The latest...

The book’s growing: just add water
After the walk / The book

The book’s growing: just add water

I went for a walk with Ursula, AKA One Woman Walks Wales. She’s just under halfway along her chosen 3300-mile route, walking every established long distance path in Wales, some not-at-all established ones, all of the major rivers and anything else that lodged in her mind on the fateful day […]

Following the Hemingway diet
After the walk / The book

Following the Hemingway diet

I’ve been in London for six weeks. My friend Sarah had her baby, number two, little Milo (as pre-empted in this old blog. It was truly awesome, seeing one human being come out of another human being like messy Russian dolls – a big exhausted, delighted one, and a small, […]

Ease away! Haul away!
After the walk

Ease away! Haul away!

Last Wednesday was my birthday, and late on Tuesday evening I got a call from Ali, an old friend I caught up with when Chico and I stayed in his woodland on the walk. “There’s a berth on a tall ship, leaving Milford Haven for Liverpool. Breakfast is at 8am […]

The next adventure…
After the walk / Philosophising / The blog

The next adventure…

A man called Tim is currently camping next to a slightly bemused Chico, in a field full of flowers and sunshine, high above Aberystwyth. This morning there were some vigorous rainstorms and he was lying in his tent reading Celtic prayers, and noticed how many of them mention shelter. “It’s […]

Life, death and donkeys
After the walk / Philosophising

Life, death and donkeys

Two years ago today I got the overwhelming honour of seeing a baby born. I was the very first person to see the damp, dark hair of the truly superb little soul who has since become Lois, at 1.40am, in the gentle, dark, womblike surrounds of Lewisham Birth Centre. I […]

The Telegraph, Bear Grylls and lost blokes
After the walk / Philosophising

The Telegraph, Bear Grylls and lost blokes

A few days ago a woman from the Telegraph called me to ask what I thought of Bear Grylls’s new TV series, which is currently in post production. Apparently a bunch of ‘lost blokes’ were taken to a desert island to ascertain whether modern man can still work out how […]

Saturday papers by torchlight
After the walk / Miscellaneous

Sleep out

Eastertime is here, and the sun has so much warmth in it that it’s calling everyone out, like lizards from under our winter rocks. Delightfully both our first and reserve beach camping spot plans already had tents on them when we arrived on Saturday evening, so we ended up making […]

Galloping donkey nutcases
After the walk

Galloping spring

I took the freshly washed head collars back to the field on Tuesday morning, giving myself a little time to negotiate them onto the donkeys before the vet arrived to give them their flu and tetanus jabs. Flo is always pretty good, but Chico usually gives me a token runaround […]

Happy pancake day!
After the walk

Happy pancake day!

Happy pancake day! If you forgot, there’s still time! This Shrove Tuesday I’m singing the praises of my dear mama, by posting her pancake recipe for you. The pictures are from last May – I’ve been keeping them for today – but as it happens she’s in the kitchen frying […]

The fun in funding…
After the walk / The blog / The book / The film

The fun in funding…

Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye, Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in the pie, Chico’s in his hayshed, eating bread and honey, Hannah’s in her counting house, frightened by the money… It’s been almost three weeks since the Kickstarter ended in a blaze of white-knuckle adrenaline […]