It is said that a considerable majority of visitors to Britain's national parks rarely stray more than 10 minutes away from their car. There are the popular "honeypots" or "tourist traps" which always seem thronged, whilst a short distance away a lovely peaceful spot can often be found. If so, then many people only see the landscape from one perspective - the car window or the view from the popular hot spots.
For me, ever since I have seen views of hills, I have wanted to be in and amongst them, exploring and experiencing the slopes and the summits. Now, a lot can be discovered about a hill by looking at it from valley or village level. The varying steepness, the amount of bare rock, whether it has a simple or complex structure and geography - all these can be well appreciated. It is also interesting how the same hill can look completely different from different directions. The famous Langdale Pikes only really have one side, because behind there is simply a continuation of high ground. Blencathra has the imposing southern side with its lofty ridges, so well seen from the main A66 between Penrith and Keswick - the other sides are more rounded and grassy apart from the hidden drama of Sharp Edge. Skiddaw is immediately recognised by millions in pictures from Keswick, Derwentwater or Ashness Bridge which are all to the south. How many would recognise a picture of Skiddaw from the north, perhaps taken near Bassenthwaite village?
Those who are content just to look at the hills miss out on so much. Yes, it takes some effort and a bit of expense to get properly equipped. Novices are definitely encouraged to do their first few trips with experienced walkers. Yes, it does take energy and commitment to set off in good time and keep plodding up slopes that may seem never ending. However, many Lake District hills have a distinct pattern.
At valley level there are usually farms and enclosed fields, usually bounded by dry stone walls. The fields are tended and cultivated to some extent, usually with grass for sheep or cattle to graze. Trees may grow tall and strong because of the shelter. The valley sections of a walk are often very beautiful, but committed hill-goers sometimes say they find this section rather tame. Newcomers will probably feel within their comfort zone.
The moment comes when you cross the stile or go through the gate at the final wall enclosing the "intake" ground. Beyond lies the open fell, uncultivated and wild. This is the moment many walkers look forward to, but where unease may start to creep in for the newcomer. What is this new, wilder terrain going to bring? It will certainly seem challenging, but this is just what the hill walkers find so good about the open fellside - the sense of challenge combined with the sense of space and freedom. Some height has been gained, yet there is plenty still to achieve. A depth begins to come into the views, which are now down as well as up. The distant views also begin to expand. The whole progress of the unfolding of these views and dimensions has a quality of endless fascination and interest for those who are hooked on the experience of walking in and through the landscape. Those who stay within their cars, and only get out for tea shops and villages, or maybe some gardens or an easily accessible beauty spot never really discover for themselves the joy and satisfaction that comes from being up above the roads and villages, and further still beyond those intake walls.
Then the moment will come when a pass or a ridge is reached, with sudden fresh views in another direction. The valley or hillside may have been sheltered, and suddenly the breeze or wind can be felt. You may now be high enough to round a crag and look down its steep sides and see the valley and village from above for a change. The road looks like a ribbon and the traffic noise barely reaches this height, and individual houses are mere dots. It's great to see the world from this new perspective! And still higher reaches the hill towards the summit. The sense of achievement on reaching the cairn never fails. And beyond there are more ridges to walk, may a series of ups and downs linking several summits, before finally having to descend once more to "civilisation", refreshed and recharged physically, and, I would say, spiritually.
You can read about people who are enthusiastic about something, but can never really know what it is like without trying it. I had to try rugby, but all enthusiasm eluded me. I am not about to say that everyone who tries hill walking will, or even should, fall for the enthusiasm in the way I have described. But if there is nothing in one's life that you can relate to that creates that sort of buzz and glow, then I would suggest there is something lacking. It is very sad when this buzz is gained through harmful or unprofitable occupations, when there are so many positive ways of finding exhilaration and fulfilment.
Hill-walking is by definition a participation activity and not a spectator sport.
There is another area of life that never should be regarded as a spectator sport - the Christian faith. It has to be experienced first hand. Jesus defined it as being born again, as distinct as life and death, or light and darkness. People can read all about it from a distance, but the perspective will always be flat and one dimensional. The Bible must be read and applied first hand. Reading it and applying it can be totally life changing. Suddenly life has a whole new meaning and perspective.
