#ThreeTenners Isle of Purbeck Sept 2017

It has been a while since the "Three Tenners" ( me and my two brothers - Rob and Mike) got our act together for a weekend away. Last weekend we headed for the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset to do some sea fishing and coastal walking. The Isle of Purbeck is designated an AONB - (area of outstanding natural beauty). It is also the start (or finish) of the South West Coastal Footpath - and part of the Jurassic Coast (dinosaur fossils) which is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a beautiful area.

We arrived Friday lunchtime and set up camp in Tom's Field at Langton Matravers. It is a small perfectly formed camp site with a really solid vibe. Pretty much everyone who uses the site seem to be walkers or kayakers/divers/rock climbers - certainly outdoor people. Everyone seemed to be there for a purpose with a quiet buzz of activity in the mornings and evenings.. We chose a great weather weekend as it turned out. Sat there early morning looking out over distant Swanage and the sea beyond was really lovely thing to do.

Anyway - fishing. Our dear late dad introduced us to it as boys. We have all fished at various times and I have certainly done a lot of boat fishing in the Solent. However this is different - beach casting off the shore. When we planned the weekend and mentioned sea fishing a fishing "competition" was inevitable. The time table was fishing Friday afternoon - a decent coastal walk Saturday and fishing Sunday until it was time to head home.

In preparation for the weekend Rob particularly invested in some new gear and new techniques. Mike had a shiny new reel. I had what I needed and tried and tested methods! I bought squid and mackerel for bait for us. For the first leg of the comp we fished off the lovely Victorian built pier at Swanage. It was an amusing afternoon - not least because promenaders thought we might be experts. Alas - we caught nothing - ha!

As usual the Three Tenners went to the pub - the wonderful old Square and Compass at Worth Matravers then back to the camp site to cook our respective dinners. This is always a laugh. A chef's nightmare!

Next day was a wonderful weather day. The plan was to walk from our camp site to the SW Coastal path (at Dancing Edge) and walk west to Kimmeridge - about 10 undulating miles. The issue with this is how to get back so we incorporated our usual ploy of taking one car to the finish and driving the other back to the start. 10 miles on this part of the coastal path is a tough 10 miles because it is up hill down hill for significant stretches. We walked for 6 1/2 hours with the odd stop! The scenery as you can see below is spectacular. One thing about this path is it is very hard to access by car and there is little in the way of mooring places for boats. Consequently the only activity is from walkers. It is very natural and unspoilt. Not a single café for 10 miles.

We really enjoyed the walk. It was good to get to the finish. Knees were aching certainly! We earned our beer and grub that followed. A memorable day indeed.

Sunday morning - an early but gentle start and pack up. There was some debate about where to fish. In the end we voted to go back to Kimmeridge because it is quiet and looked the sort of place fish would be. Alas again. Fishing conditions were tricky because of weed and a rocky bottom! No fish - so a hopeless draw!

Eventually we headed into Wareham for a roast dinner on the way home. We agreed we can do better with the fishing. We remain optimistic and enthused and will do it again. (it was the fishes fault not ours!).

The great thing about fishing is the anticipation. It can also take you to some lovely places. It really was a good weekend despite no fish for tea!

Rob & Mike Swanage Pier

Lunch on arrival

Rob going minimalist

The Three Tenners

Views Dancing Edge to Kimmeridge

Bruvs - top of a tough hill from Chapman's Pool!

Kimmeridge is just over the hill!

Well earned Mike

Fishing Kimmeridge

#Brexit sickened by the undemocratic remoaners.

This is a short blog to let off steam.

The UK has made an historic and democratic decision to leave the EU in order to regain sovereignty over our laws, money and borders. We are leaving - the process has started -  it must be irreversible.

Even if you voted remain why would you not want anything other than the most favourable leaving terms for your country? Why are you still persistently cheer leading for Barnier and the EU? Why do you seek to undermine our negotiating position by creating division rather than forming a united front?

