One motivation for exploring a square each week, come rain or shine, was to make being out in nature part of my routine. I hoped that becoming connected with where I live, with its weather and seasons, would keep me attuned to the seedlings pushing through pavements, the migrating birds passing overhead, the provenance of the food I eat, and reveal some interesting new running routes too.
Taking just a few minutes every month to climb a tree, which I’d done for the past three years, had certainly made me happier. Each time I returned to the tree I was surprised by how much nature had changed in the past few weeks. Fun, too, had been my year of full-moon forays, getting outdoors for a run, ride, walk or swim on every full moon, and also a year of enjoying coffee outside at least monthly. If hospital gar- dens help people to heal, if doctors now prescribe exercise in nature, and if the ‘Natural Health Service’ addresses a range of conditions, then committing to fifty-two outdoor missions sounded like a sensible
undertaking. By now the habit of heading out once a week with my camera and notebook felt comfortably established.
It was a flat, grey day beneath a flat, grey December sky. The river flowing through today’s square was flat and grey, rippling as the tide nurdled ever lower. My mood, however, was neither flat nor grey. I was looking forward to this one.
What is Local ?
Do you yearn to connect with wildness and natural beauty more often?
Could your neighbourhood become a source of wonder and discovery and change the way you see the world?
Have you ever felt the call of adventure, only to realise that sometimes the most remarkable journeys unfold close to home?
After years of challenging expeditions all over the world, adventurer Alastair Humphreys spends a year exploring the small map around his own home.
Can this unassuming landscape, marked by the glow of city lights and the hum of busy roads, hold any surprises for the world traveller or satisfy his wanderlust? Could a single map provide a lifetime of exploration?
Buy the book! www.alastairhumphreys.com/local