Dovedale with Caravan
Ramblings
BBC
4.5 • 768 Ratings
🗓️ 8 September 2022
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Clare walks with a listener known as Caravan, who spent six years living homeless in the Peak District, an area he knows well thanks to his love of outdoor pursuits.
This series of Ramblings is being led by its listeners, people who have written to the programme with a story and a walk that they want to share. Caravan (not his real name) emailed to tell us about his experience of prolonged homelessness over thirty years ago. Central to his survival was the Peak District where he found both physical shelter, by way of railway stations, and also a feeling of sanctuary and anonymity during the most difficult years of his life.
They recorded this walk just after the intense July heatwave which meant their planned Kinder Scout hike was inaccessible, closed due to the risk of wildfires. Instead they met in the village of Hartington and followed a route through Dovedale.
Presenter: Clare Balding Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Karen Gregor
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Eleven climbers appeared to have died on the world's second highest mountain K2. |
| 0:06.0 | It was one of the deadliest days in mountaineering history. |
| 0:10.0 | Rock falls, avalanches. |
| 0:11.0 | Huge pieces of ice. All are big enough to kill you. |
| 0:14.0 | He just flew out into Devoid and he was gone. |
| 0:17.0 | How did it all go so wrong? |
| 0:19.0 | And is it really worth risking death to feel alive? Why would |
| 0:23.2 | somebody pay to go to a place called the death cell on a vacation? Extreme, peak danger. With me, |
| 0:29.9 | Natalia Melman Petrazella. Listen to the full series now. First on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:40.0 | There's a steady drizzle falling. |
| 0:42.0 | It's not great big lumps of rain, but it's wet, and it's much, much cooler than it was yesterday |
| 0:49.3 | when I was walking in North Yorkshire. |
| 0:52.8 | I've come south from there, about 10 miles south from Buxton, actually, |
| 0:56.2 | to an area known as Dovedale. |
| 0:57.9 | It's in the Derbyshire Dales. |
| 1:00.0 | Originally, we were meant to be climbing Kender Scout today. |
| 1:04.5 | But the Peak District National Park Access areas have been closed this week |
| 1:09.2 | because of the risk of wildfires. |
| 1:11.0 | And obviously unlikely today because it's raining. |
| 1:12.7 | But fair enough, those are the rules. |
| 1:15.0 | And so we've changed the plan. |
| 1:17.1 | And this is a series of listener walks. |
... |
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