The Walker


Peter Gatenby is 68 years old and has always enjoyed walking. Never one to shy away from taking on what on the face of it looks impossible developed the idea of walking the Extremities over several months in 2009. He recalled various long rambles in Kent, Sussex, Gloucestershire and Shropshire as well as treks over the Cairngorms; not to mention the time in his youth when he walked 50 miles in under 13 hours for charity from Orpington to Hastings. However, the almost legendary tale of an ancestor who having been sent from Yorkshire to school in London walked home, was then sent back by carriage, only to walk back for a second time, as a key reason for deciding to attempt this very long walk to the 4 extreme points of the British mainland. He is a member of both the Mendip Ramblers and Long Distance Walkers Association where he indulges in another of his hobbies photography, thus providing progress pictures for many walks throughout the year. In planning for this walk it became apparent that few people other than those who had already retired would have the time to attempt a journey expected to last 156 days. 

Originally the walk was going to be started in 2011, but a little providentially as it turned out it was postponed for a year because it was apparent it would take over 2 years to plan and then at a time when he would have been travelling through Lincolnshire grandchildren 7 & 8 Grace and Finlay arrived in May 2011.

Peter grew up in Petts Wood in Kent attending Dulwich College Preparatory School and then The City of London School for Boys. Although he never found studying for exams easy did manage to leave The City of London School with 7 ‘O’ Levels. After an initial attempt to become an Electrical Engineer studying ‘A’ level Maths (both Pure and Applied), as well as Physics and 18 months at Faraday House Engineering College, took up a career in Life and Pensions. During the next 40+ years there was hardly a year where he was not studying for some exam, but eventually did become a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute; Associate of the Personal Finance Society and Associate of the Compliance Institute. In always keeping himself up to date took his final exam The Mortgage Advice Qualification as recently as 2003. In the two years before retiring in August 2007 was Secretary of the Compliance Institute.

Married to Jill he has 4 children and 8 grandchildren, and at Christmas, Easter and other family gatherings has to borrow several extra tables to cope with seating everyone.

He has for many years been an active member of his local church, Christ Church Henton which you will see is the Charity for the homeward leg. He is also Secretary of the Trust managing the Village Hall. His hobbies are varied and besides the aforementioned walking and photography dabble in Poetry and has yet to finish 3 novels started as long ago as 1988. Perhaps once this walk is completed he can settle down to finishing them or perhaps put his rare 1 ˝ Litre Drophead Coupe Riley back on the road, putting his 30+ years membership of The Riley RM Club to good use.
 

The Bore Wave

In about 1964 and 1966 Peter walked in the Cairgorms. The first trip was the train from London King’s Cross to Perth in Scotland then a bus and finally walked to Glen Isla. I then walked across the mountains to Glen Doll Youth Hostel. While there I took a picture of myself sitting on rocks above a small waterfall (see The Walker’s Family Gallery) It was taken with my Haponette Camera which had a 7 second delay timer. Propping the camera on a rock opposite there was just time to leap across and turn and face the camera. The second time I went there by car. In Scotland because of the huge distances between Youth Hostels and limited public transport you were allowed to arrive in a car as long as you intended to walk thereafter.

In 1966 I walked up the Glen and again sat above the waterfall while the sun tried to come out from behind a large cloud that was hovering over the top of the Glen. I spread my gear across the rock, got out my lunchbox and oil painting gear and began to paint. The new Pentax S1 camera was resting beside my rucksack with a pair of benoculars; I had even removed my walking boots. I was sitting facing down stream looking over the waterfall which was just a few feet away. After about half an hour of being annoyed by the cloud that would not quite move back I was suddenly aware that the note of the rushing water had changed. Puzzled by this I turned to look up stream only to see a bore wave about 9” high travelling towards me. It was obvious that I would be swamped by the wave as the dry rock I sat on was only a few inches above the normal flow. I therefore set about stuffing everything back into my rucksack the last item to go in was my camera and with no time to fasten the straps or tie the drawstring threw first my boots and then the now heavy rucksack on to the relative safety of the bank. My boots landed well away from the edge and the now strong torrent of water that rushed between me and the bank. Alas however, the rucksack did not travel so far but landed on a large bush of heather. While I then concentrated on stepping on the remaining rocks that were not far under water in order to reach the bank the heather that had initially been squashed by the rucksack proceeded to spring upright, tossing all my possessions into the flow and over the waterfall in front of me.    

I retrieved my boots straight away so at least I could walk fairly comfortably back to the Youth Hostel. As for the rest of my gear I returned the next day and day after when the river had returned to its benign state to look for my belongings. I started about a mile down stream from the waterfall looking between the rocks and in every pool . Gradually I was able to retieve  the light objects of wooden oilpainting box the tubes of oil pain and brushes then my Oilskin cape the Rucksack and even the binoculars. The camera however remained elusive and I believe is still at the bottomof the pool immediately below the falls. Being a pool that faces east it is rare for the sun to lightup the foot of this pool which is quite deep. If anybody manages to find the Pentax S1 then I suppose I should give back the £59 I claimed to replace it with a Pentax S1a although The Household and General Insurance Company no longer exists being sold to Sun Alliance in the early seventies. 

If there are any lesson to be learnt from this experience it is to expect the unexpected. However, I am pleased that my quick thinking and lack of panic and methodology were probably the right thing to do. Some may argue I should have shouldered the rucksack but jumping without boots across the torrent could have left me being swept over the falls.