MEANDERTHALS REMEMBER 5

THE WHITTLE WALK MYTH

Mick Killgallon remembers :-

Mick Killgallon recalls his first walk with the meanderthals. He fondly imagined an idyllic stroll through sunblessed meadows with a friendly group of chatty elderly gentlemen.   WRONG ! 
The day soon deteriorated into a damp drizzily day with the meanderthals almost "social distancing" in full waterproof outfits.  The terrain was rough, scrubby land and most of it seemed to be uphill. Difficult,  to say the least.  Lunch was taken in a small scruffy wood. with no seating and heavy drops of water coming off the trees and rather spoiling the consistency of our "Butties"  As we finished our walk he heard a voice say "Well,  that was a Whittle Walk" He did not understand what this meant but tells us that subsequent walks over the years made it quite clear.

The Myths Origin.

John Russell remembers :-

Some years ago the Meanderthals went for a walk down by the river Ribble near Osbaldeston. The walk started down a lovely country lane and into some normal pleasant fields.  As we approached the river however a steep (very steep) drop down through a scrubby woodland had to be tackled. At the bottom of the slope we were faced with a large area of Himalayan Balsam. This in places towered over our heads. On the map the path was shown to follow the river back through this this wet, overgrown area. No path was visible just a daunting mass of Himalayan Balsam.  Of course Meanderthals are not to be beaten by an invasive foreign weed. 

 John Russell emerges from the Balsam Jungle That might be Anthony some way behind but others are still lost in the dense vegetation

Undaunted we forged on into the "Jungle" Using our sticks to bash out a path. Before long, however, each Meanderthal was bashing his own path oblivious of the others. The outing now became reminiscent of the old joke about the tribe of pygmies called the "Hellarwiz" who got lost in Elephant grass and began to shout "Where the Hell are we ?". The Meanderthals were all shouting "Where are you John."  "Where are you Anthony ?" etc.  Non of us could see any of the others. Eventually we all got to the other side of the Balsam patch. …… and stopped for a well earned rest and brew. 

"Well that was a Walk Whittle" declared John Russell at the end. Since then any walk on which we encounter difficulties or temporarily become lost are dubbed "WHITTLE WALKS"  John W , of course, insists that all his walks are well planned and follow official paths shown on the Ordnance survey maps. It is not his fault that the last time the path was used was by a tribe of N...eanderthals now long lost in the mists of time.

We can of course quite easily get lost in other forms of vegetation