Let Nature be your teacher

Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.

And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.
- William Wordsworth



In the 19th Century, Sir Hugh Munro compiled a list of Scottish mountains with heights above 3000ft. With Ben Nevis the most famous of all the Munros, this list has become a challenge for many an intrepid British walker. They aim to hike up all 283 mountains on the complete list, known as "Munro bagging". To make things complicated, there are 538 summits, and debates rage to determine what qualifies as a separate Munro. Revision lists are published periodically to set the record straight.

England is not blessed with the craggy mountains of Scotland but, not undeterred, the English have their own south-of-the-border list of peaks. Published as the Wainwrights, over 2 million copies have been sold listing the 214 peaks of must-climb English hills.


You see the Brits out walking each weekend. Well equipped with rainproof backpacks and hiking poles, they clamber over styles, traverse fields, climb steep hills, wade through streams and slosh in mud; all in the foulest of weather that would deter the uncommitted. Indeed, some seem to relish the challenge of venturing out and up during the harshest wintry weather.

We have had three walking weekends in the best of English countryside. Close to Birmingham are the Lickey Hills, while nearby Elgar country boasts the Malvern Hills; each popular destinations for walkers.

I was also able to fulfill a childhood dream and visit Arthur Ransome's Lake District. This protected part of beautiful English countryside is a must-see for any visitor, with its picturesque hills peering down across shining bodies of water known as lakes, waters and tiny tarns.

Having enjoyed the aerobic exercise, we entered the Peak district the following weekend to go on a 15km guided farming country walk over rolling limestone lands. England's green and pleasant land is a pretty place from on high. And we can now say we have bagged our first Wainwright - Old Man's Peak above Coniston.

Only 496 peaks left to go!