Comments on: The Descent of Man (A Fire in Glen Elchaig) http://becausetheyrethere.com/2009/10/19/the-descent-of-man-a-fire-in-glen-elchaig/ ...and a few more reasons for climbing mountains Fri, 05 Sep 2014 16:33:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: McEff http://becausetheyrethere.com/2009/10/19/the-descent-of-man-a-fire-in-glen-elchaig/#comment-300 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:24:59 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.wordpress.com/?p=224#comment-300 Thanks for the kind words on your site, by the way. I’ve just seen them. All the best.

]]> By: McEff http://becausetheyrethere.com/2009/10/19/the-descent-of-man-a-fire-in-glen-elchaig/#comment-299 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:19:51 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.wordpress.com/?p=224#comment-299 That’s a cracking tale. Things like that stay with you for ever.

]]> By: BG! http://becausetheyrethere.com/2009/10/19/the-descent-of-man-a-fire-in-glen-elchaig/#comment-297 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:12:35 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.wordpress.com/?p=224#comment-297 The lighting is the easy bit, it’s the subsequent upkeep and control that used to escape us. One attempt during my youth was a pearler – on a breezy day down by the canal we’d stopped for a brew, the fire was only just aflame and the fuel was at that level of dampness that meant that it wouldn’t blaze no matter how much we stoked. We were feeling strangely warm, however, so we carried on.
It was to no avail, though – it just wouldn’t kick in, so we extinguished it and repaired the ground. Only after that did we find the reason for our warmth… the stubble in the field the other side of the hedgerow was alight!
With much panic we ran to the farm and told the farmer’s wife that we were really sorry and that we were good kids really and didn’t merit being arrested for arson.
After a good ten minutes of her smiling strangely and letting our guilt get the better of us, she told us to stop worrying and calm down. Turned out that her husband and some farm-hands were down in that field intentionally burning-off the stubble, it wasn’t our doing after all.
You’ve no idea how relieved we were to hear that!

]]> By: McEff http://becausetheyrethere.com/2009/10/19/the-descent-of-man-a-fire-in-glen-elchaig/#comment-294 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:38:01 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.wordpress.com/?p=224#comment-294 I’ll tell you what, BG, you don’t know how much better it makes me feel to know that other people can’t light fires and cook on them.

]]> By: BG! http://becausetheyrethere.com/2009/10/19/the-descent-of-man-a-fire-in-glen-elchaig/#comment-292 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:35:13 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.wordpress.com/?p=224#comment-292 Beat me to it, Alan.
The experiences of the many, but the writings of a genius.
PMSL here! :-)

]]> By: McEff http://becausetheyrethere.com/2009/10/19/the-descent-of-man-a-fire-in-glen-elchaig/#comment-291 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:33:30 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.wordpress.com/?p=224#comment-291 I haven’t lit a fire since, Alan, except on the allotment. Too much trouble and too messy. Petrol stoves rule.

]]> By: alan.sloman http://becausetheyrethere.com/2009/10/19/the-descent-of-man-a-fire-in-glen-elchaig/#comment-289 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:16:11 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.wordpress.com/?p=224#comment-289 :-)

Just that – Made me grin, that did.

]]> By: McEff http://becausetheyrethere.com/2009/10/19/the-descent-of-man-a-fire-in-glen-elchaig/#comment-172 Tue, 22 Feb 2011 09:02:58 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.wordpress.com/?p=224#comment-172 Me too. A heap of rice and curry or pan of pasta. If this is any help it’s The Winding Trail, edited by Roger Smith, Diadem Books Ltd, London, ISBN 0-906371-75-9, publishd in 1981.

]]> By: greg http://becausetheyrethere.com/2009/10/19/the-descent-of-man-a-fire-in-glen-elchaig/#comment-171 Tue, 22 Feb 2011 07:14:41 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.wordpress.com/?p=224#comment-171 I will have to look for that book in the second hand shops. Ive got his ‘Backpacking in Alps and Pyrenees’ book and I must have read it half a dozen times.

I was always amazed by the fact he could walk all day then describe eating a few crackers and knorr soup. I need far more than that !

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