The Curious Traveller for
the
modern
One
explorer
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.� T.S. Eliot
Š2014 The Curious Traveller All rights reserved. All material in this magazine may not be reproduced, transmitted or distributed in any form without the written permission of the editor. The Curious Traveller magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any article or material and to edit this material prior to publication. The Curious Traveller is a quarterly publication. The articles published reflect the opinions of the respective authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the publishers and editorial team. Printed in the United Kingdom by Plan 4 Print. For permissions please email curioustravellermag@gmail.com
The Curious Traveller for
the
modern
explorer
Contact Us The Curious Traveller D406 Castle Exchange 18 George Street Nottingham NG13BG United Kingdom We welcome any submissions of text or imagery at curioustravellermag@gmail.com f -/thecurioustraveller t - @explorecurious i - @curioustraveller Find us online www.thecurioustravellermagazine.tumblr.com For subscriptions, contributions and inquiries please email us at curioustravellermag@gmail.com Editor and Designer – Sarah Stothard Photographer – Hannah Stothard
6
hello
What does the word explore mean to you?
Of course, there is the dictionary definition; to travel through (a country etc.) in order to
learn about it. We thought this was a little too certain, and so asked our contributors and passers-by what this word means to them. These definitions are scattered throughout our debut volume, and aim to entice you into reading more, and travelling further.
This volume of The Curious Traveller takes the word explore to the Lake District, where we meet the daughter of an explorer of water and speed, discover the Victorian pleasure garden nestled within the valleys, and take a moment of contemplation in the beauty of the least visited lake. Creating this issue has, for me, been my own voyage of exploration. I have been writing for several years but have never created an entire issue surrounding two of my passions; travel and independent publishing. It is from this passion which The Curious Traveller was born, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed making it. Welcome to volume one.
Sarah Stothard Editor
7
Subscribe 4 volumes: ÂŁ35 plus shipping Four curious, intelligent and beautiful magazines delivered to your door. Email curioustravellermag@gmail.com and enter subscribe into the subject bar
8
Contents Wastwater 10 Aira Force 20 The King of Speed 24 Interview: Gina Campbell 28 The Illustrated Lakes 36 A Walk in the Mountains 42 Lakeland Close Up 45
9
Wastwater There are few unspoilt landscapes within our homeland, and fewer still
that induce great emotion when facing them. When a landscape as wild and changing as the shores of Wastwater captures your imagination completely, few words are capable of describing the sheer, raw beauty of this landscape. Capturing its beauty on film seemed the only way to truly share this with the world.
Words by Sarah Stothard Photography by Hannah Stothard
3 miles long ½ a mile wide 260 feet deep, the deepest of all the lakes Overlooked by Red Pike, Kirk Fell, Great Gable and Scafell Pike, England’s highest mountain The valley was colonised by Norse farmers in the 9th and 10th century
11
12
13
18
19
Aira Force Weaving its way through the Ullswater valleys is a glimpse of
a landscaped Victorian Park. Combining dramatic waterfalls, an arboretum and rockeries, Aira Force is the masterful creation of the 18th Century family, the Howards. Residing in Greystoke Castle, now Lyulph’s Tower, the Howards had a hunting lodge near the banks of Ullswater, and began landscaping a pleasure garden to cast their mark on the landscape that inspired them. The area surrounding the Force is a curated horticultural paradise. Planted in this landscape are over half a million native and ornamental trees, separated only by the Force, tracks and bridges. At its entrance to the lake, Aira Force’s arboretum grounds, created in 1846 fill the landscape with over 200 specimen conifers including a Sitka Spruce with at present is 118 feet high. The passion exerted by the Howard family has been carefully created to introduce something unnatural to the wildest of landscapes, in the most natural and powerful way. There is no denying the beauty of the landscape of the Force, and the raw, unabridged power of the Force as it cascades through this landscape. This is a piece of Victorian treasure, carefully preserved to become part of the natural Lakeland landscape.
20
Words by Sarah Stothard Photography by Hannah Stothard
21
22
23
The King of Speed Donald Campbell
24
Words by Sarah Stothard Photograph by Grahame Cox
It is a rare occurrence when greatness is
pumps allowed the Bluebird to be water ready by 4th January 1967.
achieved like no other. Today, with 24 hour news broadcasts and breaking news alerts on mobile phones, greatness can be achieved overnight and forgotten the next day. In the age before such alerts, an adventurer and explorer of boundaries and limits pushed himself to do what no man had done before.
