Tracks
The introduction to this week's newsletter is by Chantal Lyons, our Story Writer in Residence, and author of Groundbreakers: the return of Britain's wild boar.
I didn’t mean to be a swimmer.
I wasn’t athletically gifted at school. Or rather, I was too lazy to see what my body could do. In my early twenties, some magic combination of guilt, vanity, reading a book about running, and watching my best friend complete a marathon pushed me out the door in trainers and Lycra. I earned my miles slowly, always on the edge of wanting to stop, though very occasionally – near the end of a run – slipping into a hitherto unknown and euphoric plane of speed. The daydream began of that final sprint up the Mall, a medal to match my father’s.
Then the lightning flickers of pain started in my back and hips. And at the age of twenty-four, they told me I had arthritis.
I kept running, gently, for a few years. Before the pain bit down and chased me into an indoor chlorinated pool. Less impact on my joints, and far less interesting than running under trees and sky. Anger at my body was my fuel. Until time and technique alchemised the anger into a new and different joy; that of climbing into water, being lifted, and learning to fly.
Any body of water I was legally allowed to be in became an opportunity. River and sea swimming proved superior to pools. I even soared across the Channel in a relay team of five. My arthritis is a curse I’ll always carry, but without it, I wouldn’t have had that dawn when my toes touched down on the muddy sand of France.
Today I swam in Chichester Harbour, a beloved place with two faces: tidal ebb and tidal flow. There’s a pebble jetty there that I’ve been walking up and down since I was a child, busy with the jobs of crabbing and paddling. At the peak of a spring tide I glided far above it. And I imagined the younger me, looking up and seeing a single joyous moment in her future.
Free for supporting members, open to everyone
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2025-06-09 19:00
· Online
Does walking with a dog enhance the experience of walking? If so, in what way? For poet Susan M. Schultz and walking artist and writer Ernesto Pujol, walking with d... Keep reading
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Latest walking pieces
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Wrapped Walk Ways, in Jacob Loose Memorial Park, Kansas City, Missouri, consisted of the installation of 12,540 square meters (135,000 square feet) of saffron-color... Keep reading
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‘Tomb Street’ is the fourth track of the album Music for an Abandoned Harmonium (2025) by sound artist Cameron Clarke. The album features field recordings of perfor... Keep reading
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Join indefatigable octogenarian walker and talker, landscape historian and naturalist Dennis Furnell as he guides Jonathan Kempster to the summit of Ivinghoe Beacon... Keep reading
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Latest podcast episodes
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From the creators of the hit shows Takin’ A Walk and Music Saved Me comes a new podcast that celebrates the healing power of humor. In Comedy Saved Me, TV and radio... Start listening
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Join @thebuzzknight for this new episode with country music singer, songwriter Cyndi Thompson. We catch up with Cyndi, the acclaimed singer-songwriter behind hit... Start listening
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From the creators of the hit shows Takin’ A Walk and Music Saved Me comes a new podcast that celebrates the healing power of humor. In Comedy Saved Me, TV and radio... Start listening
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Join @thebuzzknight and @theharryjacobs for a look at music history for the week of 5-26. Special thanks to one of our listeners, Justin from Concord Mass. who gave... Start listening
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Enjoy this classic episode from May 2022. Raynor Winn’s best-selling book “The Salt Path” tells how she and her husband Moth became homeless just as he was diagnose... Start listening
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Shortlists tend to be just that, ‘short lists’ however, for our Buchan-inspired writing competition we are asking you to pick your winner from 39 stories each of 39... Keep reading
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Upcoming events
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2025-06-09 19:00
· Online
Does walking with a dog enhance the experience of walking? If so, in what way? For poet Susan M. Schultz and walking artist and writer Ernesto Pujol, walking with d... Keep reading
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From our network
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From the MCBA announcement: (click link to see the images and statement/proposal I submitted with the fellowship application) “Ellen and Sarah will both be awarded ... Keep reading
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Shortlists tend to be just that, ‘short lists’ however, for our Buchan-inspired writing competition we are asking you to pick your winner from 39 stories each of 39... Keep reading
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Au jour où la culture souffre des restrictions, voire de violents coups de sabres budgétaires, où les finances privilégient l’armement, l’IA, les satellites, elle d... Keep reading
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As a nation our favourite pastime is to grumble about the weather. So, you’d imagine the last thing we’d want to do is go to Stonehenge – typically windy and rainy ... Keep reading
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Adapted by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti from Sathnam Sanghera’s titular novel, this play is a tender and funny multi-generational saga about relationships, loyalty and tr... Keep reading
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The author reflects on their emotions about missing Puanga at Parihaka and their involvement with the Ngā Pakiwaitara O Matariki exhibition. They are honoured to in... Keep reading
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…soils not only speak to us, but can be great subjects for art and music…soils truly are sexy. – Dr David Eldridge I’ve been puposely listening to the sound of soil... Keep reading
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Dear loiterers
Its First Sunday this Sunday and so time for us to wander together once again.
The LRM will be gathering on Sunday June 1st at 2pm outside The Peopl... Keep reading
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For this year's Summer Solstice we'll be making a pilgrimage to Birmingham's famous concrete henge/motorway junction. Join us on 21 June. Keep reading
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Parking on and over footpaths is inconsiderate and illegal (Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004 6.14). This year Living Streets is upping its efforts to decrease t... Keep reading
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Ok, I didn’t win, but I’ll happily take Highly Commended in Rialto Nature and Place Competition 2025 thank you very much. I love the judge Helen Mort’s own poetry t... Keep reading
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Last winter, James and Clive set out from Wolverhampton in search of the South Staffordshire Railway Walk. James Glover reports on their journey through a landscape... Keep reading
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Don Gillmor’s On Oil, the most recent of Palimpsest’s Field Notes series, is an important book: an overview of the fossil fuel industry and its effects on our polit... Keep reading
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Stuff we found
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Here are eight terms, some brand-new, others recently resurfaced, that match today’s travel trends. Source: Land Snorkeling? Townsizing? A User’s Guide to the Lates... Keep reading
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