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Saturday 10 September 2022

Giddy Edge

 




As we know, people react very differently to heights. This is an area we walk fairly often but we've never tried Giddy Edge, a short path above Matlock Bath. 

There are more precipitous paths elsewhere and I'd do it for a bet, but when we're up there on Tuesday, Giddy Edge won't be part of the walk. The viewpoints are fine - they have guard rails.   

11 comments:

Sam Vega said...

I'm surprised that's still open. I wouldn't do it. But I expect it's a rite of passage for local kids, and doing it on a trail bike attracts real applause.

Macheath said...

We are currently in the French Alps, where there’s a lot of this kind of thing and the locals seem to take it entirely for granted, merrily chatting as they stride along*. We have been wondering whether they are all conditioned through continual exposure from childhood - there are plenty of surprisingly small children or even babies in backpacks - or whether those with a fear of heights invariably flee to the lowlands as soon as they can, thereby removing their genes and influence from the population.

It’s not just the people; last week, while cautiously inching along a steep and narrow section of path, we rounded a corner and discovered - to our utter astonishment (and horror) - a fresh cowpat.


*As observed mainly from the places where we have stopped, shuddered and turned back and from horrified viewing of videos.



James Higham said...

I'd not go up there.

A K Haart said...

Sam - anyone doing it on a trail bike deserves some applause, assuming they make it.

Macheath - you could be right about the genes, because it seems to be a physiological effect which you have, or you don't. Childhood conditioning might reduce the effect I suppose.

James - fine views though.

Peter MacFarlane said...

Cripes it's not called Giddy for nothing, is it.

Peter MacFarlane said...

Incidentally, there are lots of worse paths in Italy, they quite often have a chain for you to hang on to, and as you happily swing yourself along, hundreds of feet up a cliff, you do find yourself wondering who installed the chain, how thorough they were about the job, how often (if ever) it's maintained or checked, and - of course - whether the Mafia had anything to do with it.

A K Haart said...

Peter - "how often (if ever) it's maintained or checked"

Makes me think of people with clipboards edging along the chain, testing each rockface fastening. Not a job for your average bureaucrat I imagine.

djc said...

Via Ferrata — installed in the Dolomite during the First World War.

A K Haart said...

djc - if it's that old, I'd certainly want it testing. Not that I'd use it anyway.

Macheath said...

Via ferrata are something of an obsession here. The nearest alpine resort - summer motto; ‘a hundred new ways to injure yourself’ - has just installed three new via ferrata routes, while the local park has one which, climbing two hundred feet up a narrow spine of rock with sheer drops on either side, is described as ‘an ideal initiation, suitable from age 3/4 upwards’.

A K Haart said...

Macheath - a few people in our Ramblers group used to go alpine walking every year. From the sound of it, they enjoyed narrow paths, precipitous views and a sense of being high up the mountains. They sustained a number of injuries over the years.