HOOKS- A film by Stephen Pern

As some of you may know I recently underwent a fairly serious operation on my right leg (a distal femoral osteotomy since you ask) and this has left me with a minimum of four weeks stuck on the couch as said leg is completely non-weight bearing. As an active person this has inevitably led to some frustration but now, just under two weeks in, the opiate fog is beginning to clear, the pain is dropping down to more manageble levels and I need to do something other than drink prodigious amounts of coffee and doom scroll. So, I set about looking for some inspiring content to view that will help inspire me towards setting some “recovery goals” for 2025 and beyond when the leg is back to it’s new improved best and I will need to scratch the walking itch once more.
One of my greatest achievements was my “Land of My Fathers Project” where I walked the circumference of Wales along Offa’s Dyke and then all the way around the Welsh Coastal Path, total distance was 1065 miles. It gave me a real taste for long walks, the simplicity of each day, the freedom, the steady rhythm of moving through the countryside under your own steam, it all made sense to me in a way not many other things have. So, when I was flicking through various lists of recommendations and I came across “Hooks”, I thought this is the film for me. In truth, someone had mentioned it a few years ago but it had slipped my mind so I was very glad to have it re-bought to my attention.
This self made documentary, available on Youtube, charts the progress of Stephen Pern as he leaves his home in Hastings, East Sussex (conincidentally where I was bought up) on a mission to visit every Bothy in England, Scotland and Wales and affix a hook to hang up wet clothes or food bags to keep them out of the reach of mice. It’s a long walk, around three thousand miles and taking the best part of half a year. It showcases some beautiful British countryside especially up in Scotland where the vast majority of the bothies are. It demonstrates the vagaries of the British Summer and there are plentiful shots of the sheer joy a warm brew can bring on a torrid day. Whilst only a surprisingly small amount of the time is filled actually in the bothies there are plenty of magnificent landscape shots that show how they sit in the landscape and emphasise the remotness of their situation. It makes you think about just how challenging life must have been for the people who used the bothies as their homes or workplaces in the past. With the increased popularity in outdoorsiness post Covid I suspect anyone following in his footsteps would be fortunate to find as many bothies unoccupied as Pern does but this film certainly has whetted my appetite and one of my new knee 2025 goals is to spend a few bothy nights. Well worth a watch.