It is sad you want your country to fail. What a future you have. Such a negative way to exist. It is sickening to observe our democracy is hanging by a thread because too many of our citizens are prepared to put petulance (at worst) or narrow self interest (at best) above the corner stone of our nation and the society our heroic forbears gave so much to foster and protect. Shame on you.

And finally remoaners you cannot half catch a train. Leave means leave. We voted to get off the EU bandwagon for (rightly or wrongly) a different future. It will be a brighter future if you get onboard now the decision has been made. Democracy has spoken.

#Fear does it control your life ? Maslow - religion - Pablo Escobar

Early yesterday morning I did a 12 mile solitary training run. It went relatively ok and one of the main reasons was I successfully didn't think much about the running while I was doing it - ha! What was I thinking about instead? Well - as it turned out the subject of two blogs came bubbling in my mind. (I had plenty of time to kill - over 2 hours!) Anyway - the second of them I commit to paper now - the first one I am not so sure I should write.

Here are some personal thoughts. I am thinking out loud.

What motivates us has always interested me because I believe there is a reason for the things we do and choices we make - even if those reasons lie deep in our sub-conscious or if we do not understand them (or choose not to acknowledge or perhaps confront them).

I have made the case in a previous blog the key to happiness or at least contentment is being able to put your life into context that makes sense to you ie to understand why I do things - to try to understand other peoples behaviour and why they do things that have the potential to impact our lives.

The tools I have incorporated to help me are amongst others:-

• Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" has been my useful yardstick. For many years I have used it as a bench mark to understand my motivations. I guess the motivator for this blog and the ones before them is now self-actualization.
• Acceptance of Darwin's "survival of the fittest" theory. We are animals - and while we might make attempts to be civilised, human beings are driven by base animal instincts. (for instance - Desmond Morris - The Naked Ape - an enjoyable read and the premise is correct - even if some of his observations might be a bit of a stretch).
• An acceptance that there is no benevolent God watching over with the ability to affect our  lives. As a consequence absolving yourself by asking for forgiveness is rubbish and self deluding. You are responsible for your own life and your own decisions. "Goodness" should be enough in itself and not motivated by earning Brownie points from God to impress him.
• Death is inevitable and part of a universal cycle.
• An acceptance that true happiness is not found in materialism as Gandhi or the teachings of Buddhism.

The other day I was watching a Netflix about the Colombian drug cartel leader Pablo Escobar. He said people follow religion out of fear. He went on to say that all life is determined by fear. He used violence to instill fear to gain control. I am not advocating Escobar's perverted view on life but there is something in an argument that fear is potentially a huge motivator for us and on reflection can be tied in with Maslow and Darwin - and I am going to add Gandhi and Buddhism.

So what form can fear take in our modern lives? Here are a few random ones - possibilities as I think on the hoof!

• Fear of dying
• Fear of being killed.
• Fear for your loved ones.
• Fear of being judged by God if God exists.
• Fear of not having enough money to exist.
• Fear of not being wealthy.

• Fear of not keeping up with the Jones's
• Fear of being lonely.
• Fear of not being valued or loved.
• Fear of not being popular.
• Fear of not looking attractive.
• Fear of not being fit.
• Fear of not coming up to standard.
• Fear of not being the best.
• Fear of failure.
• Fear of not living a meaningful life.
• Fear for your legacy.
• Etc etc.

Fear is a strong word. (an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat). In many instances it could be better described as "concern" (be relevant or important to - affect or involve - to worry (someone) - make anxious) - perhaps. 

Maybe a way of contemplating/advocating a route to a happy life - might be to remove or massively reduce those fears or concerns (stresses) from your head. One way is to work to make your circumstances secure - or confront or overcome your fears, to build up your self esteem if it is needed (as Darwin & Maslow) - The other way is to live a smaller simpler life where there is less at stake (as Gandhi & Buddhism and probably Maslow) - less to lose. I guess in our time - a lot of that relates to materialism and social pressures - pressures fostered in the 21st century by 24 hour news and particularly by Facebook and other forms of social media. A combination of each has been my approach.

