#mountainsofthemind

Fun fun fun, #hiking makes me happy #mountainsofthemind #happyhikers #walk1000miles #getoutside www.meeetup.com/GO-London/events/ (at GO London hiking) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7YMihAjlSy/?igshid=1qxu5gl83rona

Breaking up my #silentauction feed to share this. Facebook told me earlier that this was 3 years ago. This was the moment that I climbed Snowdon via the Miner’s Track, sat down and immediately found a smiley face-painted rock. I’d a few days before been left alone in Snowdonia - alone in life - but adjusted to the situation in order to make the most of it. I’d gone there to climb Snowdon, and it was to be the first mountain I solo hiked. It was so invigorating getting up there, and then running down (my first bit of trail running). I looked across to Crib Goch and thought yeah I can do that, and I did, 2 years later. I wasn’t fit then at all in comparison, not very strong, and in fact I was suffering from major gallstone pain, but somehow became stronger once the tumour of him had been removed. Given the opportunity to be alone, given mental space and breathing space in the hills I was able to do something for me - and it turned out that it was just what I needed, and actually in fact what I’m good at. I’m sharing this now because it’s a reminder of how you can overcome things either with some time away or by acceptance, I guess, acceptance of yourself. I’m now 9 days away from walking 100km non-stop again, and although it will be mentally and physically exhausting, it’s a fun challenge, it’s what I do. The moment in Porthmadog where the temper tantrum turned into a break up was most definitely a life changer, and I’m thankful for it, as annoying as it was at the time. The walking boots have been switched for trail shoes, I’m definitely fitter and stronger and my endurance is constantly building. I use hiking, running and walking as my time away, a mental flush - I had that before this mountain moment, but I think it solidified the feeling that it’s my happy place. So even though those 62 miles are going to be bloody hard, it’s gonna feel so good when it’s done and I’m reminded how resilient I am. I’d say fingers crossed, but there’s no luck involved...just a lot of nutrition planning to do and nice team work. ••• #trailwalkerstrong #trailwalkergb #snowdon #snowdonia #tbt #hiker #hiking #womenwhohike #outdoortherapy #mountainsofthemind

#Mountains seem to answer an increasing imaginative need in the #West. More and more people are discovering a desire for them, and a #powerful solace in them. At bottom, mountains, like all wildernesses, challenge our complacent conviction - so easy to lapse into - that the world has been made for humans by humans. Most of us exist for most of the time in worlds which are humanly arranged, themed and controlled. One forgets that there are #environments which do not respond to the flick of a switch or the twist of a dial, and which have their own rhythms and orders of existence. Mountains correct this amnesia. By speaking of greater forces than we can possibly invoke, and by confronting us with greater spans of time than we can possibly envisage, mountains refute our excessive trust in the man-made. They pose profound questions about our durability and the importance of our schemes. They induce, I suppose, a modesty in us. By #robertmacfarlane #mountainsofthemind #adventure #climbing # mountains #wilderness (at Barr Trail)

Those who travel to mountain-tops are half in love with themselves, and half in love with oblivion. #adventure #arrogance #humility #inspirational #mountaineering #mountains #oblivion #robertmacfarlane #mountainsofthemind #history #fascination #trekking #travel #photograph (at Mt. Kandungaw "Maloray, Dalaguete , Cebu")

I’ve just completed Robert Macfarlane’s wonderful Mountains of the Mind: Adventures in Reaching the Summit and cannot begin to offer sufficient praise in my recommendation. It is emotionally compelling, well-researched and above all, elegantly written.  Dr. MacFarlane’s equally-compelling The Wild Places is also essential reading and represents a body of work that stands with the finest writing in the tradition of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden and Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.