With calm waters and good weather, Campbell was able to make a successful first run, hitting 297.6 mph. His second run was even faster with his speed peaking at 328mph. It was on this run that the craft began to bounce. The engine flamed out and the nose was thrust down. K7 began to glide with an increasing angle-of-attack before pitching up. Campbell’s beloved Bluebird K7 almost completed a somersault before hitting the water. She spun across the water before coming to her final resting place. The force of this crash broke Bluebird into pieces, and threw Campbell’s body out of the cockpit.
Donald Malcolm Campbell CBE is the only person to set both the world land and water speed records in the same year. With eight record breaking speed records on water and on land in the 1950s and 1960s, Campbell was a man like no other. The creation of Bluebird K7 was a feat of British engineering. An advanced all metal jet-powered hydroplane, Bluebird was made of aluminium and steel, and had a designed speed of 250mph. Seven world water speed records were set in the K7 between 1955 and 1964.
Floating debris, his helmet and teddy bear mascot were recovered, but two weeks of searching brought no news of Campbell’s body. In 2000, the Bluebird Project recovered the craft from Coniston, and Campbell’s body was pulled from the waters in 2001.
Dedicated to his craft and to speed, Campbell decided that he wanted to push the boundaries of water speed further. With a target of 300mph Bluebird was engineered to be lighter, and was fitted with a more powerful Bristol Orpheus engine from a jet aircraft. Trials of the modified craft were not without their problems. Bad weather over Coniston teamed with engine failure meant when high-speed runs were made, they were well below Campbell’s existing record. Further modifications to the fuel system and
The legacy of Donald Campbell lives on, and his beloved Bluebird is in the process of being restored to her former glory by a dedicated team of volunteers and engineers. It is men like Donald Campbell that inspired people of the age, and through the restoration of Bluebird, will live on. Campbell truly was, a hero on water.
26
Image by John Pittaway
“My dad did something outstanding for the nation” Interview by Sarah Stothard Images taken from the Service of Prayer, Thanksgiving and Celebration of Donald Campbell’s life in 2001
G
ina Campbell, daughter of Donald Campbell, has achieved greatness on water. Breaking her own world record in 1990, Gina has been inspired by the passion of her late father. In an interview with The Curious Traveller, Gina shares her memories of her father, why New Zealand is her favourite place, and her hopes for the restored Bluebird K7.
What does the Lake District mean to you, and does Coniston have a particular significance for you? I have very mixed emotions. I love the people in Coniston, but in a strange way, to put it gently, I actually hate the place. Does that make sense? It is very foreboding for me, and invariably the weather is rubbish, when the sun shines and the sky is blue and everything is nice I can accept it’s beautiful, but when it is grey and miserable and damp I just see it as my father’s grave. I know one shouldn’t let the weather and the colour effect things, but it’s the colour that shrouds it for me. I know it was the scene of his triumphs as well but to me of course, you know, it’s where he died, so I have very mixed emotions. I love the people of Coniston and the way they have upheld my dad’s memory Did they give you quite a lot of support at the time and more recently when Bluebird was brought up? Yes tremendously. Well when bluebird first came up there was a lot of criticism from some of the local people because she was always a bit of a mystery, the lady of or the boat of the lake and they thought if the boat came up then it would go away and it wouldn’t be brought back to Coniston. They thought they would lose that sort of feeling that it was theirs and that is why I promised them, I promised on my life that she would always go back to Coniston. I wish she was already there but it is already taking so long. So much longer than anybody anticipated, but it will be worth the wait. I was reading recently on the Bluebird project website where they are trying to raise money to rebuild Bluebird that she is going to be re launched. Is that something that is going to happen soon? Well they don’t need any money now. They have just got a load of volunteers and people donate and give the materials that are needed so that is why it is taking the time. It hasn’t been the money; I don’t think the money is the reason why it hasn’t happened quickly. They are a team of dedicated guys who have travelled at their own expense hundreds of miles to go and work on that boat on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday and I think it has been done with such love and no money involved that I think makes it more poignant. She will, she is meant to run once. Just once. But we don’t know if that will happen. There are so many conundrums, you could choose say, ok, we are going to run it March 23 2015, that’s my dad’s birthday, but the weather could be rubbish. How do you get around that? You can get the world and his wife and the cameras and everything there and not be able to run it. And that was what dogged my father all his life. The bloody weather! When your father was alive, to many, the lifestyle that followed his achievements could seem quite glamorous. Is this how you felt growing up? I didn’t feel like that at all. There seemed nothing glamorous about it. On reflection I did a lot of things in that era that the kids my age would never have got to do. I went to America for a year with my dad in 1957 to 1958; I went to Australia in 63 and 64. That wouldn’t have happened, but there was somehow nothing glamorous about it. We didn’t live like Lords and Ladies when we were there you know. We were hunkered down in a scrubby motel somewhere and my dad would be in bad moods when things weren’t going the right way, nothing seemed to be easy so I don’t look back on it as at all glamorous, but the spin off from it could certainly be very advantageous. I wouldn’t say glamorous but I had a very privileged childhood in the people I met and the places I went. Today it may seem fairly commonplace, but in those days were very extraordinary. So in that respect there was a great upside to it.
