Well, the weather at the moment seems as undecided as a Parliamentary vote on the issue of Brexit and once again it appears as if I will be stuck indoors for most of the day!

It is less than a week since returning from my trip to the Peak and Lake Districts but I am amazed by just how much I miss not being out on some kind of trail everyday. I guess this hiking thing is now in my blood.

It is going to be a couple of weeks, at least, until I am able to get back out into nature for more than just a day or two, but already I can’t wait. In the meantime I have been looking at longish distance walks around my home town to try and keep the leg fitness going.

I live in Bristol, and have done for the past nearly 7 years, but to date, I have never been to Bath. Whilst perusing the internet I came across a walk to Bath that follows some kind of railway path between the two cities. (Can you see where this is going?).

Yep, that’s right, I am going to do that walk, hopefully Saturday, which looks as if it will be my first good weather day. The walk itself is around the 13 mile mark, which in terms of pushing the legs, should be about right and it offers a superb opportunity to fully break in the new walking boots.

There is something about walking that just seems to strip away all the worries of the world with each step you take. It is a sensory journey that reconnects you to the environment around you.

In this country we are blessed to have numerous National Parks that we can all visit for free. Make an effort to go walk in one of them. Leave behind all the modern technology that seems to dictate our daily lives and allow yourself the freedom just to be.

Immerse yourself in the surroundings, soak up every sight,sound , taste and touch sensation on offer. Sit by a crystal clear river and eat your lunch whilst letting the cool waters wash over your bare feet, all the time listening to nothing more than an orchestra of birdsong.

It’s hard to stay stressed in that kind of environment, life becomes much simpler, time seems to slow right down and suddenly you can really breathe . . . really feel yourself living.

When I decided to leave my job and set out on this journey to find out who I am and what is important to me (my happy) I hoped that along the way how I saw the world would change. I have been amazed at how quickly change has already happened just by reconnecting myself back to the planet we live on through my walks in the Peak and Lake Districts.

We read a lot currently about global warming, climate change, destruction of the earth’s natural resources and the potentially devastating effect this is having on our planet.

I am no kind of Eco warrior and am as guilty as the next person in driving society’s insatiable appetite for technologies, commodities and products designed to offer us a more convenient, comfortable, easier lifestyle – regardless of the effect that demand has on the sustainability of our planet.

But the thing is, I have children, and the more I travel and walk in nature, the more I wonder what it is exactly we will be leaving them when my generation has gone and custody of this planet falls to them. For that is all we are, we are just custodians, we do not own the earth, surely our role is to ensure that we leave this planet in such a condition that all future generations can marvel at, and enjoy, the extraordinary beauty she has to offer.

Can we really continue to just blindly make our way through life oblivious to the effect our daily choices are potentially having on the very planet on which our lives depend.

I wish I knew the answer, but in the end, I guess, it comes down to individual choice. What’s important to you, what do you value most? Are you prepared to give up some of the “benefits” offered by today’s modern lifestyle in return for a simpler more connected way of life that really is sustainable? Are you prepared to change?

It’s never to late to change, I have learnt that lesson, and maybe now is the time for all of us to try and re-connect with our planet, to get out there and really appreciate what a beautiful awe inspiring place it is before, who know’s, it really is to late.

Love and hugs

Els xx