Country Life
By IAN NIALL
a rule people who live within sight of mountains Ii);IY little attention to them, and although I am often i 1 the hills in the warmer months of the year when g° up to fish, I never go there in cold weather. It is enough to see them ghosting in the mist or veiled "11, a snow storm. I take for granted the shepherd's account of the black crag looking like poured glass deeps, Its sheath of ice. In any case, the trout are in the 'eePt, and I like to think of the hills locked away 1,11 winter and inviolate. This is a somewhat rosy 1 ream, but of late it has been almost true, for foot- ad-Mouth restrictions have kept people out of the hills in this part of the world. The ban was lifted rt..week or so ago, however, and the hikers and et!rnbers infiltrated as before. One unfortunate fellow slipped on the ice-bound crag and paid for his bold- ness, but most of the trekkers tucked their chins into their parkas and clumped on through the wilderness, enjoying it in their way. They don't belong on our doorstep, of course, but come from far corners of 114e country, from plains and fens and brick jungles. No one 'local' would dream of leaving the shelter of the village for the bitter wind at 2,000 feet. Imagina- tion is enough to keep us by the fire—and to send these sturdy mountaineers to places grey and bleak en the far skyline.
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