Peak Rambler's Ramblings....: February 2022

Peak Rambler's Ramblings 2012 first post went live on Tuesday 21st February 2012, titled: White Peak Walk from Monsal Head Sunday 18th December 2011

One of the very first photos published in Peak Rambler's Ramblings

I still remember now what was going through my mind, what to say, how to say it and would it be of any interest.

Peak Ramblers Ramblings is now ten years old, and while very far from the biggest blogs, it has been an enjoyable ride. A lot of people were starting out blogging at the same time, some I knew, walked and camped with and virtually all have long since stopped blogging.

Have I stood the test of time?

I doubt it from a content perspective, from the perspective of time, perhaps I should have laid Peak Ramblers Ramblings to rest long ago.

My last proper hill walking blog was Kinder Low and Kinder Downfall, a Winter Wonderland, a true winter walk, snow, clag, and although it was only a short duration, the conditions required the use of an ice axe and crampons.

The following photos are some of the last photos to be published before my accident.

Kinder Downfall from Kinder Low End

Kinder Low

Yours truly

Pym Chair and the Woolpacks viewed from Kinder Low

There have been many breath takingly awesome moments, like being at Kinder Downfall when the wind was taking the water back up!

The breath takingly awesome sight of Kinder Downfall at its unique

I have provided a full list of all my blogs still open for reading at the of this so if you want to have a look back at any, or even all, then please do.

However, I feel it is right to call time on my blogging. It has become difficult to find content to write about.

Peak Ramblers Ramblings was intended to be a walking blog, the hills, moors, camping, the places I visited along with the people I met, walked and camped with. As many will know, that was taken away from me back in February 2015 when a motorist ran a red light while I was legitimately on a pelican crossing, resulting in major lower right leg reconstruction.

As a result, my leg is now very misshapen, swells up a lot and I can no longer easily find trousers or footwear to fit, so suitable outdoor clothing is no longer an option to sensible hill and moorland walking, something a lot of people find hard to grasp, but that is the sad reality.

So I have turned my outdoor activities to wildlife and landscape photography, it gets me out and gives me that escape from urban life I need to escape from.

At that point I decided to write about my experiences with photography, the places I’ve been and what I saw. Although the change to vlogging, and other forms of video sharing of stories, adventures and exploits has been building up for years, Covid-19 changed that with the big turn to video calling and vlogging. Even though vlogging isn’t new, it just isn’t for me.

The way people interact via social media and other platforms has changed somewhat over the last decade, and I feel the time is right to call time on my blogging.

Facebook, nt that I use Facebook, has changed how people interact there, along with greater use of YouTube and Instagram, neither of which I enjoy using. I used to enjoy YouTube, but today it seems to me to be more money orientated, and I’m not interested.

Even though vlogging can be done without facing the camera, and I’m one of those who prefers to stay behind the camera, not infront, and while I don’t knock those who stand in front of a camera, it really isn’t my thing.

Instagram isn’t on my list of favourites, I’m afraid I don’t like their privacy demands, I’m not one who wants or likes personalised adverts. Yes, provide adverts, but not at the expense of sneaking a look at my purchases or websites visited, for the great majority of them are one off visits and that is it, and the way I want it to stay.

Also, post writing editing has become too complex. It used to be straightforward, now it is a lot more involved, and for me, time consuming requiring me to ensure everything is perfect, which I know it isn't, with the added complexity of accommodating all the many formats readers use, which dictates layout considerably.

For me, now I'm retired, and while I don't have the same time constraints as to when I was working, my time is to be enjoyed, and not be a slave to tech any more than necessary.

As things stand, the existing blogs will remain, unless I see a reason to remove them, which I had to do back in 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdowns, with three blogs.

Those blogs where I walked in tranquil and sensitive areas, but respectfully and with the way some people attempted to walk in the country, up the hills and across moors, leaving litter and an untidy mess behind, they had to be removed to protect not just the environment, but the local communities as well.

It was sad to have to do that, but it was seen as necessary at the time and still today, I have no regrets, they still remain to me special places I have visited and left nothing more than footprints which will have disappeared within minutes, taken lots of photos and memories away, and those places will remain special memories for the rest of my life.

That I’m afraid is the future, and the clock will ever turn back, things will continue to progress and change, it’s just that change is not for me.

The money I would have spent on outdoor gear is now spent on my camera gear, and associated clothing, utilising the skills and knowledge of what clothing to wear gained from my hill walking days for my much tamer past times, that I intend to enjoy in my retirement.

I will continue to get out and about, I will continue to use my camera to take photos and some videos, and who knows, my trusty Digital Single lens Reflex (DSLR) camera may be upgraded to one of these new, but expensive swanky Mirrorless cameras.

But that change requires a lot of outlay, not just the camera, but the lenses to accompany the camera.

However, my online photos via Peak Rambler on Flickr, are to continue. There are my old hill and moorland photos on view, along with my post accident wildlife and landscape photos.

Some of the more recent examples at the time of posting this finale, are a pre-storm sunrise at one of the many nature reserves I visit post accident. These sunrise photos herald the dawn of a new era for me.