The opportunity of going out for an unplanned bimble in the snow was too good to miss today. We were only out for a couple of hours, but it made us reflect on how fortunate we were to be able to step out of our front door straight into countryside on a whim. Not just any countryside either but archetypal English mixed farm and woodland with a river running through it, all within a long riverside walk into Oxford.
OK, so it isn't very wild and the hills are only rolling. That's why we tend to spend summers in France where we have a small apartment a few metres from the Mediterranean, with the foothills of the Pyrenees behind us. The start of the famous GR10 which runs the length of the Pyrenees is within walking distance and our local hills, the Alberes, are higher than anywhere in England and Wales and only 100 metres lower than Ben Nevis, but you have to get on the local bus for a 1 euro ride to get within walking distance of the 9,000 footers.
We do count our blessings, even though they have come late in life.
When reading posts on the site it becomes clear that though we all share a taste for the wilder places, some of us are lucky enough to live in the countryside and to have vegetable gardens and easy access to hedgerow foods while others, because of work and family commitments have to live in towns and for whom the site provides an outlet for Bushcraft yearnings. There are also the lucky ones who both live and work in the wilds.
I would be very interested to know how many members live in an urban and how many in a rural setting. I'd set up a poll if I knew how.
OK, so it isn't very wild and the hills are only rolling. That's why we tend to spend summers in France where we have a small apartment a few metres from the Mediterranean, with the foothills of the Pyrenees behind us. The start of the famous GR10 which runs the length of the Pyrenees is within walking distance and our local hills, the Alberes, are higher than anywhere in England and Wales and only 100 metres lower than Ben Nevis, but you have to get on the local bus for a 1 euro ride to get within walking distance of the 9,000 footers.
We do count our blessings, even though they have come late in life.
When reading posts on the site it becomes clear that though we all share a taste for the wilder places, some of us are lucky enough to live in the countryside and to have vegetable gardens and easy access to hedgerow foods while others, because of work and family commitments have to live in towns and for whom the site provides an outlet for Bushcraft yearnings. There are also the lucky ones who both live and work in the wilds.
I would be very interested to know how many members live in an urban and how many in a rural setting. I'd set up a poll if I knew how.
