say hello to hope

September 23, 2020.Reading time 4 minutes.

I am experiencing emotional turbulence right now. Are you, like me, looking around and wondering what is going on? The other day I went into a restaurant and a masked-up waiter aimed what looked like a gun at my head. It turns out he needed to take my temperature before I was allowed in for […]

tips for long-distance hiking

September 15, 2020.Reading time 10 minutes.

Get some practical tips to make your own long distance hiking adventures ones to remember.

Explore: The Coleridge way

September 11, 2020.Reading time 9 minutes.

A while ago, a friend was telling me she had just been for her first run in a long time. “I couldn’t help but think it would be much more fun if I were walking,” she complained. These days, I see what she means. And so it came to be that on my 42nd birthday […]

It’s your choice

September 1, 2020.Reading time 5 minutes.

It is easy to get wrapped up in the constant stream of information about how we ‘should’ lead our lives – adhering to scripts written by other people that we quietly hope to successfully emulate and even outdo. But it’s true what they say: what works for you may not work for me. Yet still […]

Some things that being alcohol free isn’t

August 13, 2020.Reading time 4 minutes.

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates, Greek philosopher Life-limiting: Giving up alcohol will give you more time, more money, more freedom and improved health. There is evidence that shows young people are shunning booze more than ever and […]

Alcohol free living: two years in

July 2, 2020.Reading time 4 minutes.

It’s been two years since I quit booze. I’d wanted to cut alcohol out for ages. For a while there were lots of broken promises and fresh starts. But I had this developing discomfort about drinking; like it was a waste of time, sapping energy which could be channeled elsewhere. Alcohol always made me feel rubbish […]

Explore: sea swimming in Devon

June 10, 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

In the last few years swimming has become an exercise staple. From spring through to autumn, I take to the seas and rivers and so when the warmer weather arrived it was time to get back into the brine. My usual swim spot is Torbay, South Devon. Torbay has lots of advantages because its waters are […]

Explore: running through history

June 6, 2020.Reading time 5 minutes.

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It seems when restrictions were partially lifted, people were afflicted by another contagion; one where ‘good old British common sense’ was replaced by a mania in which people perceived themselves invincible. They started throwing themselves off cliffs into swirling seas, marching up mountains in flip flops or queuing for three hours to buy a Big […]

Mental kindness – and unleashing the inner child

May 20, 2020.Reading time 5 minutes.

I wanted to write a long and thoughtful article on looking after your mind all the time, not just when Mental Health Awareness Week rolls around. But, quite honestly, I’ve not been able to find the words. I started procrastinating and that led me into beating myself up about it. The teeny tiny internal critic […]

Some lessons. 700 days alcohol free.

May 10, 2020.Reading time 8 minutes.

This morning I happened to check the app which tracks how long it has been since I quit drinking. And – wow! – it’s been 700 days since I gave up booze. It got me thinking about how different life is. Today I woke up early, did yoga, some cleaning, messaged my family and went […]