📙 Part 2: Describe an occasion when you got lost and needed help

This episode's vocabulary

To get turned around - to slightly lose your way.

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

M: Right, Rory, give us your story.

R: 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.

M: Do you often get lost?

R: No especially not now that I've moved back to the city.