Travel Tales: In the Footsteps of Keats

In June 1818 the great English Romantic poet John Keats, and his friend Charles Brown, walked through the Lake District and Scotland.Their trip from Lancaster to Inverness was to provide Keats with images that would inspire some of his most powerful poetry, including Hyperion, Ode to Autumn and Ode to a Nightingale.

Two books have since been written following in Keats’s footsteps, both by American authors. The first – A Walk North With Keats, by Nelson Bushnell – was a faithful recreation of the 1818 trek made in the 1930s, and was the guide I used to plan my own walk.  The second was a less personal, photographic record of a similar journey completed during the late 70s by Carol Kyros Walker.

Admittedly, 70 years on, Bushnell’s book is itself of historic interest, filled as it is with his complaints about tarmacadam, metalled roads and charabancs – all while offering a somewhat quaint and naive view of Britain at a time when traffic, pollution and a general lack of environmental awareness were beginning to hit the popular fells. By writing up my own experiences of the route, I wanted to do two things; to examine the role creative writing can have in supporting those with mobility issues, and to gauge how far areas such as the Lakes are accessible to people who are less agile. Would I find similar inspiration to Keats, or would the solitude and grandeur that so affected him be closed off to me?

Lymphoedema is a condition of the lymphatic system that causes significant swelling in usually one or more limbs. Although it affects thousands of people in the UK, little is known about it; doctors are frequently ignorant of signs and symptoms of a disabling condition, causing serious problems with mobility and leaving a patient vulnerable to potentially life threatening infections.

I’ve been affected by Primary Lymphoedema  since I was a teenager. To add to my difficulties, the last two years had seen me get through the additional trauma of breast cancer surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy – all of which had further limited my physical activity, contributing to some weight gain and an increased risk of developing Lymphoedema in my arm.

Determined to do something positive, I came up with the idea of combining my “three great loves”. Completing a walk of 100 miles across the Lakes in the footsteps of my favourite poet – which I guessed would take me about three weeks – would be, I thought, an excellent way to raise funds and to highlight the need for better treatment for Lymphoedema patients across the UK. Plus, of course, it was the perfect motivation for me to regain fitness, lose weight and get my life back into perspective. Obviously, my legs were lacking in enthusiasm for the plan, but they had to get used to the idea.

St Margaret’s Somerset Hospice (where I am lucky enough to receive treatment in Somerset) and national charity the Lymphoedema Support Network, were happy to formally endorse my walk, as were the Keats Shelley Memorial Association. I set up my fundraising website (www.justgiving.com/keatswalk) and, despite being delayed by a broken metatarsal – caused by the old mid-life problem of too much exercise too soon – I was filled with enthusiasm, sending my press release to local papers promoting the walk and other fundraising events. I barraged local companies with requests for sponsorship, receiving some generous donations and, most importantly, the support of my family who likewise agreed to fund all their own expenses to ensure every penny went to the designated charities.

I set off on the first leg in March; but it was an unromantic beginning. The route up to Lancaster now follows the M6, so there were stark differences between Bushnell’s experience and my own. Where Bushnell was met by smiling locals, birdsong and the crunch of gravel beneath his feet as he travelled through Bolton le Sands and Burton in Kendal to Endmoor, I was forced onto narrow pavements next to busy main roads, buffeted by large articulated lorries. Nor was there any inspiration to be found in the lines of post war suburban housing!

On the second stage, which I started in June, I was in the Lakes proper and could appreciate some of the mystery that had worked its magic on Keats. The weather was less than magical, though – rains and gales meant  two of my planned walks were curtailed and I suffered badly as it became very slippery underfoot. But the feeling of achievement at the end of a long day made my soggy feet and aching arms bearable – walking with sticks is apparently a great form of exercise! On a few occasions I found it difficult to follow Bushnell’s route to the letter, so I added a few “interpretations” of my own. Which is fine; after all, we don’t have an exact map of the route Keats and Brown had taken.

In August, on the third leg I went to Stockghyll Force in Ambleside, a waterfall which Keats had mentioned in his letters. These days no-one is allowed to scramble over the rocks as Keats did, but to avoid a steep and rocky path the authorities have built a separate disabled access point near the top. However, hemmed in by health and safety, with my view of the waterfall obscured by trees, I’m afraid that in the place where Keats was able to forget his short stature “so completely”, I actually felt my mobility problems even more acutely than on the more undeveloped walks across gently rolling fields.

I chose to counter this depressing feeling by walking on to the Castlerigg Stone Circle, the “Druids circle” which Keats walked to as an after dinner stroll (!). Having been built thousands of years ago, the Circle can’t have changed that much in the last few hundred! These days, you can drive to the site, while physical access to the stones is quite level. If you can block out the crowds sitting on the ancient stones eating ice cream under their umbrellas, you can feel you are sharing something of Keats’s own experience of the place.

That said, having now seen many of the things that Keats saw on his walks – subsequently described in his journals and poetry – I’m more than ever in awe of his poetic genius. I know I can describe what I saw but am also aware that I couldn’t find the language to move or inspire people as he did!

I know it would have been unrealistic to expect equal access to open fells and mountainsides, but the principle of Least Restrictive Access should bring disability to the top of any access planning and maintenance agenda. The major obstacles I found while following in Keats’s footsteps were the stiles and steps that no “proper” walk in the Lakes can avoid. These should be one of the first things to be addressed; I still found impossible barriers on well used, ostensibly level footpaths. Ironically it would have been easier for me to access some of the routes Keats followed as they had been back in the early 1800s! However, I was undaunted and I was lucky to have a good support team around me, hauling me over stiles in all manner of strange designs!

It would be unfair of me to criticize too harshly, as much sterling work has been done. For obvious reasons however, much of this is in the most popular areas. For instance, it was easier for me to walk along the shores of Windermere than the shores of Thirlmere, but then the former was also more akin to a Sunday stroll in a municipal park rather than a wander “lonelier than a cloud” – sorry, Mr Wordsworth!

It is easy to feel defeated by the outdoors if you have mobility problems, but however busy the hotspots, there’s always somewhere in the Lake District where you can catch your breath and, if not inspired to great writing, to at least find some sense of perspective! I have walked 100 miles and have raised over £3,500 so far, but until I know that every GP and specialist in the UK is aware of Lymphoedema and its impact on our lives, I aim to keep on walking!