Local

This was a landmark day of the year: my first bike ride without wearing gloves. I woke to a softer, earlier, warmer sunrise and cycled out to a grid square that began on an overgrown heath of bracken, gorse and heather. It needed an auroch or two to control it. I continued into a wood whose highest branches swayed in the stiff breeze. I lay on my back and watched the twigs rattling against each other like squabbling fingers, snapping and cracking. There was a slight gap between each tree crown, like a mosaic. This ‘crown shyness’ is caused by the recip- rocal pruning I was watching and it helps trees to remain healthy and share resources. The spacing improves each tree’s access to light and can deter the spread of diseases, parasitic vines and leaf-eating insects. 

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