Someone wrote - life is a struggle and then you die! This all reads a bit negative. I think we need to confront and overcome our fears - to challenge ourselves. Satisfaction - peace and happiness comes from within - the knowledge you have not given in but the opposite - in whatever form it takes - you have done the best you can, fought the battles you have needed to fight and ignored the ones that you perceived from your insights were just not worth it or over which you had no control. Having said all of that I have been referred to as an island on an island and it is true - I choose to rarely let down the drawbridge - ha!

#attitudetofood " if you do not treat food as medicine - medicine will become your food "

I have been suffering from bloggers block! Over the last 10 days I have started a couple of blogs but they have become a bit windy - lacking focus - so I have set them aside for now dear readers - but hope to finish them soon ha! (#generationgap & technology changing our lives #Brexit why is there no news reporting about EU internal problems?)

A comment about the weather as of course we Brits are obsessed by it. A beautiful clear morning out there this morning - but a few bins have been blown over - and a few twigs and leaves scattered on the paths. According to the Met Office "Storm Aileen" came through last night! To be fair to the Met Office it was a bigger blow in the North West of England but still a puff compared to Category 5 - hurricane force "Storm Irma" that has decimated parts of the Caribbean and Florida. We are indeed lucky to live in a place with such an equitable climate - a maritime climate. Ok we get maybe 35 inches of rain annually and weather is changeable even in summer - but we almost never have blizzards (leave alone serious ones) or really destructive winds. It never gets really cold - we never suffer from drought (maybe a hose pipe ban on watering the lawn) and are in a stable geological area (touchwood). It must be very unsettling to live under the constant threat of EXTREME weather. Hard to understand why weather is such a big talking point for us given that nothing dramatic ever really happens - ha!?

Back to my blog subject. I happened to come across this yesterday :-

" if you do not treat food as medicine - medicine will become your food "

Reading it made me smile and I have found myself thinking about it. Is it wrong? Is it right? Is it too gloomy? Is it overstated? Is it daft ?! Is there a lesson to be learned?

My conclusion - it is more right than wrong. It is helpful - beneficial to keep in mind perhaps. It ties in with "you are what you eat". With my kids when they were younger I used "what do you have to put in a car to make the engine run smoothly ?" Certainly good clean high octane fuel should help our bodies function well - too little or dirty fuel - will not. However this analogy doesn't deal with over fuelling - because unlike the fuel tank on a car the human stomach capacity has virtually no limit and obesity as a consequence is probably our biggest health danger.

There is a middle ground. I am going to advocate it. Food can be one of life's pleasures - more than just medicine surely? (whilst agreeing that the lengths chefs can go to produce food can be excessive and hard to justify). Years ago I remember a caller complaining on a Radio 4 news programme that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had been irresponsible in his budget by not increasing tax enough on "dangerous" cigarettes. The caller was very distressed about it. The next caller commented on the previous caller - suggesting that stress was the biggest killer and caller 1 should take up smoking in order to calm down a bit! To some extent this is my view with food zealots - terrified that they should only ever eat what they perceive as "good" for them. Rarely do you see a healthy looking vegan - it is the stress that is doing them in! I will throw this in too. When I was a young man I had a friend who was seriously hurt in a car accident. He was fit - but carried a bit of excess. His doctor told  him it was a big advantage - it gave his body something to use in recovery. Skin and bones are not always so positive as there are no reserves (but obesity is obviously a much bigger danger.)

But there is little doubt we will end up on medication in later life if we ignore obesity warnings, or ignore the proven link between junk food and poor nutrition - of too much salt or sugar. It is not just a life on medication or life expectancy - it is its impact on quality of life. Diabetes is a major killer and increasingly so. It can be very debilitating affecting sight, mobility and of course, major organs. A clear regard for food (as medicine) - what and how much we are taking in is a sensible approach to the challenges of responsible eating and living a full life.

To round off on a happy and positive note - "real ale". My son George and I regularly console ourselves with a pint on the basis that we are in effect having a nutritious meal - yes maybe even medicine - or at least a tonic! "Real ale" is not pasteurised or full of chemicals like sterile keg beer that will last for months. Live real ale will barely last a week because of the active yeasts - that are so GOOD for you - ha! Food for thought!