A Rucksack and a Scarf

Two important things I owned in 1970 – my rucksack (which went all over the Lake District) and my college scarf of which I was suitably proud. (Actually the scarf was not as good as it had been the first year of my studentship but I made the mistake of not buying one that year and then it changed to include blue which had connotations of Everton FC – the biggest rivals of my own team Liverpool FC.)

My Rucksack

 

My rucksack has just given up the ghost. It was one of those cheap ones from the market and lasted about four years which is not bad considering how much I’ve used it. But it does not compare with the rucksack shown above; pictured on Steel Fell, overlooking Greenburn Bottom in the Lake District. Dad bought this for me, second-hand, when I was about thirteen. It had a big metal frame and weighed a ton even without its contents. The inside space was comparable to a Volvo Estate and it had half a dozen extra pockets and various straps leather for carrying tripod, etc. It had been up virtually every Lakeland fell that I have climbed and around North Wales, Scotland, the West Country, and various other parts of England. Eventually, after about twenty years, I swapped it for a camera gadget bag