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Heart of the Wild, London (2026)

19/02/2026

It's been a week already since I headed to Pembrokeshire in west Wales for the most delicious singing retreat that Clara holds with such heart and soul.

At the end I headed out for a few hours to walk some of the coastal path and to digest the beauty of the weekend. I found myself spontaneously offering songs to the rocks, to the sea and to the (at one point rainbow-filled) sky.

I realise that I do this often- singing to the land. It feels like a courtship, a way of tending my threads of connection to this earth. And also an act of remembering that we are connected.

I've been singing the following song on repeat for the last week, singing to the birds, the hedgerows, the trees. It is SO beautiful, check it out.

Net of remembrance by

Everyone,
feels and carries
different parts
of the story

And together we weave
we weave the net
Of remember
Of rememberance

We are not made
We are not created
To hold this
Hold this all alone

💙

16/01/2026

A Fresh Lens & Deepening Roots

When the frost came, I felt an invitation to see the landscape afresh. A call for playfulness and sensory aliveness was evoked, and I took it up, gladly. Going for a morning stroll, I didn't actually cover much distance, instead following the side-tracks, getting up close to many plant beings, enjoying the crunch underfoot and the ice patterns all around.

I'm currently back in the landscape I grew up in, and I feel that there is an invitation to see things anew here too. To let my adult feet determine where they wish to explore, not constrained only to the familiar. As a child, living rurally in a place where there was no public transport, I was often in the car en route to somewhere pre-determined by my parents. It's interesting now, as an adult, to head out with the freedom to explore on my terms. It's been eye-opening to see differenct facets of this place! So far, I have come across several parks, sidestreets, pockets of green & river walks that I hadn't been aware of.

I'm noticing the fresh perspective isn't actually to do with the shift from child to adult, particularly as I feel my inner child very present when I explore. Instead, perhaps the shift i'm noticing is from constraint to openness and freedom.

I'm so curious about how we form, develop and nurture our connection to place. At the moment i'm convinced that allowing these feet to wander, to be drawn to places/beings, feeling into our relatedness, is what will facilitate a deeper connection.

14/12/2025

This last month has been filled with thresholds, beginnings and endings- and this last week has marked another one. A shift in my center of gravity, a move, calling a different place home- for now.

It has brought up grief- a grief that knows how much I love the people and the land where, over the past 6 years, I have both woven and been woven by threads of connection. A grief which remembers my feeling of interconnectedness. A grief that knows that this feeling is not one that emerges overnight. A grief which recognises this huge loss and shift in relationship.

And so, as I arrive now in a place that is both familiar and unfamiliar (grateful to have a place to stay with my parents for the timebeing), I can feel in me the urge to explore- searching for threads of connection, forming relationship. Already, walking the land, meeting beings, and finding places to dip, has eased this move.

Next task is to find a fire circle to gather around in song.

24/10/2025

Today I was due to start hiking the newly formed South Hams way- 100 miles of trail combining together sections of the South West Coastal Path, the Dartmoor Way, the Erme-Plym trail and the Dart valley trail. I was so excited about embarking on a long hike from my doorstep over my birthday- one which circumnavigates a land that has become so dear to me.

However, having sustained a minor injury in my leg, the idea of walking for 9/10 days carrying a heavy pack with food and wildcamping gear no longer felt like the right thing to do- for fear of making it worse. And so I have surrendered, for now. Instead, I have selected a few places on this route that I haven't been to before, where I will have a mini explore; nothing strenuous but still satiating a thirst for adventure.

This threshold has really been asking me to surrender- there has been a dismantling of my life in so many ways that, in some ways, it seems only fitting that my birthday plans should also have their own dismantling.

What i'm learning though is that this surrendering and dismantling doesn't have to be an indicator that it's any less valuable, meaningful or full of adventure. Adventures don't have to meet certain criteria to be classified an adventure- adventure is a mindset. I like to think that the same goes for life- it's not so much about accolades or accomplishments as it is about how we approach life.

So, here's to a gentle but no less wonderul adventure.

Pics from a mini hike around East Prawle and Start point, Devon:
1. Looking west towards Gammon Head
2. Looking East towards Prawle Point
3. Rock pools by Gorah rocks
4. Start point peninsula
5. Start point lighthouse

20/09/2025

It's been a week now since I landed back from my trip to Spain, hiking the 300km+ Camino Primitivo from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela. A trip that I wanted to do primarily to mark my turning 40 (next month) and to process some of the difficulty that this threshold is stirring up.

There is still a lot of digesting and composting happening, but right now, this is where i'm at:

*While the camino Primitivo is generally described as one of the more physically demanding caminos, for me, it was the emotional landscape that was more challenging. I think a part of me secretly hoped that, by travelling further afield, I might leave the emotional difficulty behind- it might get barred entry at customs, or I might be able to leave it on the baggage carousel. Of course, that's not the case(!)