Those who only see Skiddaw from Keswick or Derwentwater cannot know what it looks and feels like to be walking along the stony summit ridge, or looking down over Derwentwater from the Little Man, however much they might have read or seen pictures. Christianity is similar. From the outside looking in there are truths and depths and feelings and senses that must remain a mystery unless truly experienced.
For those who are willing, the Bible opens up like the fellside above the intake wall. The Bible becomes a living, vital resource of God's Word which the Holy Spirit applies to each Christian in an individual way through their own experience of God in their lives. The pattern and foundation is set. The way in is through personal faith in the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, recognising Him as the Son of God. That our own sins are the reason for His death must be accepted personally. That He is the only true hope for forgiveness and eternal life must be firmly believed. Taking the Bible as God's Word - God sets what is right and wrong and shows the way we should live for Him. It is not a list of "do nots" but a door into a fulfilling, satisfying life with new dimensions and depths, even if, like the crags on the mountains, they can be challenging and almost scary at times. A Christian has a one to one vertical relationship with the Creator of the universe! A Christian is lifted from the valley of despair and the false perspectives of the materialistic world all around us. We find a new viewpoint and the vista is marvellous. We get glimpses of the God who is the God of the enormity of space and the stars as well as the God of the detail of the atom and the electron. With respect to time we get a glimpse of how a day is as a thousand years - He can look down and take account of thousands of millions of individual lives and knows the number of hairs on the head of each one at every moment of their lives, and the thoughts and intents of their hearts. And yet He also sees a thousand years as but a day - Christ died just the day before yesterday, so fresh is it to Him.
Are you not ready to have your eyes opened to things beyond imagination? How exciting, that, even for experienced Christian believers who have left the valleys and explored the mountain tops of faith, there is still more to come - much more. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him". (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Christianity has an enemy, Satan, who constantly wants to misrepresent it as dull and negative. Jesus said that He had come to bring life, and life in all its fullness. He speaks as the Creator and giver of life. He does not make false promises, and does not hold back in the generosity of His giving.
The equivalent of the valley and the intake wall is the sum of human reason and experience. It is bounded and can never reach the heights of knowing God. Man cannot invent or work out God. God must reveal Himself. He has done so through the Bible, the written Word, and through His Son Jesus Christ, the living Word, the Word made flesh.
The equivalent of the gate onto the open fell is the cross of Christ. As portrayed in Pilgrim's Progress by Bunyan, the burden was lifted at the foot of the cross which was by the wicket gate. A great journey of challenge and discovery lay beyond, with many ups and downs. The cross of Christ is where we must come, reaching the end of our own human resources and receiving the wonderful gifts of life from God. Jesus said Himself that He is the door, and He opened the door through going to the cross and rising again. A whole new world and perspective is opened up when we go through. How do we go through? Simply by believing that He has achieved everything needed to make us right with God and open up that personal vertical relationship with Him.
As far as the exhilaration of hill walking is concerned, the reader can make their own judgement. I will continue to enjoy the privilege of exploring the landscape God has provided for us to inhabit, use and enjoy. But I will allow for no exceptions as far as Christianity is concerned. It is a message of good news for everybody, with results that will positively transform the live and outlook and prospects of all who genuinely experience God's love and forgiveness for themselves. Any other perspective on Christianity is falsehood and a dangerous lie. Why remain unforgiven when you can have every burden lifted? Why remain uncertain about death and what lies beyond when you can have the assurance of eternal life, which will be exciting, fulfilling, satisfying, joyful, and amazing - so unlike every awful caricature of strumming harps and boredom.
Come on, leave the sad little material honeypots of this world behind, do a little exploring of God's Word and go through the little gate onto the open mountainside. Experience the thrill and the freedom and the sense of life and space. Make the promises of God personal to yourself and see if your whole perspective and outlook is not completely transformed. It must be first hand - second hand Christianity is an impossibility. It is positive, altogether worthwhile and meaningful and freely available to whosoever will. God's Word is a world to explore. It is the spiritual equivalent of what God said to Abraham after he had travelled to the unknown land all the way from Ur, and it was at last spread out in a great vista beneath his feet - "Walk the land".
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