29
Coniston was chosen to test Bluebird because of its length and the fact that it is such a big stretch of straight water. Were there any other reasons why your father chose this lake and the area surrounding it in particular to try and break his own water speed record? Geographically it gave advantages, but he did previously use Ullswater. He did his first record on Ullswater but it has a slight dogleg in it, but as the speeds got faster that dogleg became more difficult to negotiate, hence the reason he moved to Coniston. Windermere he always said was much too big with too much commercial traffic what with the steamers and the pleasure boats and things like that and he needed it flat calm so he couldn’t have any wash from other boats or pleasure boats getting in the way. Coniston could be policed and kept for his own use during his runs. So that’s why, and I think also he had a very strong allegiance with the people of Coniston. My grandfather had been there previously so I think it was a historical thing as well. A lot of help for the Bluebird Project seems to of come from the North East of England. How do you feel about the restoration process and what are your hopes for once the project is completed? The work that the guys are doing on it, what Bill Smith and the volunteers are doing, some come, some go, some stay; they are an evolving lot. The workmanship is absolutely staggering. I mean, this boat will be better than when she was built, I know that sounds almost impossible. And he is using every piece of original material, he is flattening it out. He can take a piece of metal that looks like a crumpled piece of paper and he will look at it and go, ‘I know where that went’. I say, ‘how do you know’ but he knows because of this, this, this and this. And you know the support he has had from the North East has been fantastic. I cannot say I am anything but delighted. My only one slight disappointment is the length of time it has taken. Not because of the length of time per say, but the amount of people sadly that have died and passed through this life, all the people that were associated with it that won’t be around to see it re launched. That is the one thing that I find very sad, but as Bill said, the last thing he ever wants to hear from anybody is ‘when is it going to be ready’. The stock answer is it will be ready when it’s ready. So I’m never going to push him. I’m wondering if you know, in 2017, which sounds years away, but will be 50 years since my dad died whether that will be the date that he will be looking at getting it ready for. I don’t know. I would’ve liked it ready this year because it is 50 years since my dad did the land speed record and the water speed record double in 1964 in Australia but that will obviously of been come and gone. So we have to look for the next anniversary and it is a shame to mark that anniversary with my dad’s demise but what can we do? It will take as long as it takes. You can’t pressure these people on anymore. They are giving their life’s blood.
