Into The Woods
I get lost in the beauty of the place and forget to run. Instead, I listen as the trees engage in whispered conversations around me, the wind gently teasing their uppermost branches. I watch as …
Cold Waters
I start walking. Tomorrow’s teenager, still small and high-pitched, scoots past me as I make my way along the river embankment. He has known this place for as long as he can remember, has grazed …
Just Keep Spinning
‘I’m hungry,’ I said. ‘Me too,’ said David, leaning over the reflections on his phone screen to get a better look at the map. A fat drop of water fell from my helmet onto my …
On Learning to Fly
Ich war vierzehn, schüchtern und unsicher. Vor mir auf dem Tisch lag ein Anmeldeformular für einen Schüleraustausch in Deutschland mit dem Hinweis, dass Teilnehmer:innen extrovertiert und selbstbewusst sein sollten. Tja, ich fühlte mich nicht ganz …
Cold, I See You
Cold: I see you. I see you in the naked, shivering trees. I see you on the lake, as you gust and skim across its steely surface. Cold: I feel you. I feel you with …
Head Down, Legs on Fire
The ascent began. It began gradually, and I took advantage of the absence of traffic to cycle alongside David – a rare luxury. I was most familiar with his back, and even that was usually …
Bikes and Bears
We were cycling along a mud track high up in the mountains when a bear of a man called out an invitation: ‘Sit down! Take a rest!’ He was waving us towards him at the …
A Toast to Tbilisi
‘Rebecca, sit. Rebecca, eat. Rebecca, drink.’ His English may have been limited, but his hospitality – in true Georgian style – was not. Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital city The houses stood, they perched on top of …
Mountaineering and the History of Fear: an Essay
If I were to fall, I wouldn’t fall far. I could feel the reassuring weight of the harness around my waist; I could feel the slight tug of the carabiners that joined me to the …
Orkney
North. Keep going North. Keep driving – past Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester. Past the Lake District, where low stone walls trace patterns across green fields (and where we stop to buy me a pair of new …