My name is Tom Smallwood and here you will find my posts and those of guests, on the positive effects of time spent outdoors.
Wow. It’s three weeks since my last blog post and I haven’t really spent any time outside. I would like to tell you that my knee woes have been the reason for this neglect.
However, that would only be part of the truth. I have been working more than I would like and I think I am nearing a point when I need to step back and delegate more in order to maintain a the kind of healthy balance I desire.
Read MoreI didn’t run into any other waterborne folk which adds its own kind of charm and what I lacked in speed I made up for in birdlife; six geese, five swans, four herons, three kingfishers, two cormorants and a partridge in a …
Read MoreAs much as I love cooking in the comfort of home, where ingredients and gadgets are limitless, the primal simplicity of cooking over a fire (preferably in the wild) can feel like the absolute pinnacle for someone who enjoys nature and all it has to offer in sustenance both mental and physical.
What an exciting weekend! Saturday was the last day of 30 Days Wild and also Wild Night Out so we (Myself, Emma, her friend and her friend’s Dad) embarked on a wonderful micro adventure that ended up with a trip to A&E and a course of antibiotics...
We headed out around 5pm on Saturday. The idea was to have a paddle in the packraft, a splash in the river, a little barbecue and camp out in the wild.
It all went swimmingly. It has been a rich seam of good weather of late and we tapped into it - the girls really enjoying the cooling waters of the river and the generous warmth of the late afternoon sun to dry off as we lit the barbecue and opened a can of beer.
After eating we dragged our gear, using the packraft as a kind of pulk, to a secluded spot where we figured we could set up camp undisturbed. It was around 9 pm when we threw down our mats, and threw up the tent. The air was cool, but not cold. A heron flew overhead and we could hear its wings beat. It was as quiet as can be expected with a 6 and a 7 year old negotiating for more marsh mallows but it was idyllic to be outside, free of the usual digital distractions to which our children can be easily subjected.
Then, whilst wandering around the longer, uncut grass near the tent, it seems I stood on a snake. I felt a sharp pain and jerked my leg up. Two little holes on my ankle oozed a drop of blood. I wiped it off.
I thought I had seen the back end of a grass snake disappear but I was carrying my unpacked sleeping bag and I honestly didn’t really believe this could happen in Cambirdgeshire.
I thought no more of it and before long we were all lying down - children in the tent and grown-ups out under the stars. It was stinging and I joked with everyone that I had been bitten by a snake, but I didn’t really believe it myself. As I tried to rationalise it internally I wondered had my eyes deceived me? What else could it have been? There were no brambles or plants nearby. Nothing but grass.
The dark flick of a snake tail remained in my mind. Surely I hadn't actually been bitten by a snake? These things don't happen in the Cambridgeshire! But the summer sun was setting, shadows lengthening and my mind wandered.
I remembered encountering vipere (adders) when I was a child, in Italy. I was almost always with an adult as I recall and in any case I had been drilled as to what to do: cause vibration from a distance, remain still if it is close to you, don’t touch it or poke it, don’t step over it, even if it blocks your path.
They were beautiful creatures, occasionally quite large, with dark diamonds down their length. Fascinating to a child, because of their danger as well as their beauty.
But that was rural Italy. Most people in England have never seen a snake in the wild.
The next morning I lay in the silence of nature, next to my daughter. The early morning sun warmed our faces and she smiled silently at me - the smile of someone who has (for once) slept well in a tent. This incidentally is quite possibly a major turning point as getting a decent night’s sleep has been tricky for her in a tent, but more of that another time.
I had forgotten about my snake encounter, until I moved my ankle and felt some pain. The marks were red but there was no swelling. It wasn’t until we had packed and started walking back to the car that it started to stiffen and the pain started rising.
By the time I had got home it was aching and slightly swollen. It was at this point that I began to accept what had happened. It abated after a rest in the afternoon but by the evening, having worked a few hours in the garden, it was throbbing, and sore.
My wife convinced me to go to A&E where they didn’t feel the infection was visible enough to prescribe antibiotics. By the next morning I knew I needed something more than a painkiller. I was confident there was no venom (even if it had been an adder I ought to have reacted by now, unless it was a dry bite) but my ankle was red and tender and although the swelling was still minimal, the bite marks were weeping and walking was painful.
I have never got an appointment so quickly in all my life. Perhaps it was from curiosity, rather than any real sense of urgency, but I must thank my local surgery for seeing me immediately and prescribing antibiotics instantly.
As I have mentioned before my wife has an irrational fear of snakes, so this is a particularly bizarre thing to happen in our household, especially only a week after Emma and I were looking at snakes in the local nature reserve. Four days have passed now and the antibiotics have kicked in and, whilst Emma and I have found it all to be a bit of an adventure, the chances of her mother ever spending a night out with us in the wild has receded further.
At least it's something to tell the grandchildren. Of course I may dress the story up by then...
Emma has continued to take part in 30 Days Wild through her school - they have been learning to identify trees amongst other things this week - and outside school hours we have been exploring wild corners around our home.
Going to Godmanchester nature reserve to look for snakes is always a favourite with Emma. They are fascinating creatures and the fact that Mummy is so irrationally scared of them adds some amusement to proceedings. This serpentine theme continued into the weekend as we came across the sloughed skin of a snake whilst visiting some open gardens. It has been added to the list of things we will examine under the microscope.
I spent the back end of the week in North Norfolk, walking inland and then on part of the Norfolk Coast Path. I have visited this area once before, but never had the opportunity to do at this at my ideal pace - on foot.
