Talking the Walk

Longstanding subscribers to this blog may remember that a couple of years go I talked about my cousin Des in the west of Ireland. Des has ‘Inherited Retinal Dystrophy’….. ‘Inherited’, he says, ‘because I told them my mother was affected, and retinal dystrophy because the cells in the retina are dying off. Which, to me, is a good way of saying your retina are knackered but we don’t know why and as we have to put a label on it, here you go.’

Last year, long before COVID reared its ugly head, I asked him whether he thought that a podcast of me walking round Hampstead Heath,  describing what I was seeing – catching the birds singing, the dogs barking, snatches of conversation from other walkers – might be interesting. He thought it would and Sonja, his wife, pointed out that it might be interesting not only for those who are visually challenged but for those who actually prefer to listen rather than to watch. Who, as it happens, include me.

So, having moved up here to Highgate and being so close to the heath, I was ratcheting up to get going when coronavirus struck.  At that point, taking cheering pictures of trees bursting into leaf for general consumption seemed to become more urgent. (Be it said also that, in my move up here, I had managed to mislay the relatively classy bit of recording equipment I had been going to use so only had my phone – fine for images and image heavy walks but not so great for audio because it also picks up a lot of wind noise.)

However, at long last I have come back to the original concept. Possibly spurred on by the fact that I have found the classy recording device – although I have yet to discover how to use it – so the project is back on track. And below are my first offerings.

I am walking you through and around  the Kenwood estate.  I had actually meant to break it into 15 minutes sections but got so carried away with what I was describing that the first section is nearly half an hour long. But please feel free to drop out at any point.

I am also, because I have not yet mastered the audio device, still using my phone so you are getting an image whether you want one or not. However, please feel free to ignore it and just listen. I suspect that this might be a wise move anyhow. Since I was focusing on what  was seeing and trying to describe, goodness only knows what I actually filmed!

And for those of you who have now just got into your stride,  here is another 10 minutes worth through Kenwood Woods and back out onto our rolling meadow which takes me back to Highgate.