New Year's Day Walk & Thoughts

New Year’s Day came with fresh snow and layers of mist. 

The first walk of 2023, a stroll through the local woods and fields, gave rather more hard going than expected. The snow was soft and uneven, an insecure surface for walking, hiding ice and frozen clods of earth under its few inches of white.

The air was still, the land quiet. There was a feeling of expectancy, anticipation, a waiting for something to happen. Maybe that was just in my head, wondering about what the year will bring.

I thought about my own plans as I walked, much more aware than a few years ago how much circumstances could change them. The pandemic has had a long-term effect. Time seemed to stop in 2020 and has not yet resumed. Where have the last three years gone?

If all goes well I hope to finish my book on the Cairngorms, progress on which has been rather slow the last year – too much research, too much reading, too much thinking, too much revising, not enough actual writing. I also hope to undertake some walks longer than three or four days, ideally one of at least a month. Not since 2019 have I done that.

There are other writing and publishing possibilities, which I’ll say more about when they become more certain. And of course there will be features and reviews for The Great Outdoors magazine.

Outside my own little outdoor world I hope to see more progress on protecting and renewing our wildlife and wild places. Given the worldwide nature and climate crises this is important. As the old slogan goes “think globally, act locally”. I’ll be supporting various campaigns on these issues, sharing news and events on social media, and writing about them here at times – perhaps the last is something I should do more often.

Whatever the year brings may you all have wonderful inspiring adventures wherever life takes you.