This episode’s vocabulary
To wander
verb — to walk around slowly in a relaxed way or without any clear purpose or direction.
To trace
verb — to find someone or something that was lost.
Tributary
noun — a river or stream that flows into a larger river or a lake.
To wade
verb — to walk in water that is not very deep.
To retrace your steps
idiom — to go back to a place in the same way that you came.
Crossing
noun — a place where something such as a road, river, etc. can be crossed safely, or a place where a road and a railway meet and cross each other.
Bird of prey
noun — a bird, such as an eagle or a hawk, that kills and eats small birds and animals.
Terrain
noun — an area of land, when considering its natural features.
Intuition
noun — (knowledge from) an ability to understand or know something immediately based on your feelings rather than facts.
Questions and answers
Right, Rory, give us your story.
It's a bit of a struggle to talk about the last time I was lost, to be honest, because we have GPS to help us find our way around these days. But I do remember one time I got a bit turned around when I was out for a walk near my old home in Aberlour. It's in the north of Scotland. And the village is very small, so there are lots of people around. Which I actually quite liked, and I often went out for walks in the local area. This was a few months ago after I stopped teaching in state schools, so I had the time to go for a wander without any real plan. I went through the forest and traced a path along the river that runs by the village, which was pretty easy, since all the usual course markers were pretty obvious. However, I was walking back and I ran into a tributary that I couldn't cross. So I decided to try and find a way around it. But the water just kept going for what seemed like miles. And it was funny because the other bank was only a few meters away. But I wasn't wearing anything appropriate to go wading or swimming. I wasn't particularly worried, though. It did occur to me that I was in the middle of nowhere. So if I got into difficulties it would take ages for people to find me, but I mean, how serious could the difficulties be, to be honest? Anyway, after what felt like an age, I eventually gave up and retraced my steps before finding a crossing and going through some farmland that I hadn't initially planned to go through. The sheep weren't very happy, but I made it back fine. Actually, it turned out to be a better experience than following the river since I was able to see a lot more local wildlife like deer and the occasional bird of prey, which usually don't go to the water sights, especially when people are around. You might be wondering why I didn't just use my phone and look at the map. And the reason for that is the mountain terrain prevents a lot of signals from getting through. And even if it didn't do this, the maps wouldn't be very accurate just because the signal quality isn't very high. So I had to rely on my own intuition and memory of the path I'd taken. If I hadn't been able to do that, then I think I'd have dropped by one of the farmhouses or fishing places that's dotted about the place. It wouldn't have been such a big deal. Though, I think the locals would have been very amused about showing up looking for help after living there for so long.
Do you often get lost?
No especially not now that I've moved back to the city.