My name is Tom Smallwood and here you will find my posts and those of guests, on the positive effects of time spent outdoors.
This filthy-wet month, I am trying to spend time outside in nature during my working day as part of the Wildlife Trusts 30 Days Wild. I cannot pretend it has been as easy as last year’s sun-drenched June when gently swaying flower meadows and deserted Norfolk beaches called out to me.
However, recently a client of mine drew my attention to an innovative and inspiring initiative getting business people into the outdoors, for Freshwalks. The benefits of which might surprise a few…
Read MoreAround two weeks ago I woke up from a general anaesthetic to the news from my surgeon that he could do nothing to improve the cartilage in my left knee. It looks good but doesn’t function, well I am half Italian after all.
I have been told, at 43 years old, that I should never run again. Whilst going up a mountain is painless (relatively), going down the other side seems to be too high a stress on my knee.
Read MoreAfter two years of knee problems, inconclusive scans, and a lot of insisting and persuading that I am not imaging the pain, I finally got a date for an arthroscopy.
Since December 2016 I have been unable to run because it appears I damaged my meniscus. On a normal day I cannot run more than 2 km or walk more than around 15 km without having to stop in pain. Going downhill shortens both of these distances considerably.
Read MoreA couple of weeks ago I went out for a 20km circular walk in my “local” hills, the Chilterns, with the intention of spending a peaceful night out on a hill, watching the stars and replenishing my mind and body as I often do.
Read MoreI am so grateful for the discovery that I can enjoy walking so much. It is a great reminder that even the most terrible things in life can bring gifts. I have no idea if I would have ever got into walking had it not been for my brother’s death, there was certainly no indication of it. I think of it as the greatest gift he ever gave me. I still miss him lots, and wish I could have shared this with him, but can always thank him for this legacy that has enriched my life so very much.
Read MoreEmma 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.
It has been an action-packed few days. I spent two days walking in the Eastern Chilterns, getting closer to nature and enjoying the therapeutic effects of travelling slowly, under my own steam.
Today's blog post is a little video I made from this beautiful 29 km round trip, from Hitchin through the Wildlife Trusts Barton Hills Nature Reserve and back.
Read MoreMy unhappiness reached such a low level, like many people, I began to feel I was ill with depression and I believed my only choice was to take antidepressant pills. Fortunately for me, I received a piece of direct mail that introduced me to the power of my mind and the importance of learning how to manage my thoughts. I was also introduced to the need for goals.
Read MoreSweat is anxiety leaving the body. I don’t remember much about the drive along Loch Ness to the hills above the isolated white cottage that is the Cluanie Inn nestling in the depths of Glen Sheil the steep sided Highland glen. In the hour or so it took me to drive from my home in the Highland capital I took little notice of great expanse of water I drove beside, my mind spinning in turmoil.
Everyone is beset by some sort of struggle. It can be a myriad of things like family conflict, addiction, health or workplace stress. For me, on this spring day, it was the sense of being let down that persecuted me. I had applied to take my workplace pension two years early. At first, I’d been led to believe that it was a mere formality; that I’d simply have to apply to get my pension released.
Read MoreImage courtesy of Adventure Uncovered
For me time spent in the hills, mountains and generally in the honest embrace of nature is an unquantifiable tonic. It has helped me to re-balance my life and to look after my mental health in the last couple if years.
Brought to you by Adventure Uncovered and led by the remarkable Alex Staniforth, Mind Over Mountains is an event which focuses on the connection between mental wellbeing and hillwalking...
Read MoreEvery morning at 06:30 I stumble downstairs, sleepily flick the switch on the kettle and make myself a pot of tea. It might be green tea, it might be black. I quite often spill a bit on the sideboard. A few minutes after I have drunk it and perked up. At no time have I given a thought to how these dry fragrant leaves made their way to my pot.
This time last week I was deep in Sri Lankan hill country, hiking up steep mountainsides, rocky paths, stone staircases, through mahogany forests and the ubiquitous, far reaching tea estates that cover the mountains and provide this island nation’s major export.
Read MoreLast 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 MoreIf you are self employed or running a small business you’ll know that around the Christmas period or holidays in general you still end up doing quite a lot of work.
Often there is nobody else covering your emails or phone calls and you feel you need to be "on it", especially if you are in a start up phase. You want to be giving your business as much attention as possible - you certainly don’t want to be missing out on any lead. Someone who can become a paying customer is a very valuable commodity...
Read MoreIt is hard to express in words the special joy that permeates throughout every fibre of me when I hear such a question. I am delighted my daughter is showing an increasing interest not only in getting on the water but in actually doing some paddling. Today she showed me she understood the basic principles that keep a vessel straight.
Read MoreEvery time I go for a walk I see rubbish. Every time I go for a walk, I Pass rubbish and I tut, in a sort of self-satisfied way.
I regularly ask myself; how could people be so crass as to drop litter? Why don't they pick it up?
The question I never asked is; why don't I pick it up?
Read More"Oh, to be in England, now that April’s there”
I don’t know where Robert Browning was when he wrote these words, or indeed if his apparent melancholy was justified but, as a happy pedestrian in Spring, the sentiment is one I understand.
As has been well documented my running over the last few months has been hampered by injury and, although I am getting slowly back into it, these charges of energy have been replaced by more gentle-paced tramps around the countryside.
Read MoreGambling and Sport. They go together like Love and Marriage as Sammy Cahn almost certainly should have written in his soppy and rather trite Sinatra number.
Perhaps no sport in history has been tied into the world of gambling more than Pedestrianism. Walking and Gambling; one is my pass time, the other my job. So it is no wonder if this rather forgotten sport intrigues me.
Read More
