Fell. I thought, this is the way my mind works often on a walk I think, if there’s no obvious route and I see a route on the map, I’ll say “I’m not the only one who’s wanted to do that.” So then what you’ve got to do is find out somebody who’s done it. Now when I thought about Cold Fell, I looked at all the possibilities of how you would do it, and the main one is sort of East to West looked a long, hard slog, time

consuming. I thought other people have done this, they’ve been there besides me. So I just put it in on the internet, Cold Fell, and up it came Cumbria Access Land Walks and there was Cold Fell, and there it was the walk that we did, described, mapped out with the possibilities. We did one of the possibilities. We went onto Tindale Fell as they said, which was a good idea because when I got up through that fence and it was really decision time then, the more when I looked ahead I thought “That looks terrible.” So we went off to Tindale Fell and it was the best decision. We had a reasonable track there. Then it was a bit difficult!” Harry (moderate walker, walking group member)

He wanted to go up Cold Fell but not use the regular route and so used the web to explore other possibilities. What the quotation shows is the weighing up of different options and using the internet as an information tool. In a similar way, Stephanie, the Munro bagger, used the Walk Highlands website to plan walks and accommodation.

“I would only go on [the internet] it if I was actually planning to do a particular route or hill and then it’s interesting to read what other people say about it, because they put, there’s some blogs as well and the route descriptions are on and things like that.” Stephanie (hard walker, walking group member)

Some easy/moderate walkers used the internet to find new walks and sites of interest: “I plan all the walks on the computer. I found a fabulous website that you can put a grid reference in and it shows you all the things of interest, there’s loads of information. You can get photographs, people put in links to information. I’ve found out so much and people can relate to that.” Jane (easy/moderate walker, walking group member)

Rather than just relying on a map, walks’ leaders like Jane could see photos of what parts of the walk look like, and provide information for those on the walk about interesting buildings or archaeology that they would encounter.

Using the internet has opened up a whole new way of finding new walks and seeing what paths one might take, or even to check the existence of paths. Websites were used as practical tools for planning rather than to spend time browsing for pleasure. As was seen in chapter 5, the way information was managed meant that certain walks could be directed. So for example, Jane could look up interesting sites, plan walks around those and relay information about them as a guide. Others, like Harry, were using the new technology more creatively to plan new routes, using Google Earth as a tool for new explorations.

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Specialist walking magazines were not read widely by the interviewees. Ramblers’ members were sent Walk magazine once a quarter and would pick up and read some articles. Very few actually bought walking magazines. Stephen who was walking from Land’s End to John O’Groats (hard walker, not a walking group member) had read Trail Magazine but stopped because he found it repetitive. Stephanie, another hard walker, liked Walk because it linked her to other Ramblers and bought magazines specifically if she wanted to buy new gear:

“It’s a nice thing to pick up but it’s, well it keeps you in touch with what the Ramblers are doing, doesn’t it? But it’s not so good for things like gear and stuff. Sometimes I buy one of those, you know, To Go or Trail or something has got a particular, if I’m looking to buy something, I might buy the magazine.” Stephanie (hard walker, walking group member)

She went on walking and skiing holidays in Norway so having specialist equipment to deal with those conditions was important.

Magazines played a similar role to television programmes as a sort of background noise in walkers’ lives. Ramblers’ members were familiar with Walk magazine and would have been aware of campaigns for access. They would also have been exposed to what the last chapter referred to as images of bucolic and Romantic landscapes which were present as well on TV programmes and in guide books. Trail magazine had been bought by the person doing the long walk, and perhaps this reflects his interest in hard, physical challenge. It is interesting that he found it repetitive since chapter 5 showed many of the magazines used certain images and types of images as a convenient shorthand for the types of landscape that should be valued whilst out walking.

