Tag: Ramblers

New-year escape: A walking and meditation trip to the Lake District

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I tried to make a more healthy start to 2015.

That’s why I headed off to Cumbria on New Year’s Day, bombing up the M6 while everyone else was still busily nursing hangovers.

The reason? To join a walking group [pictured above, just outside Loweswater] and test drive a new Mindfulness in the Mountains package from Ramblers Countrywide Holidays.

The story is out today in the Independent and here’s an extract:

Back on the banks of Loweswater, meanwhile, the afternoon sun was starting to fade like the gentle ebbing of a new-year hangover.

A pint of the local Sneck Lifter ale at The Fish Inn in Buttermere would spur me on for the final few miles and a supper of beef-stew dumplings and plums in vanilla custard would be slow cooking back at Hassness.

Most of all, I had found a few days of walking and mindfulness offered me a fresh perspective on new year.

I had come to know closeness to Cumbrian nature that inspired the Romantic poets, such as Wordsworth and Coleridge; the meditative power of simply putting one foot in front of another over the fells; and the sheer carpe-diem joy of just loosing yourself in the moment.

Read the full story, Sole searching.

Walking the National Forest Way

Dot

It was Dot to the rescue.

I was struggling to find an angle on the story for a walking piece about the National Forest Way, the new long-distance walking trail though the Midlands.

Thankfully, Dot Morson [pictured above], a stalwart of the local rambling group in South Derbyshire was on hand with mugs of tea, route-planning advice and a potted history of the post-industrial social history of the region – all while guiding me along sections of the then-unfinished trail.

The final story is out now in the latest issue of Walk magazine. Read Exploring the National Forest Way.

And makes friends with your local Dot. Evey local rambling group should have one.

Liked this? Try also Walking the Wales Coast Path.

And post your comments below.