BOOTboys

BB2409 : Catawampus In Your Coddiwomple?

Friday 8th March 2024

Are you all sitty comforty bolt two square on your botty? Then I’ll begin.

When I discovered the words “catawampus”and "coddiwomple", I thought they must be something devised by Professor Stanley Unwin, especially when I read the full sentence:

“Don’t get catawampus in your coddiwomple”

For those readers lucky enough to still be under 60, perhaps I should explain that Professor Stanley Unwin was a TV celebrity who invented his own language “Unwinese”.

Wikipaedia explains that “Unwinese was a corrupted form of English in which many of the words were altered in playful and humorous ways, as in its description of Elvis Presley and his contemporaries as being "wasp-waist and swivel-hippy".

However, it turned out to be nothing to do with the good professor. Coddiwomple is, apparently, English slang meaning “to travel in a purposeful manner towards an as of yet unknown destination”. As for Catawampus, this is an old America term referring to something that is in disarray.

You might well be wondering what that has to do with today’s outing. Well, the sentence about not getting catawampus in your coddiwomple is an on-line quote from the Pharos Wealth Strategies financial advisor called David Ballard. The tenuous connection is that my two colleagues today, TV Mike and Robert happen to be retired financial advisors. Whether we coddiwompled or catawampussed, I leave you to judge.

We parked at Glen Mary Bridge, near Coniston, and climbed the steep but pleasant path that leads past waterfalls to Tarn Howes.

All very purposeful, as was our gentle stroll around the Tarn to the Iron Keld Plantation. Once again, climbing was then involved but it was a gentle track through wood before emerging onto the open fell, eventually to reach Black Crag, a superb viewpoint.....

..... with an impressive shaft of light over Esthwaite Water.

Maybe there was a bit of coddywompling as we descended to the west .....

..... and even more so when we tried to find the ravine that leads down to the Hodge Close quarry. However find it we did and it remains an impressive place from which to view the quarry, despite the unwelcome graffiti that has now appeared.

After stopping for lunch in a sheltered sunny spot, we strode purposefully to the summit of Holme Fell, despite the bitterly cold wind. Another excellent viewpoint.

Our descent was rather more vague but we did eventually pick up the main path that led down past Yew Tree tarn .....

..... then some belted Galloways to Glen Mary Bridge and the car.

The next stage of our adventure could not be described as anything other than highly purposeful to a known destination. Once more, the Eagle and Child at Staveley. Or as Stanley Unwin almost said:

So, gathering all behind in the hintermost, we ploddy-ploddied forward into the deep fundermold of the complicadent eaglemosty and childyman to slakest our thirstikons.

Don, Friday 8th March 2024

Bonus Pictures From TV Mike

Click here for TV Mike's panoramic movie from the top of Black Crag

Bonus Pictures From Robert.....

..... and to Relive Robert's walk, click on the picture below:

Comitibus:

Don, TV Mike, Robert

Map: OS 1:50k

STATISTICS	BB2409 : Catawampus In Your Coddiwomple?
Date:	Friday 8th March 2024
Features:	Black Crag, Holme Fell
Distance in miles:	8.0
Height climbed in feet:	1,903
GPX track:	BB2409.gpx
Comitibus:	Don, TV Mike, Robert

Comments :

Robert: Interested in your reference to Stanley Unwin. He lived in Long Buckby, just outside Daventry, and my father knew him well. They were both members of Daventry & District Golf Club and local masonic lodges but Dad was not a fan. I do not know whether Unwinese ever found its way into Daventrian masonic ritual.

And goodness knows how you ever came across Pharos Wealth Strategies.

Don: The puzzle for me now is how I came across the word Coddiwomple in the first place! Everything else flowed from that. Uncle Google listed “Don’t Get Catawampus In Your Coddiwomple” as a quotation from Pharos Wealth Strategies.

Perhaps Stanley Unwin’s Unwinese was inspired by Masonic ritual!

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