walking in a high wind

I have walked in such high winds along sea cliffs that I have feared for my life- but only when I have had some baggy waterproof item of clothing increasing my wind resistance. There seems to be some kind of natural adaptation when we are dressed in tighter non-flapping clothing. You can get close to the ground and resist any kind of wind. Of course there are anomalously high winds that may gust and pick you up, but in general you get away with it. But add even a rucksack and you can begin to feel vulnerable. Walking poles help, as you can lower your centre, but they can also make you clumsy and slow to react to a sudden gust.

These last few days I 've been out in winds over 40mph is my guess- though I would dearly have loved an anemometer to check that (loads of cheapo digital ones, as a kid I built one from ping pong ball halves and bike spokes on a meccano base- it worked very well). I estimate wind speed by comparing it to sticking my head up out of a sunroof at speed in a car. Even 30mph feels pretty fast with your head stuck up in the air but there must be some distortion owing to the car's shape. If my head could magically stick out the bottom of the car it would feel less breezy as the wind has less distance to travel...Anyway the rough method works OK. 

I found walking into a wind with it blowing right down my throat an interesting experience- you sort of feel as if you are hyper-ventilating- which I guess you are in way. It feels quite therapeutic and the wheeziness I had disappeared. It reminded me of Knut Hamsun curing himself of TB by lying on the roof of the train going from Chicago to New York with his mouth open facing the oncoming breeze...Now Knut lived until he was 92 so there must have been some method to his madness. He claimed that the bad air of Chicago had given him the TB or whatever lung ailment he was suffereing from. Perhaps it was just an extreme bout of bronchitis. Even if it was just that the 'rammed air' cure remains interesting and coincides with the old ideas of sanatoria where the patients had to lie outside in the cold all wrapped up but breathing fresh air.

Of course if you have some kinds of lung inflammation you'll just make it worse by forcing cold air down your throat, especially if you are just setting off for a walk from a superheated house. By wearing a woollen buff to breathe through, this transition is managed well. When you are acclimatised you can inhale great gouts of wind...