Saturday 15 February 2014

Woodland Walks

This week The Cherry Tree Cafe first draft has exceeded all expectations and by managing to write every day, even utilising my lunch hour, I have watched the word count grow by thousands. I am almost two thirds of the way through now and fully expect to reach my goal of completing by the first week of April.

With little else to divulge on the writing front, I thought it was high time I shared and explained another thing from my random list. This week it's the turn of my passion for woodland walks and it is not unrelated to writing either.



There are a few local spots we enjoy walking. Caistor St Edmund, a Roman fort, is invariably blustery, some would say bleak but it always succeeds in blowing away the cobwebs. Smockmill Common has a little bit of everything; the Tas River, woodland and patches of open common land and finally my favourite, Tyrells Wood which is exactly what it's name suggests. We try and walk regularly throughout the seasons and enjoy watching the seasonal wheel turn as we observe the changes to flora, fauna, bird and animal behaviour.

The benefits of regular walking are psychological as well as physical and I can't tell you how often plot twists, short story ideas and resolutions to tricky writing dilemmas have popped into my head when I've stopped thinking about them and immersed myself in the beauty of the landscape. There is something truly magical about walking in a woodland, whatever the weather. Whether it is the birds singing, the sound of fallen leaves underfoot or the stillness on a windless day who knows. What I do know however is that the tranquillity and calm of any woodland is a real problem solver and one I can't recommend highly enough.



Why don't you get out there and give it a go this weekend, or even better, let me know what or where works for you!

H-J

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