*The camino is not just about the landscape, it's also infused by the people you meet along the way, each leaving their huella/mark. Whether this be the people who you walk alongside for days, or who are fleeting connections. I felt so moved and in awe of some of the people I met, their stories and their generosity. While in body I may have gotten a little lighter along the way, in spirit, I return filled with inspiration.

*Not to forget the interactions that can feel confronting too- those that reveal a cutting mirror to myself/my way of being that is hard to see. These also reared their head, and became part of my journey.

*Perhaps my main takeaway at the moment is that I want to keep walking, my body and soul want me to keep walking. I SO wasn't ready for it to end. The spaciousness, the simplicity that the camino offers, allowing for emotions to stirr and move- I needed this. That's not to say that now everything is fixed- it really isn't. I have arrived home to a multitude of issues from all angles, but I am convinced that walking will be my anchor through this.

Thank you Camino, thank you fellow pilgrims, for those sweet moments- savouring dawns, morning mists, sharing meals and truths, rainbows amongst rain showers, singing in tunnels, walking alongside and solitude, devouring tortilla, blackberry avenues, ringing bells, hot showers, smelly hugs & much kindness.

22/08/2025

Mindset, Confidence & Meeting edges

A few weeks ago, I indulged in a few days of solo hiking in the Lakes. On my second day, I embarked on an epic all-day hike ascending Scafell Pike starting from the Esk Valley, and doing a horseshoe of summits before dropping down to Lingcove Beck just before Bow Fell. I had never journeyed up the river Esk before, and my goodness, it was such a treat!

On this route- just me, the river and the rock, for most of the way, some things became clear..

mindset matters
I saw this especially with how I meet my edges. For example, on one occasion, needing to cross a river too wide to jump, I was therefore faced with making use of a few awkward (stepping) stones if i wanted to avoid getting wet feet*. I could see how the fearful part of me that is alert to a mere whiff of risk, can rear her head, proclaim my incompetence, and dig her heels in. "You're going to fall!" And so I stay on the other side of the bank. Stuck. I can see how, in her attempt to keep me safe, she keeps me small.

I appreciate this part, her care, AND I don't want to be held back from things I want to do, places I want to go, other parts of me that want to be expressed.

And then, on cue, The motivator chimes in, feeling a rush of energy that breaks out of the stuckness -"You've got this, it's totally possible, it's just a case of stepping confidently"

She's right. It's actually not a tricky move. The thing that would likely make it more risky would be to linger on the awkward stepping stone, losing my balance.
itself can heighten risk.

Motivator has convinced Fear, reassuring her that movement rather than stuckness is needed to be safe.

And so here I go, standing at the side of the bank with Fear on my shoulder holding onto my pack, and Motivator driving my feet, looking at where I'll place my feet, saying the mandatory "You've got this" before confidently striding across and announcing my arrival on the other side with a playful 'woohoo!'

and confidence are intertwined
and it's like a muscle. The more that Fear can see that Motivator isn't reckless, the more Fear can trust Motivator's intentions.

A work in progress. Step by step

*I don't advocate recklessness. Sometimes the safest way to cross may involve getting wet boots & feet

03/08/2025

Choice points

#1 On my walk yesterday, faced with a choice of whether to extend it to encompass the Grey Wethers stone circle or not, I noticed the longing in me to meet these stones again. I had started the walk quite late in the day, but revisiting this site felt significant somehow.

#2 to continue following a permissive path on the map (which doesn't mean there's a physical path underfoot) or to follow what looked like a path on the ground, and seemingly one which continued into the distance towards the stone circles.

I chose the latter. A choice no doubt influenced by my previous visit to the stones when I navigated across the moor from the Warren House Inn- no clear path underfoot- and I was met by the most impenetrable long grasses that clump together with deep (and hidden) dips between the clumps. The ground underfoot no longer feels solid or predictable. A 1km stretch that would ordinarily take 15 mins took over an hour. I could see the stones, but reaching them was painfully slow. I really met my frustration.

This time, with a clear and easeful path underfoot, I felt smug with my choice.

But, the path faded out. What I had initially thought was the path continuing in the distance, in reality, was a dip in the landscape and in the vegetation. And this vegetation was, you guessed it, the crazy-making grasses!

#3 do I continue regardless, knowing that I will likely have to cut short the route planned for the rest of my walk, as this will be so slow-going? Or, do I turn back and drop the idea of seeing the stones.

I chose to persevere, feeling a determination grow. I must visit these stones.

As I faltered, stumbled, and tried to keep my cool, balancing on top of a grassy wobble board realising I've only progressed 10m(!), I did question my choices.