From the wild flowers to the windswept beaches this was a perfect way to experience the natural beauty of our land. Wandering through the picture-perfect villages, along the sand dunes and through the pinewoods during the week is a real treat. Places like Wells-Next-The-Sea can be overrun during the holidays so a wild camp and then a walk along this coast when it is absolutely deserted is precious. It is of course the reward you get for going even slightly off the beaten track or at unpopular times - you see nature and the landscape in a state of purity that can be difficult on this crowded isle.
I slept beautifully, the wind whistling over my sleeping bag, hares nibbling away at the grass a few metres away and broody oystercatchers wheeling around just over the dunes, squeaking like trainers on a gym floor.
Last week I was sent some freeze-dried food from Summit to Eat to try out and review. You can find my review here and the accompanying video on the Armchair Mountaineer YouTube Channel.
Last week I talked to Sarah Outen and spent three days on a little adventure in the wild, so we will be back again with a guest post next week. Enjoy!
Adventure is a word which is used very much these days to describe outdoor activities that, to those who have always done them, are simply what they are; hiking, camping or canoeing, for example. They need no greater moniker to attribute some magical quality to them...
Read MoreIt's the first time Emma has seen the white stuff in the UK so we went for a walk, had a snowball fight and then came back to build a snow-hermaphrodite in the garden.
I thought it was a snowman but Emma corrected me, saying it was a woman, before correcting herself and confirming it was actually both. Anyway, we kept the physical decoration down to a carrot and some pebbles (on its face, before you ask).
Read MoreI have just been writing an article for a magazine about how to travel a little more adventurously, with young children and, at the risk of sounding like Carrie Bradshaw, it got me thinking...
How did I manage to get my own daughter to enjoy spending time in the outdoors?
Emma is six now and she is pretty adept with an ipad, she loves reading, colouring, cartoons, dressing up, and o of course "anything from Smiggle". Sound familiar?
Read MoreAt home I wash my hands and I prepare food with a huge array of clean utensils on various chopping boards. We have devices for all sorts of things; to crush and shave and squeeze and slice, to crack, to grind, to store, to core, for peel or rind.
In the wild I use one fork for everything. I drop it in the earth, sand or grass and I pick it up. I may dab a bit of water on it (if I am not rationing it) but as often as not I end up with some crunchy grains in my food. If I light a fire my hands are sooty as are the sausages. I put things down in the grass, I blow dirt off the bread, I eat with my hands and lick my filthy fingers, I share a spoon and I re-use my cup. I wipe my hands on my dirty top.
In the latter scenario I don’t complain. In fact my 6 year old doesn’t complain that her morning hot chocolate tastes a little of last night's baked beans. She doesn’t complain that she has to wee in the grass or that her shoe is filled with sand.
There is nothing as liberating as not caring if your knees are dirty. It is a taste of freedom.
This weekend I took my daughter out for another microadventure; her second wild camp. On Friday we jumped in the car straight after school and headed up to Lincolnshire to see my parents and then hooked up with Dan for a night on the wild east coast.
Here is what happened:
With thanks to our Adventure Mentor, Dan, for his research.
Dan and I had stopped to take out the Thermos and have a cup of tea, as two balding forty-two year old men should do. Then my "adventure mentor" suggested we should dive into the dark green waters of the river Ouse.
Dan is a relatively experienced open water swimmer. When compared to me, he is a dolphin. It is an obvious statement to say that age makes us less self-conscious but to my surprise (and probably to his) I was willing to take an impromptu alfresco dip. I mean, what is the worst that could happen? Get chilly? Have a random dog-walker see two less-than-perfect men, naked and laughing ... anyway, I didn't notice anyone passing by.
Read MoreSince I first toyed with the idea of redesigning my life, in fact probably even a little before that, I started to change the way I do things. I have spoken before about how the chance to do the Three Peaks Challenge with some close friends, back in the summer of 2015 was a kind of catalyst in my evolving into the person I am now - happier and healthier in mind and body.
Since that moment I have been trying to find opportunities to get outdoors and to be adventurous in and around work, home life and even on the kind of holidays that, on the face of it, are not so adventurous.
Read MoreA bit of an in-betweeny random post today but I am just back from a short climbing trip in the Alps (Trip report here) and we are now days away from our summer holiday adventures beginning.
As I discussed the trip with my daughter over the weekend I also had the chance to reflect on the past month in which it would not be an overstatement to say that she has been "learning" to adventure.
Read MoreNow 30 Days Wild is here so what better occasion to go out in the hope of seeing some nocturnal wildlife and how better to introduce my daughter to wild camping?
We set off around 18:45, dodging the buzzing dragon flies.
Once 'we' had got over the "stinky cow parsley", the debilitating nettle stings and the immeasurable distance we had to travel to reach our camp spot, I explained to Emma that these sorts of battles against the odds are the very essence of adventure and would make the experience all the more satisfying.
Read MoreThere is something about being outdoors that makes any meal special. Wind-combed grasses, birdsong and - yesterday at least - the warmth of the evening sun all help to deflect from the limited nature of "wild cooking".
Just like the microadventure we had on Day 4 of 30 Days Wild last night's trip had minimal planning, beyond cobbling together a few ingredients... from the fridge and the store cupboard and ensuring the beers were cooled. Now read the recipe and watch the video...
Read MoreDay 4 of 30 Days Wild saw us make the most of the sunny weather and go on a packrafting expedition!
There is not much to say really except we had a fabulous mini-adventure, although the swans were not exactly happy to see us. The whole thing was spur of the moment, took little organisation and we back home for lunch!
Anyway WATCH the VIDEO...
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