Latest On The Blog
Rain Rain Rain
Oh, this is a wet one. We’ve had a lot of rain this year. And still it comes. I dress for my walk, watching raindrops race each other along a crazy course down the window panes. Fine tubes of water fall from leaking gutters to drum on the lead roof. As the rain eases...
On Walking And Living With Nearly 20 Hours Of Daylight… Or More
On the summer solstice yesterday, the sun rose at 04.18 here and set at 22.19. That is an enormous arc of 18 hours of daylight. In London the sun will rise at 04.43 and set at 21.21, which gives them nearly 1½ hours less light (at this time of year). But, we get...
Walking Back to 1746
It feels like nothing changes here….… though 273 Years ago, tragedy tore, howled, screamed, burned and slashed its way through this place.Not today. The only sound that screamed in my hearing today was a sika deer; half way between a screech and a bark, to warn other...
I must go down to the sea again
‘I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky’ At 6am, I leave the house and head down to the shore. That line of poetry has been with me half my life. It triggers the same yearning that makes me walk – a desire to be in two places at once – both in...
Taking a Forest Bath – Literally
I hesitate at the edge of the wood and look back out of it towards Inverness. I’m pretty sure I’m about to take the forest bath thing rather literally. It is just after 6 o’clock. So, I goad myself, ‘come on, Sarah, get them off and bathe in the forest.’ So I discard...
Walking the Beaches of Normandy
The tune is Highland Cathedral played by Calum Fraser in London, to show respect to the men and women who died in the cause of liberty on D-Day. The photograph at the top of the page is Shimi Fraser, Lord Lovat addressing the troops in camp before they set sail....
The May is Going Over
At this time of year, you often hear the saying. ‘Cast ne’er a cloot til May be oot.’ The ‘May’ here is the folk name for the hawthorn, not the month. It means, don’t shed a layer of winter clothes until the hawthorn is out in flower. The may trees began to flower...
Walking Round And Round In Circles
According to research I read on how we walk, hilariously enough … ‘we have a natural tendency to walk in ever tighter circles, when we firmly believe we’re going in a straight line’ As I set off for my walk, I suspected the insight on our natural trajectory wouldn’t...
Where Are You Now?
Today, I remembered walks with the children when they were small. Wrapping them up and heading out for fresh air. And to freeze - because they were so … painfully … slow … and stopped for …every … single … thing. This day, my daughter Vita and her friend fell behind....