Some of the interviewees were artistic. Rose painted pictures, and made collages of landscapes. Vicky took photographs of landscapes and wildlife. It might have been expected that only those walkers would have a special, aesthetic relationship with landscape but many of the other walkers appreciated the effects of light, colours and shapes:

“I love the colours. These, you know a thousand shades of green just blending in and then the heather and obviously it’s August because you can see the heather.” Sarah (moderate to easy walker, walking group member)

“Sometimes it’s green and sometimes’ it’s bronze and sometimes it’s grey because it’s mainly rock. And sometimes it’s sort of silvery because it’s

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different feelings.” Joy describing long distance walk from the Yorkshire Dales, across the Eden Valley to the Lake District (moderate to easy walker, walking group member)

Jane had taken the photo below because of the beautiful autumn colours of the tree against the blue of the sky at Low Force, Teesdale:

Photo 1 – Jane, Low Force ©

The tree frames the view of the waterfall creating a pleasing picture. The sunshine and colour of the foliage show a scene of a rural idyll, but one still to be enjoyed today. The harder walkers were not immune to appreciating landscape on aesthetic grounds such as this description by Stephen of another photo taken of a snowy, mountainous landscape:

“It’s essentially black and white. I do like landscapes covered in snow. I think they are pretty. They are quite, in a way they are quite brutal, quite harsh, almost lacking in subtlety. It’s either white or it’s black. The surfaces here are sharp, clearly very cold but on the other hand not hostile in the sense of being impossible.” Stephen (hard walker, not a walking group member)

There was an obvious delight from Stephen in this monochrome landscape as “pretty” and showing the sharp edges of rocks. However, quickly this moves to how the picture whilst pretty also communicates a landscape that is harsh and lacking in subtlety.

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Sometimes there was a desire to take an artistic photo or pleasure in thinking one had achieved that. There were, for example, photos taken framing the landscape through the arched window of an ancient castle. Sarah had taken a photo of a lane which she said was like “a repoussoir”:

Photo 2 – Sarah, Repoussoir ©

“It’s just so beautiful because you’ve got the wall on the right, and you’ve got the shadows caused by the light coming through a deciduous tree. Beautiful patterns, beautiful patterns and then you get that arch of shadow and a light, of a, kind of tunnel and people standing there, and I thought that was just lovely to look at. I mean they do things like, that are like paintings aren’t they?” Sarah (moderate to easy walker, walking group member)

The language here shows a consciousness of formal artistic conventions. Rosalind spoke of how the landscape of Northumbria could actually be like an 18th century idyll with fine trees and lush, gentle rolling farmland and had tried to capture that in photo 3.

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Photo 3 – Rosalind, Northumberland idyll ©

Rose, who painted and made collages of landscapes, was interested in the play of light and shade in water. She was attracted by the reflections because she enjoyed painting and wanted to capture the effects of light on water in her paintings such as in photo 4.

Photo 4 – Rose, France ©

Vicky took many photographs and walking provided the opportunity to capture a particular moment:

“There was snow on the hills to my right, and as the sun was going down, it coloured the snow shades of pink, so you had these pink snow covered hills and

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I was snapping away, getting further and further behind.” Vicky (Moderate walker, walking group member)

These two painted or took photographs in their spare time and so might be expected to view the landscape as potential artistic subjects but it is interesting that others (as we have seen above) were concerned to take artistic or aesthetically pleasing photographs. Harry was another example, very pleased that a photograph (photo 5) he had taken had produced an artistic effect, even though this had not been his intent:

“Well I thought the scenery was good but to get that effect, which quite honestly was, somebody else explained why it happened, why I’d got it because I wasn’t aware. It was because I was taking it into the sun and it must have been the sun rays I suppose but I don’t know. That’s what I was fortunate enough to get anyway.” Harry (moderate/easy walker, member of walking group)

Photo 5 – Harry, Yorkshire Dales ©

Such consciously artistic photos show a desire to do more than just capture a moment. They construct views of landscape as aesthetic objects. Most photographs taken by the walkers were not like this. However, there was an awareness from images circulated in magazines, in books or on the internet of what constitutes a good picture, and some were very pleased when they achieved this. Although some of the group had an

awareness of landscape being like paintings, the next two chapters show that there were some very different ways of responding to landscape.

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