The 3 day circumnavigation of Borrowdale provides the canvas for some of Terry Abraham's trademark landscape and timelapse photography but unlike with "The Cairngorms in Winter", and its spiritual sister film "Life of a Mountain:Scafell Pike" the focus is more on the activity than the surroundings. The walk itself is stunning and the music from Freddyhangoler perfectly suited, as always, but at its core this is a film about backpacking more than it is about the location. In the space of 55 minutes Townsend covers everything from picking an overnight camp site to revealing the complete contents of his rucksack in a line across the fellside. While Chris is no newcomer to the distribution of knowledge, his Backpacker's Handbook is regarded by many as biblical and is now in it's 100,000th or something edition, doing it on film requires entirely different techniques. Subjects don't come up as logical chapters but present themselves in real time with gaps in between, putting the tips and techniques into context as part of the journey. The natural world provides obstacles you just don't get in a book and in true and honest fashion Chris has to change plans along the way as weather and water intervene.
Chris approaching High Raise ©Terry Abraham
When the film was first announced we could see several directions it could have taken from an instructional, BMC style, "How To" to a Julia Bradbury style "walkumentary" using a tent rather than B&Bs. What we got, however, was a blend of the two that celbrates the beauty of the central lakes while almost subliminally educating. You know you're being taught but it doesn't feel like being taught does. The relationship developed between Producer and Director, Terry Abraham, and the combined Presenter/Star allows Chris Townsend to apparently forget the presence of the camera and rather than "teaching" he just talks the viewer through the what, how and why of his decisions along the route. Whether it's the conditions the audio was recorded in or the benefit of another couple of years knowing each other there's a more natural sound to Chris' voice than in The Cairngorms in Winter and you get the sense that what you're seeing is the real Chris Townsend where the film is edited around him rather than vice-versa.
Solar Comp 2 and moon on High Spying How ©Terry Abraham
You can't get away from the fact that Abraham has to finance the film through a mix of commercial sponsors and crowd source funding and in these circumstances there's always a concern that product placement can detract from the film itself if not well managed. In Backpacking in the Lake District with Chris Townsend you can't miss the products and there's no doubts that the likes of Terra Nova, Viewranger and Sawyer will be delighted with their exposure but where and when the products are featured it's done so appropriately and to a large extent the products are just used without constant reference to the brand name.
Getting water at Angle Tarn ©Terry Abraham
Backpacking in the Lake District with Chris Townsend isn't going to win any outdoor festival awards but to be honest while Terry Abraham had highly edited versions of Cairngorms in Winter doing the rounds he doesn't really make festival style films. What he does is replace the adrenaline of festival films with an equal, but differently displayed, amount of passion. It's a quieter, less explosive, passion but it's accessable to everyone unlike the E6 climbs and 1st ascents of stunning winter faces that carry off the prizes. Watching a Kendal or Banff winner you get the feeling of "Wow, I wish I could do that", but with Terry Abraham's films you get "Wow, I can do and experience that". Backpacking in the Lake District with Chris Townsend perfectly demonstrates this and while it may not win awards there's little doubt that the public who put their hands in their pockets and buy the download and DVD will love it. It's a new direction for Abraham but he's carried it off again.
Bleaberry Fell summit ©Terry Abraham
Backpacking in the Lake District with Chris Townsend will be available to pre-order on DVD from Saturday 25th October from www.stridingedge.com