I wasn't quite sure where to put this. I think Out and About is as good a place as any.
In replying to a thread on shelter ID by Chance, ( http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69155 ) the topic of recent geological surveys carried out on Kefalonia in the Ionian islands off the western coast of Greece came to mind, as I recalled camping inside an ancient hut/house foundation.
I'm intrigued by the notion of settling down for the night in a place where the ancients have lived and have done just that on numerous occasions, despite the sometimes creepy sensation of knowing, somehow instinctively, that you've tresspassed on hallowed ground... call that weird if you like, there's nothing air-headed about taking your camping habit that one step further, better and tougher than me have done it.
There's something magical about sitting at the fire on the remnants of a Dun at the mouth of the Kinglass burn on Loch Etive-side, just knowing you're in the very place where Deirdre of the Sorrows hid with her brothers from the King of Ulster, and the satisfaction that you possess a sense of place which academia has failed to acquire without the use of a JCB. Yes, bad things have happened here, but somehow the good can overwhelm it!
Having said that, I find it equally satisfying camped on a charcoal burners platform on an Argyll hillside, a shoreside cave surrounded by shell and bone middens or a sheiling or pile of stones surrounded by rig and lazy-bed where you can easily imagine the sound of children playing.
I spent 3 weeks in Kefalonia in May 2009, taking every opportunity to stravaig the braes. I did do the Tourist thing to a degree, in feeding my Classical literature-bug, but visiting early in the season avoids the daftness of holiday crowds.
Like most others who have taken any time to think about it, I've always been suspicious of the modern "given" perception of Odysseus' homeland...
"Ithaca itself lies low, furthest to sea towards dusk; the rest, apart, face dawn and sun. (Odyssey translation, 9.19-26 [Diggle. J,]), most certainly does not describe modern Ithaca which is east of Kefalonia, an inconvenient detail which has been a long standing bone of contention amongst academics.
In my reply to Chance in "Bushcraft and Survival Skills" I wrote that, "I shook down for the night in a hut foundation on Kefalonia once and later discovered it to be Bronze Age. Who knows, it may have been the house of Philoetius himself."
What I wasn't aware of during my visit was that there was an on-going geological survey and archaeological investigation being carried out in the north-western, and wester-most, peninsula of the Kefalonian island. http://www.odysseus-unbound.org/news.html
You don't necessarily have to go to extremes in search of these special places, but give a thought to those who may have camped or lived there before you the next time you're out camping in your local woods.
It adds a dimension!
Cheers,
Pango.
In replying to a thread on shelter ID by Chance, ( http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69155 ) the topic of recent geological surveys carried out on Kefalonia in the Ionian islands off the western coast of Greece came to mind, as I recalled camping inside an ancient hut/house foundation.
I'm intrigued by the notion of settling down for the night in a place where the ancients have lived and have done just that on numerous occasions, despite the sometimes creepy sensation of knowing, somehow instinctively, that you've tresspassed on hallowed ground... call that weird if you like, there's nothing air-headed about taking your camping habit that one step further, better and tougher than me have done it.
There's something magical about sitting at the fire on the remnants of a Dun at the mouth of the Kinglass burn on Loch Etive-side, just knowing you're in the very place where Deirdre of the Sorrows hid with her brothers from the King of Ulster, and the satisfaction that you possess a sense of place which academia has failed to acquire without the use of a JCB. Yes, bad things have happened here, but somehow the good can overwhelm it!
Having said that, I find it equally satisfying camped on a charcoal burners platform on an Argyll hillside, a shoreside cave surrounded by shell and bone middens or a sheiling or pile of stones surrounded by rig and lazy-bed where you can easily imagine the sound of children playing.
I spent 3 weeks in Kefalonia in May 2009, taking every opportunity to stravaig the braes. I did do the Tourist thing to a degree, in feeding my Classical literature-bug, but visiting early in the season avoids the daftness of holiday crowds.
Like most others who have taken any time to think about it, I've always been suspicious of the modern "given" perception of Odysseus' homeland...
"Ithaca itself lies low, furthest to sea towards dusk; the rest, apart, face dawn and sun. (Odyssey translation, 9.19-26 [Diggle. J,]), most certainly does not describe modern Ithaca which is east of Kefalonia, an inconvenient detail which has been a long standing bone of contention amongst academics.
In my reply to Chance in "Bushcraft and Survival Skills" I wrote that, "I shook down for the night in a hut foundation on Kefalonia once and later discovered it to be Bronze Age. Who knows, it may have been the house of Philoetius himself."
What I wasn't aware of during my visit was that there was an on-going geological survey and archaeological investigation being carried out in the north-western, and wester-most, peninsula of the Kefalonian island. http://www.odysseus-unbound.org/news.html
You don't necessarily have to go to extremes in search of these special places, but give a thought to those who may have camped or lived there before you the next time you're out camping in your local woods.
It adds a dimension!
Cheers,
Pango.