30
31
It will serve as a very fitting memorial though to your dad and to all the engineers and all who worked on it originally. British industry in particular because you know, it is all British and my dad was very patriotic. In the 60s your dad was seen as a hero, a ground breaker, adventurer and explorer to so many people, not just children but adults, everyone. How do you think his legacy has lived on since his death and do you there are any more heroes and adventurers coming out of Britain today? I think we still have heroes and adventurers, but because we have 24 hour news coverage, anybody that achieves anything becomes a hero and adventurer whereas in my dad’s day, you had to be that little bit special. You know, when we can make a national hero of a footballer, I think that sort of says what I think. My dad did something outstanding for the nation. He wasn’t well paid, he wasn’t vetted and treated like a god, and he went out and did what he believed in for queen and country. It was a different mentality. Today we do make heroes out of everybody. They may achieve this because it is something they are highly paid for. You can’t blame that person, it’s the media. They have all these column inches to fill and they have all these hours of rubbish TV to fill, what are they going to fill it with? I don’t have a problem with that as long as the kids who do idolise them take that in the right spirit and are able to take advantage from it. You can be a hero today for actually achieving quite little. From your achievements it is clear that you have been inspired by what your father has done. Was this the case growing up or is this something that became more prominent after his death? Yes, much more prominent since my dad died. When he died all I was interested in was waters. And I had no interest in following him in any way shape or form and it really all happened all by accident. I think it was, as you said, my dad was a hero and you would go to a party or a meeting or you would meet people and someone would say ‘oh, meet a friend of mine, this is Gina Campbell, her father was Donald Campbell you know’ and they would look at you quizzically and say ‘oh! And what do you do?’ They can’t help it. You would probably say that to David Beckham’s son when he grows up, ‘oh, do you play football?’ It’s just, the way humans are and I think it sort of struck a bit of a chord with me after a while and I thought I’m going to have to go out and prove myself as well . Do you have a particular place where you like to go to retreat? I read that you enjoy New Zealand. I do. My father’s second wife was a New Zealander and she brought me up from the age of 5 till I was 10 and as far as I was concerned she was my mother. And when she divorced my dad she went back to New Zealand straight away, remarried and had three children. Now, I never crossed paths with her again from 1957/8 till 1984. We never spoke, we never saw each other. My telephone rang one day in 1984, middle of the summer, and I answered the phone, ‘hi’ ‘hello is Gina there’ ‘yes this is Gina’ ‘oh this is…’ I said you
32
don’t have to tell me who this is. I recognised her voice after all that time. And we met in London the next day she was in London, travelling, she was an actress. And we had lunch in London and it was as if all those years had never existed. I said to her, I’m going to come to New Zealand for Christmas and she said ‘oh that would be nice dear’ thinking I bet she won’t. But I did. And I hit it off with her kids really well. I mean they could’ve loathed me. But we really got on well. And from then on every year I have been to New Zealand in one way shape or form. She’s passed on sadly; she had a stroke, and died about 5 years ago now. But I’ve just come back from three months with her kids and we call each other brother and sister which, I mean we are not related in any way shape or form but to me they are the closest things to me.
I was in Coniston recently and saw a lot of things attached to Bluebird, you have the Bluebird Café on the water, the Coniston brewery where they brew a beer called Bluebird which bears the image of the craft as well. How do you feel about products carrying this image and this story? Do you think it encourages people to explore the story and to be curious about your father and Bluebird? Or do you think it is just used as a marketing tactic? Do you know, that is an interesting question. I suppose at the end of the day the people of Coniston see at as their nest egg. It is the one thing you know, Coniston, Campbell, Bluebird; they are three very intrinsically linked words and names and I personally don’t have any problem with them using it in any form of exploitation because Coniston struggles. You see they get a few good months a year and they all scrabble a living and they are all chasing after the same shilling and good luck to them. That’s my attitude. We don’t get, as a family, any royalties or anything for the use of any of that nor would we want one. Because as long as the people and Coniston can survive that’s fine by me. It’s because they have a big legacy and they uphold my dad’s name so I would say, everybody that looks at anything Bluebird sees my dad’s name that’s goodbye me. Look, you’re a young girl and you’re interested in my dad and the story about it. To me that is brilliant. And hopefully that will go on for a generation after you. The worst thing would be if it stopped.
33
Donald Malcolm Campbell CBE 23rd March 1921 - 4th January 1967
The Illustrated Lakes Three illustrators share their views on the Lake District and what the word explore means to them.
What does the word explore mean to you? “If there were no mysterys left to explore life would be less of an adventure and very dull.” Emma Pyrah
“Having an open mind and pushing the boundaries by learning and discovering new things.” Carina Pope
“To me, the word ‘explore’ isn’t just about going for a walk and seeing what there is to see. Yes, you can explore mountain trails and famous cities, but I also regard reading a book, or trying different food, or learning a new skill as a form of personal exploration. To explore is to experience something new and take the time to let that experience broaden your knowledge and view of the world.” Lauren Williamson
37
Illustration by Emma Pyrah
39
Illustration by Emma Pyrah
Illustration by Carina Pope
Illustration byLauren Williamson
A walk in the mountains A favourite Lakeland past time is walking. With such beautiful scenery and a handy cut out guide by Alfred Wainwright, allow yourself to take time out to explore this wild landscape.
42
Lakeland Close Up A photo essay by Hannah Stothard
45
46
47
48
49
“In the combinations which they make, towering above each other, or lifting themselves in ridges like the waves of a tumultuous sea, and in the beauty and variety of their surfaces and colours, they are surpassed by none” William Wordsworth, The Lake District’s Mountains
The Curious Traveller www.thecurioustravellermagazine.tumblr.com £10