Sylvia Plath had something here. I love the idea that you breathe in the world around you and make it part of you. Being outdoors can do this for people. The simple act of feeling the breeze on your skin as it rushes past your face straight off the sea, carrying with it the sting of salt and the whip of the waves, makes you feel more alive, more part of the landscape.
Standing in a woodland, head dappled by the sun filtering in through the trees, listening to the leaves rustle in the breeze, you change. You are not the person who walked in there, noticing nothing, head buzzing with your life. Then something makes you stop. You listen – and nature does the rest.
It’s not loud, it’s not fashionable and it certainly does not cost anything to do, but standing, listening and breathing in a landscape which pleases you can do wonders for your head. A friend of mind describes their head as sometimes like spaghetti which should be hanging down, but, in times of stress, the strands knot together and make the thoughts hard to articulate through the mess. I’m not saying that anything can be cured by a quick peek at a forest, but getting outdoors, leaving the current world behind, and just get in nature and looking and listening, can help so much.
I’ve left home feeling awful sometimes. I’m angry or sad, frustrated with what I should have done and those things which I should not have done – and I stamp off down a track, head raging. I cannot stop it, but soon the rhythmic sound of my footsteps, the chatter of the birds, the smell of the hawthorn start to slide into my head, drowning out the anger with their gentleness. It seeps into every bit of you and by the time I’m home again, a sense of perspective has been achieved and I can carry on again – but less angrily. Solvitur ambulando is very real indeed.
I was lucky enough to be talking to the good people at Viking Optical Ltd about my walks and the effect that bringing people out into nature can have. They asked me if I took binoculars out on my own walks and I said that I did… then they suggested that they lend me enough pairs of binoculars for my guests too. I jumped at the chance, obviously! Binoculars are usually associated with bird watchers but I’ve always used mine for a host of reasons – spying on church towers, looking at odd buildings in the distance, finding hares in a field, trying to find out what that strange lump in the field is before you step too close to it… I think that others will find them useful too and I’m so glad to be able to offer this to my guests.
Our walks with or without binoculars begin on Wednesday 15th May and we will walk on a Wednesday and on a Saturday for the following five weeks. I do hope that you can come and walk with me. We don’t just march along. We stop, we listen and we listen to each other… and by the end of the walk you’ve found friends and also a sense of peace.
Take a look and book here if you want to join us. I hope to see you soon. I’ll bring the binoculars – you just bring yourself.
Norfolk Notes 