Wilderness does it exist?

                      What does wilderness conjure up for me?

Where we come from a time gone by, when we ventured into the land unknown, a mystical time of real adventures with a stiff upper lip. Wilderness for me was before my time when we had real animals on our shores and even more on far off shores across the world.  When Adventurers stepped out into a wild world, exploring for the first time and undertaking expeditions for weeks, months and even years. (A good read is amazing tales for making men out of boys).

So is there wilderness today? Well there are places across the world that would definitely fit into the dictionary version of wilderness, Yellowstone national park the first national park of America founded in 1872. In Britain we have more modest national parks referred to as “Britain’s Breathing Spaces” http://www.nationalparks.gov.uk/

There are 15 areas of national park from mountains, meadows, moorlands, woods and wetlands. http://www.nationalparks.gov.uk/. These areas are protected countryside for all to visit and live in. This might suggest they do not fall into the wilderness category. We also have The National Trust founded in 1895 by three Victorian philanthropists, who were concerned about the impact and development of industrialisation and they set up a trust to protect coastline, countryside and buildings. We also have in Britain areas of outstanding natural beauty (NAAONB). Gower was designated a NAAONB in 1956. It is good that we are protecting these areas yet as with all politics there is a balance between preservation and development especially when it comes to finance.

In Britain the only place that is often referred to as wilderness is remote regions in Scotland. Many places are quieter and less frequented yet you are never really in a wilderness in Britain, another area is Plynlymon in mid Wales or go walk on Cincht (North Wales Matterhorn) and not Snowdon to see the difference.  These places seem comparatively isolated to those of the easily accessed attractions. The theme park of the outdoors where everything is accessible by car with conveniences and retail outlets, this is the comfort of entering the outdoors without venturing past the front door. The hordes of people that enter our countryside and use our national parks show testament to the need for such places, especially as recreational activities are increasing. Jan pointed out that it is difficult to assess the areas of Europe that are designated Wilderness, as the amount of people walking Snowdon on a sunny day or the number at a beach on the Gower may not enable these areas to be classified as wilderness but take an average week day in the rain and the place is almost deserted. When they are compared to the vast sparsely populated areas of the Nordic regions there is little comparison.