Walking is my thing, the longer the route the better. Occasionally my attention and desires demand some broadening and I'll hop on the mountain bike, take a swim or run through the local woods. I crave the outdoors like I crave my mother's bacon and egg pie, I just can't do without either. The means of getting there are irrelevant, I just need to feed the fix.
There's something about the wilderness that just attracts me like I'm a lump of steel and the woods are one huge magnet. What is it about wilderness? There is something about being out there that amazes me. We are meant to be out in the wild. Human beings have spent the vast proportion of their existence in the wild. The vast proportion. Towns and cities are a creation we invented only recently. Our bodies are still becoming used to them, we are not actually meant to be there. This is why myself, my friends I walk with, and most of the people I meet revel in the experience.
We are meant to be out there, it's is embedded in us, it is comforting and it is natural. This is why it feels so right.
Born in the south of England and having lived on the edge of a small village, the countryside was my playground. Fond memories of Summers spent mucking around in the woods with my mates still stay with me. There were no mobile phones or iPods then, we made our own entertainment,
At 16 I tried my first long walk, taking on the South Downs Way, a 110 mile route through the heart of Sussex downland. Biking took over during my twenties and I still take the occasional ride but my heart lies in walking. The simple act of putting one foot in front of the other is the appeal, it's uncomplicated. I've never been one to require an in depth understanding of something to appreciate it, the simpler the better. Walking is the simplest and oldest form of travel. It is designed to get us from one point to another with the minimum of fuss and at a pace that allows us to notice our environment which we would normally miss.
We live in a world where we feel the desire to make everything quicker in order to free up more time, which we then fill with more crap. When it all gets too meaningless for me (which is often) I feel the need to escape. To be part of the great outdoors, with all my belongings strapped to my back, to be able to camp wherever takes my fancy and to have no decisions to make other than where and when to sleep and eat clarifies, simplifies and puts the world in perspective.
The pages on this blog detail my walks and other adventures. Come with me and enjoy a little clarification . . .
