I spent today at rest, my tired body embraced by the stirrings of a deeply embodied cognition of mountains, muscles, and memory from the past few days, dozens of kilometres and thousands of metres of ascent. As a mountain runner of some decades now, my legs have steadily become a topography of the ranges I’ve … Continue reading Mountains and memory: philosophy and physiology
Eastward toward an undercast sky from Hangingstone Hill, 603 metres There is an inherent tousle between the solid and the indistinct on the moor. I’m never entirely sure what will be underfoot with my next step, where the faint trail I follow will branch out and meander, diffuse into fescue and bent. This is a … Continue reading Headwaters and wonder
On the undulating gravel highlands between Iceland’s Vatnajokull and Hofsjokull icecaps and, nearer by, the Hágönglón and Kvislarvatn lakes swollen in summers with pale blue-gray meltwater, is the low, rounded gravel summit of Skrokksalda. The summit plateau is home to one of Iceland’s many GPS monitoring site. This one, SKRO, has measured some of the … Continue reading Moving Over Imagined Ground
I woke ten minutes before the alarm I had set for 3:30 this morning to the sound of clearing winds pushing the last of the night’s rains to the east. By the time I clipped into my pedals an hour later, the sky was clear and the stars guided me westward toward the moor. It … Continue reading Contemplating Dartmoor
Morning on Dartmoor, November 2020 For many, the first of January is a day of reflection, anticipation, planning, and taking stock. For runners, and athletes of all kinds, it can be a day to start a new logbook, make a race schedule, set goals, or reshape a training plan. In our different ways, we try … Continue reading Interval
On Sunday, 4 October, more than 200 people (at last count) will be starting out on foot for a shared adventure -- the 2020 Climate Marathon. From our homes on six continents, in different climates and in different seasons, we are coming together to walk and run 26 miles each week throughout the month -- … Continue reading Our Climate Marathon
Heading towards Cut Hill in the heart of the Moor Yesterday I shared my solstice celebration with flocks of sheep, a handful of cows, and ponies revelling in the open grasslands at the heart of Dartmoor. I chose this longest day to run a clockwise circuit of the Dartmoor 600, an informal route that climbs … Continue reading The Heart of Dartmoor
In the 14th century, German theologian and mystic, Meister Eckhardt, wrote, “What we plant in the soil of contemplation we shall reap in the harvest of action.” What are these things we plant? Often I find that in the planting is both an anticipation of action as well as a synthesis of all that’s come … Continue reading A single step
I awoke this morning missing mountains. It seems strange that after a longer outing yesterday that took me up and down nearly 8,000 feet over 100 kilometres of cycling I would miss the mountains, but I think that yesterday’s adventure kindled a sense of self I have missed these past months — the feeling of … Continue reading The dance of self and place
Since the start of March, when I moved here to Broadhempston from my temporary perch at Schumacher College, I have been exploring my neighbourhood in ever-more circuitous peregrinations -- and since the national COVID19 lockdown here in the UK, my running and cycling have all been based from home; day by day my GPS layers … Continue reading Hedgerow Constancy
Climate Run 