But I kept going

The sweet relief on arrival.

And it made me think. Just because there isn't a path to follow, or just because it's hard, doesn't make the trajectory wrong.

I want to remember that.

Photos:
*Grey Wethers double stone circle
*Sandy Hole Pass
*view from my descent near Broad Down
*my start/finish point at the clapper bridge at Postbridge

31/07/2025

Leaning into summer vibes and the space that this allows for me to wander. And how the wandering also, in turn, creates space in my mind for wonder.

I am reminded how much I love to move across this landscape by foot, and how in doing so I can feel the threads of connection strengthen, alongside my resolve.

Wandering, wondering, strengthening. I like this mix.

19/07/2025

And so begin the summer holidays, and the countdown to turning 40. Today it's now 100 days away. I notice that, for a part of me, this threshold is provoking a fear which is wanting attention. Maybe a sensitivity to the societal pressure that I should have done x y or z before turning 40. A fear that, as I haven't, therefore I don't pass 'Go'- a feeling of unworthiness of celebration. This part keeps me small. And, there's another part of me that knows that this is BS! That i don't have to be a certain way to be worthy. This part of me is longing to explore- to have adventures off the beaten track, to scramble up Tors, gawp at sunrises and sunsets, and dip in the waterfalls. It knows the joy and celebration of being alive and wants to sing this into being from the hilltops. In these next 100 days (and beyond) I want to really nourish this part.

Today I took myself to the moor on a mission to explore Piles Copse, a place that's been on my radar for a few years already. While the entry and exit points into the woods are not exactly easy going due to the uneven ground and the VERY tall bracken, it was so worth it: to be enveloped in this mossy kingdom both in quiet solitude and blissful kinship; to sit for a while, to dip, to dream, to wonder and wander.

On my way back, sun-kissed, windswept and heart-full, I sang a song I've recently been introduced to that is really speaking to me at the moment:

I thank the Earth for feeding my body
I thank the sun for warming my bones
I thank the trees for the air that i breathe
I thank the water for nourishing my soul.

Feeling filled with gratitude. 💚🌿

07/07/2025

I can sense a change is in the air, not just because I've only got 6 teaching days left until the end of term (!), but something more significant. I can feel the adventure spirit within me rise, calling for its thirst to be quenched.

And I am finally tending to it, with excitement, with anticipation, and with gratitude for the aliveness it evokes. A gratitude for the momentum that it conjures up- the call to MOVE through the stuckness.

And so here starts a movement journey of many kinds- exploring lands close by and further afield, exploring my inner landscape too-noticing what I'm moving towards and what i'm moving away from. Noticing what moves me.

Threads are coming together. I am excited!

Moving on up!

Pic from this morning's mini adventure to Sharrah pool on the river Dart.

07/06/2025

It'a a deliciously rainy Saturday, one where curling up with a book, whilst listening to the rain on the roof of my cabin, feels like just the tonic after an intense week of observations and interviews.

I'm lapping up 's book 'This one wild and precious life', which details pathways to soul in a time of multiple crises.

I'm feeling particularly touched by the recognition of how hiking can foster a pathway to soul: allowing us to embark on both a physical and psychological journey, navigating both inner and outer landscapes. For me this isn't new- it's something that I've experienced for myself before, and nevertheless it's something that I delight in remembering.

I'm sat with these words from Wordsworth Sarah quotes:

'When from our better selves we have too long
Been parted by the hurrying world, and droop,
Sick of its business, of its pleasures tired,
How gracious, how benign, is Solitude;..Come forth into the light of things,
Let nature be your teacher.'

Exhausted, body tired and curled, I let these words shower me like the rain drops on the roof, sprinkling seeds of inspiration for some deep nature time adventures. The mountains are calling, the rocks, the streams, the butterflies and moss. I want to sit in this pool of light and take it all in.

29/05/2025

Shinrin Yoku -means soaking up the forest through all the senses. This is a practice that is very dear to me and one that I know supports me in times of overwhelm. While this is totally possible to do in any forest, and indeed in any natural setting, I find that this particular spot evokes such a strong sense of awe and magic in me. I'm not surprised it's become a favourite spot. Since moving down here 5 years ago, I come here regularly, and, over time, it feels more and more like I'm visiting dear friends. I could come here time and again, and never tire.

While forest bathing has nothing to do with swimming, despite the name, I definitely feel called to dip here. Another sensory immersion, often involving squeals!

Do you have a favourite spot to stop a while and soak it all up?

Heart of the Wild

19/02/2026

16/01/2026

14/12/2025

24/10/2025

20/09/2025

22/08/2025

03/08/2025

31/07/2025

19/07/2025

07/07/2025

07/06/2025

29/05/2025

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