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Millican Dalton: A Sublime Midlife Crisis

The relevance of a 20th century cave-dweller to environmental aesthetics.

Wednesday, 23 December 2020

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At the mouth of the cave at Borrowdale, May 2020. Photograph: Lewis Eaton.

On a swelteringly hot day in the North Western Fells of The Lake District, the gaping mouth of a cave offered itself as a refuge and swallowed us mercifully into its cool damp interior. Caves are otherworldly places. This particular cave, set into the hillside of Castle Crag, allows you to peer out at the gently swaying trees and glimmering daylight of the outside world from a viewing point void of light and sound. The daytrip itself had been to seek refuge in The Lakes; an attempt at replacing the stagnancy of a locked-down city summer with a more welcome, less claustrophobic, kind of tranquillity. We spent a few minutes scrambling around on the siltstone, marvelling at the height of the cave walls and exchanging the obligatory comments about feeling small in big spaces. On leaving, I noticed a large, flat stone covered in scrawlings. At the centre in neat, deeply-etched letters read ‘Don’t Waste Words, Jump to Conclusions’ with dozens of smaller sections of writing surrounding this. Each gave names and dates, with many faded with age and dissolving back into the stone’s surface. It was from a frantic Googling during the car ride home that I came to find out we had happened across a sort-of pilgrimage place for hikers: the cave in which a man had lived out his summers for over forty consecutive years.

In 1904, at the age of thirty-six, Millican Dalton gave up his life as an insurance clerk in London in order to dedicate himself to The Great Outdoors. Having spent part of his childhood in Nenthead, the North Pennines, he found life and work in the capital stifling in comparison. From then on Dalton split his year, spending the summer months in the cave under Castle Crag and winters in a canvas hut in Buckinghamshire. Far from your conventional hermit, Dalton was an active and sociable member of the community. He organised camping excursions for the outdoors novice which included teaching hiking, rock climbing, rafting and how to forage for food. What I found extraordinary for the time was that these excursions didn’t exclude women, with one of Dalton’s advertisements for a mountaineering course stating his views bluntly: “Ladies are welcome to the camp. There is nothing new in ladies camping, the custom being at least 10,000 years old.” This rare indiscriminate approach led to Dalton forging a long-lasting friendship with geologist Mabel Barker, who over the years consistently recommended Dalton’s courses to women students and friends.

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Dalton and Barker atop a needle, 1913. The Mable Barker Collection.

Mar 2, 2016

Nice Is Just A Place In France - The Betches

Photograph from author

I have yet to meet a fellow Courtauldian who has even heard of betches.com (formerly betcheslovethis.com), my go-to for the latest news, life advice and relatable think pieces. Or at least, I haven’t dared to bring it up for fear of judgement - recent articles at the time of writing include: ‘How To Fall Asleep With Your Makeup On’, ‘Should I Make a Move On My Married Coworker?’, ‘Zayn Malik And Gigi Hadid Are Dating’ and ‘How To Be Late Like A Betch’ (any BA2s will know I’m killing it with the last one...). It’s not exactly the Guardian.

Whatever. People are missing out on this groundbreaking journalism and The Betches’ 2013 classic ‘Nice is Just a Place in France - How To Win At Basically Everything’ was the best holiday book I’ve ever had. The book outlines the basic tenets of betch life, but don’t mistake this for self-help, The Betches make it clear - ‘this is how to deal with your problems when you have no problems’. Topics include: building your image or ‘how to appear unapproachable and hot’, ‘how to apply for a job like you give a shit’ and the important distinction between ‘bros’ and ‘pros’ (go for the latter). The Betches have every girl’s needs covered from ‘manipulating men’ - ‘It’s important to pretend to enjoy at least one outdoor activity... While disgusting, this will show your ability to “go with it”’ to using Facebook ‘to show everyone you’re better than them’ - ‘when it comes to Facebook, more is always less... the people who use it most are the biggest freaks on the planet, which we’re chill with, because it’s now easier to spot them and then ignore them in the real world’.

Betches may have originated as a small satirical blog but it’s become a bible. Let’s be real, this isn’t satire. It’s just true.

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