Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent

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antsbk

A week ago these hills slumbered under the icy gri

A week ago these hills slumbered under the icy grip of winter; the earth as hard as iron, waterfalls suspended in sharp curtains of ice. Today, the sun shone from a cerulean sky and Song thrushes trilled in the bare branches. At 2 pm, unable to sit at my desk a second longer, I pulled on my boots and tripped out of the door, not even bothering to get dressed properly. The sun was like a siren call - I HAD to be out in the hills. Puffing up to the top of Mynydd Buchan, feeling the warm sun on my face, I realized I hadn't felt as fizzingly happy in months, and thought how quickly life can change. Just as easily as things can slip into the shadows, so too they can emerge joyously, unexpectedly, into the bright light of hope, of Spring. I hope that, wherever you were today, the sun was shining for you too. x

So far February has felt like wading through treac

So far February has felt like wading through treacle with a ball and chain. Bad sleep. Lack of motivation. A general feeling of malaise. I've even resorted to reading Jilly Cooper for goodness sake; something I haven't done since I was a wide-eyed 14 year old, balancing the scandalous tomes on my knee in the back row at school. But today I put on some make-up (why the hell not?), wore some real trousers and went out for a brisk walk in the rain. Spring really is coming, after all....

The road to Anini, Arunachal Pradesh. Dreaming of

The road to Anini, Arunachal Pradesh. Dreaming of taking these corners on again one day.

📷 by my Idu Mishmi friend @outdoor_freaking_amateur.

January 2021. A month of glittering snow, mesmeris

January 2021. A month of glittering snow, mesmerising skies and scalding rain. A month I’ve walked every day – at times crunching over pure white snow, at others squelching through foot-sucking mud. There’ve been sleepless nights, dark dreams and chest-crushing anxiety. But there’s also been moments of soul-bursting happiness, when the beauty of this wild place has made me forget. Pen y Fan glowing pink in a frosty dawn. Red kites wheeling over snow-dusted hills. A puffed up Wren bobbing around the roots of an old Hazel.

We think of January as a bleak, slumbering month, but even on the wettest, greyest days I’ve seen so much life. Pennywort springing from mossy walls. Snow drops. Trees coming into bud. I’ve collected Velvet Shank and Wood ear mushrooms, picked Cleavers, heard the first Spring song of the Great tit. As much as the physical act of walking, it’s the paying attention that’s been important: looking at the world with fresh, curious eyes; being a traveller the moment I step outside my front door.

And I’ve LOVED #90mileJanuary – from seeing photos of boxing kangaroos and Central Asian parks, to hearing about your walks through Shropshire lanes and Herefordshire hills. What a joy to see people walking, connecting, getting outside. THANK YOU to everyone who took part, it really has been lovely.

As many of us are still going to be in lockdown in February, I’m going to do a #90mileFebruary too, and I’d love it if you’d join. I thought of upping it to 100 miles, but February is only 28 days, and 90 miles seems a good, unthreatening number. I'm going to make it a little different this month, to include all human-powered miles (cycling, swimming). Who’d like to join me?

If you did #90mileJanuary I’d love it if you could write something about it in the comments below. Where you’re from, what you enjoyed about it, your favourite thing you saw. Do add how far you walked too, if you feel like it.

Happy February everyone. And keep on keeping on. Spring is coming, in more ways than one. x

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