- BECAUSE THEY'RE THERE is about climbing mountains – nothing else. Well, actually, there are one or two other things. But it's mostly about climbing mountains. And fish and chips. And politics. And doing a bit of fell running. And wondering where the hell your life's gone – and where it might be going next. And cooking kippers in a wet tent. And people you bump into who do similar things. Actually, that last one doesn't happen very often . . .
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Recent Posts
- Days like this, No 27: The Old Man of Hoy
- An Uneasy Night on Cerro de la Salchicha
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- Of Mice, Men, Mountains and Motors
- Days Like This, No 26: Following Footsteps in France
- Days Like This, No 25: The Constant Mountains
- Stranger in Paradise
- Karst Adrift
- Day’s Like This, No 24: Beinn Alligin – Horns and All
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- In the Valley of the Toril
- The High and Mighty Mines of Lújar
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© Alen McFadzean and Because They’re There, 2009-2017. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Alen McFadzean and Because They’re There with appropriate and specific direction to the original content
Category Archives: Hiking
Days like this, No 27: The Old Man of Hoy
ROBERT Louis Stevenson; John Buchan; Enid Blyton; Daniel Defoe; Jules Verne; William Golding; Arthur Ransome; CS Lewis: Jonathan Swift; RM Ballantyne. They had many things in common. But the link that draws this diverse scattering of authors into one archipelago … Continue reading
Posted in Archaeology, Camping, Childhood, Climbing, Environment, Hiking, History, Ruins, Second World War, Shipping Forecast, Vikings, Walking, Weather
Tagged outdoors, Scotland, transportation, Travel, WPLongform
23 Comments
An Uneasy Night on Cerro de la Salchicha
SPENDING a night on the summit of a mountain, watching the sun sink into a splash of gold and the constellations revolve in blue-black emptiness, does have a romance and a sense of adventure about it. There is something raw … Continue reading
Posted in Camping, Climbing, Environment, Hiking, Hunting, Mountains, Walking, Weather, Wild boar, Wildlife
Tagged Alpujarra, Alpujarras, Cumbria, Lake District, outdoors, Sierra Nevada, Spain, The Lakes, Travel, WPLongform
22 Comments
Rivers and Rocks, Tracks and Tunnels
DAWN in a river valley. Ink-blue shadows beneath tall mountains. A chill in air that is perfectly still. Smell of piny trees and the sound of rushing water. Pin-pricks of red lights as a truck crosses the Seven-Eye Bridge. Day … Continue reading
Posted in Caving, Climbing, Environment, Footpaths, Geology, Hiking, History, Mountains, Rivers, Spanish Civil War, Walking
Tagged Alpujarra, Alpujarras, general francisco franco, Mining History, outdoors, Sierra Nevada, Spain, Travel, WPLongform
30 Comments
Of Mice, Men, Mountains and Motors
AS the celebrated Scottish poet Rabbie Burns scribbled in the year 1785: “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley/an’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain for promis’d joy.” How true. In early July, amid the heat … Continue reading
Posted in Camping, Climbing, Hiking, History, Mountains, Poetry, Walking
Tagged Alpujarra, Alpujarras, outdoors, Scotland, Sierra Nevada, Spain, transportation
18 Comments
Days Like This, No 26: Following Footsteps in France
CHILDREN. We encourage them to be like us and share our interests. We expect them to grow into the shoes of their parents and reach for the heights we failed to attain. Sometimes they become images of ourselves. Sometimes they … Continue reading
Posted in Butterflies, Camping, Childhood, Climbing, Environment, Footpaths, Geology, Hiking, Mountains, Napes Needle, Rivers, Walking
Tagged Cumbria, France, Lake District, outdoors, Scotland
22 Comments
Days Like This, No 25: The Constant Mountains
JUNE 2000: The most noble of plans sinks into dregs outside the Bridge of Orchy Hotel. I’m walking the West Highland Way, and today I’ve hiked the few miles along General Wade’s military road from Tyndrum to the scattering of … Continue reading
Posted in Beer, Camping, Climbing, Environment, Footpaths, Hiking, Life, Mountains, Railways, Walking
Tagged Munros, outdoors, Scotland, The Munros, West Highland Way, WPLongform
22 Comments
Stranger in Paradise
A STRANGER emerges from the dawn shadows and threads his way through banks of oleander and olive trees towards the hidden settlement of El Morreon. The sun colours the Sierra Nevada and surrounding mountains an indifferent blue, while in the … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Footpaths, Hiking, Life, Mountains, Rivers, Ruins, Stone Circles, Threshing floors, Walking
Tagged Alpujarra, Alpujarras, outdoors, Sierra Nevada, Spain
13 Comments
Karst Adrift
LOTS of interesting stuff happens when you go walking without a map in a strange country. You see things you didn’t expect to see. Conversely, you don’t see the things you expect to see because you can’t work out how … Continue reading
Posted in Archaeology, Caving, Climbing, Environment, Footpaths, Geology, Hiking, Industrial archaeology, Karst, Mountains, Potholing, Rivers, Ruins, Walking
Tagged Cumbria, Ireland, outdoors, Pennines, Spain, WPLongform
31 Comments
Day’s Like This, No 24: Beinn Alligin – Horns and All
BEINN Alligin lifts itself out of Upper Loch Torridon with the casual assurance of a big beast among a clan of big beasts. With walls of bare striated sandstone and ridges that slice the wind, Alligin is a monument to … Continue reading
Posted in Camping, Climbing, Environment, Fish and chips, Footpaths, Geology, Hiking, Mountains, Walking, Weather
Tagged Munros, outdoors, Scotland, The Munros, WPLongform
22 Comments
Days Like This, No 23: Slioch – The Unseen Mountain
A LONG drive through the night to a lay-by on the shores of Loch Maree. A snatch of sleep broken by an airless dawn. Noodles and tea for breakfast while midges sting eyelids and ears. Then to gaze into an … Continue reading
In the Valley of the Toril
PATHS. They begin at our door and run through our lives. They rise and buckle and lead us to unknown places. They appear in all guises: woodland paths; coastal paths; moorland paths; paths of righteousness; paths of destiny. Sometimes they … Continue reading
Posted in Climbing, Environment, Footpaths, Gerald Brenan, Hiking, History, Industrial archaeology, Mountains, Rivers, Ruins, Spanish Civil War, Threshing floors, Walking, Weather
Tagged Alpujarra, Alpujarras, general francisco franco, Munros, outdoors, Scotland, Sierra Nevada, Spain, The Munros, WPLongform
31 Comments