An idea shamelessly stolen from Al Humphries: to take a single map, a local map, and explore it thoroughly.
During lockdowns when we were supposed to stay local, my single map opened up my small world considerably. There were several miles of trailway, half a dozen Iron Age hillforts, endless trails and paths and bits of woodland, all within 10km of my front door and I’d never seen any of them. I recommend getting a local map and exploring what’s on your doorstep. This is what’s on mine.
My first post-lockdown real thing was that I met up with my friend Catherine for a countryside walk a couple of weeks ago. Catherine is a nature connection guide and feminine rewilding coach, a retreat host, a wanderer and an artist and all that makes her a very good companion for a country walk. She’d… More A Single Map: A walk and a nature lesson
I haven’t done A Single Map in a while – well, not on the blog. I’ve done walks on my map most weeks in real life. We met a lot of cows on this most recent walk! We were using the Sturminster Newton walks again – the last of the five long ones – but… More A Single Map: walking with cows
We’re back on my Single Map today with another country walk and we’re going from Fiddleford to Piddles Wood. One of Dorset’s most endearing qualities is the ridiculousness of some of its names. A few years ago that spawned a quiz called Dorset Village or NFL Player? and I particularly enjoyed that one of the… More A Single Map: Fiddleford to Piddles Wood
I definitely didn’t plan to do three A Single Maps in a row but then again, why not? We’re in lockdown, we can’t go anywhere and it’s a beautiful time to appreciate what’s on your doorstep and get some exercise in the fresh air. Today I’m on the trailway! There are plenty of these trailways… More A Single Map episode 5: walking the trailway
Today I’m going to investigate a wood! I know, this is the second A Single Map post in a row, although I didn’t mention it beyond the title last time. Actually, I went to Tarrant Rushton Airfield twice (well, three times – we went again on Friday!). I didn’t mind. We went in November which… More A Single Map episode 4: “Just a wood”:
Welcome to the former RAF Tarrant Rushton. I’m not a person who writes a lot about 20th century military history. If I’m writing about history, it’s far more likely to be the 9-11th centuries. I love a bit of Saxon or Viking or Romanesque ecclesiastical architecture. I’ve complained, recently, about the 17th century being too… More A Single Map episode 3: Exploring Tarrant Rushton Airfield
In this second “episode” of A Single Map, I’m taking my dad out for a walk in the woods. We’ve done a lot of walking this year. Headlands, several hillforts, the local thanks-Dr-Beeching trailway, around town and even a couple of fort-less hills. But woods are new. We didn’t really realise there was much in… More A Single Map episode 2: a walk in the woods
A couple of weeks ago, I read Alastair Humphreys’ post on “a single map is enough for a lifetime of exploration” in which he ordered a custom OS Explorer map of his local area in order to explore his doorstep in greater detail, especially while bigger and further-flung adventures are on hold. I’d already been… More A Single Map episode 1: a walk up a very muddy hill