Hello from London in January - the long, cold, wet, grey, dreary month of the year in which we are required to complete our tax return. Thankfully we have an online event, one evening each week through the month to shine a bit of light and bring some joy.

More on those events later, but first I’m charged with the responsibility of writing about the part-EU funded Walking Arts and Local Communities (WALC) project now that we have almost completed a year.

The project has enabled the seven partners (from five countries) to come together twice this year, first in Guimareas in Portugal in March, and more recently in Gaasbeek, a patch of peri-urban Brussels suburbia (if that's not an oxymoron), with its two fantasy castles. In that area of Belgium, rurality, urban edginess and suburbia flow from one to the other, without any discernible boundary. I was able to walk along a green route for nearly three hours to catch the Eurostar train back from Brussels-Midi station to London. You cut through damp small farm holdings with lots of grazing horses, an occasional tractor on muddy roads, and rows of suburban housing (often decorated by gnomes and fantasy mail boxes), with the occasional hospital or industrial estate, with no height gain or loss, wandering across level land, with few landmarks - it’s all quite eerie.

Being responsible for the WALC online events, the Cafés and Confluences, we at walk · listen · create have been working with our partners from Belgium, France and Spain, who have brought a diversity of guests to each of the events. With the funding, we have been able to waive charging for tickets, and have money to pay guests a modest honorarium for taking part.

A lot has been going on behind the scenes since the launch in February 2024, especially in the preparation for the Prespa Encounter in July, for which I need to warn you that there are only 44 days left before the submission deadline!

Our French and Spanish partners have been particularly active on the ground, developing new forms of collaboration, beneath the canvas of a bivouac or on a durational Grand Tour walk - you can read about these activities (and all other WALC events that have taken place) elsewhere on our website. If you haven't already, find out more about the WALC project from the WALCtogether website here.

Clara Gari of Nau Côclea in Spain is launching a new series of online events at the sixth Confluence on the 22 January, in which we going to invite Walking Artists and Artist Walkers to tell us more about how they document a walk - the launch event will include a presentation from Cuban American artist and educator Ernesto Pujol. Check out further details here, and book a free spot.

Before then we have leading writers to entertain you and to explore how they document and write about the natural world. We start with our recently appointed writer-in-residence Chantel Lyons, chairing a discussion with fellow Wainwright Prize nominees Polly Atkin and Sophie Yeo. Please do come along and support them on this coming Tuesday 7 January - read more and book a ticket here.

Postponed from December, and now happening during the following week, on Thursday 16 January, we are delighted that we are able to have Corinne Fowler and Richard White in conversation about how colonialism has transformed the British countryside. Corinne is a leading researcher in colonial histories and took 10 country walks with thought-leaders in different parts of Britain to reveal the impact of our colonial power and how it persists today. Read more and book here.

Finally, at the end of the month, we have musician and sound recorder, Jenny Sturgeon, to tell us about how she documented her walk along the unofficial National Trail of Scotland. She walked alone for more than 850 kms over five weeks. In a conversation we had recently, when recording a video we recorded for digital marketing the event, she revealed that she didn’t carry a musical instrument with her - not even a harmonica or bird whistle - instead just a sound recorder, recording ambiences, with which she has produced a fabulous album called paths. made. walking. and a podcast for BBC Scotland Outdoors. Join Jenny and me online on Tuesday 28 January.

Wishing you Joy this January

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