This morning I opened the door to let the excited dogs out. They bounded past me, screeched to a halt at the threshold, peered out at the rain, then circled back to their beds.
We've all been there.
Years ago, when Caspar was a puppy who shivered and whined in the rain, my friend rolled her eyes and said 'He's a dog in England. He better get used to it.' I've been living here for 43 years and I'm still working on 'getting used to it' myself.
The rain didn't stop. The dogs began to pace. I thought about my ex boyfriend who would get really annoyed when I'd say 'We're going to have so much fun.' He'd respond, 'We're having fun NOW!'
I pulled on some wellies and a raincoat and splashed across muddy fields. Of course, the dogs loved it.
Funnily enough, so did I. It wasn't as cold as it had looked from inside. I began to breathe more deeply, my anxieties slipping away. The rain eased a little and I noticed a wonderful line in the field where the mud and grass met. It contrasted beautifully with the vagueness of the weather, and rugged bark of an oak tree.
I recognised, yet again, that we have to make the most of the bad days, because if we only go out on the good ones then we could have a very long wait.
And that brings me neatly to my favourite app. AllTrails.
I've mentioned it several times on our podcast. Sadly they aren't sponsoring me, but if anyone from the company happens to be reading this and wants to throw money my way then you know where I am.
You don't have to subscribe to use it, so perfect even if you're on a tight budget. Wherever you find yourself, just open the app and take a look for routes around you. People are creating walks every day, reviewing them, and saving them for you to use. There are loops and point to point walks, different ability levels, and many different lengths. I use it everywhere I go.
I can't begin to express what an amazing thing hiking has done for my family. It's something we can all do together, we take sandwiches and drinks and find a great place to stop so that we can enjoy what we've achieved together.
The teenagers sometimes don't fancy it but I just use snacks, get them to plot the route and give them charge of the map. It gets them off their phones, releases endorphins, and they often start asking questions or telling us things that come to them. Most of all, we find it helps us to connect with both nature and each other. The most common comment is 'This is lovely, we should do it more often.'
