Those reading this from the beginning will know that in the run-up to Christmas 2021 there was a chance I may have gotten covid and had to isolate over that period, cue buying some carving knives for something to take the edge off of spending all of Christmas isolating. Anyway, I enjoyed carving a few spoons and had meant to make time for it again. I started a few which didnt get finished, and last week I finished off my first in a little while.

The whole process would be much quicker using power tools, but I enjoy starting from a big lump of wood and whittling it into something tiny, whilst blistering my hands and losing my sense of time and place. During the final stint of finishing this one, I worked on it until nearly 2am. Oops. I find it easy to lose myself in things like this, but would much rather be lost in a wooden spoon than in scrolling through the endless shite of the internet (except this blog of course, which is of course a total masterpiece and worthy of your attention.)

I really like the shape of the handle of this one, as a lot of my first attempts were a bit more flat. Its made from a peice of sycamore.

In other news, summer has finally arrived in the southwest, and on yesterday’s mountain bike ride in the valleys I felt like I could have been in Spain…. The Costa Del Risca? We rode at Wyllie for my first time in over a year. This was the last spot I rode before spannering my spine, so to be back there with a grin on my face and sitting outside the Prince of Wales with a post ride pint in my hand felt like a significant milestone. It turns out that doing lots of stretching does work after all. Listen to the old injured people in your lives that tell you these things. I know I should have! Reducing your stress levels also helps hugely. We all know the body follows the mind, and it’s easy to forget that physical tension and discomfort can come from your brain being a bit overloaded. Relax the mind, relax the body. I’m no yoga instructor but it makes sense and seems to be proving itself true.

After a day in the sun on the bike and stopping in at my sisters in Newport for dinner I couldn’t bear not to wring the last of the goodness out of this beautiful day by spending some more time outdoors. I stuck the tent in my bag, grabbed a little hip flask of whisky and ‘First Light’ by Geoffrey Wellum and set off in search of a place to spend the night. I ended up walking around 10 miles to some woods near Flax Bourton, and seeing some of the beautiful things that only make themselves visible on an evening; rabbits, owls, a sunset, starry skies, and even a friendly if somewhat bemused lady who offered me a lift and asked if I was on ‘Some sort of mission’. I told her I was walking home. She asked where home was and I said I hadn’t decided yet. I think she thought I was mad.

I ended up arriving at my chosen spot around 11pm, popped the little tent up, read a chapter of my book, and drifted off to sleep dreaming about how utterly bonkers it must have been to be a spitfire pilot. This is actually earning my current PB for best nights sleep in a tent. I got a solid 7 hours and woke up feeling fully refreshed. Normally my sleep away from home is a little broken, but this time was perfect. Maybe it was the whisky.

Seeing the area in daylight when walking out of the woods the following morning was quite special, arriving in darkness and then waking to see the woods in all of their spring beauty. I haven’t gotten out that way on the mountain bike very much yet this year but am buzzing to ride the many dreamy little ribbons of singletrack winding through the garlic.

I found walking home this morning somehow quite amusing. There was something about wandering through Ashton Court and back into the city with a big backpack and a tent that felt totally ridiculous, dressed up for some sort of backpacking expedition when walking to the woods down the road. Anyway, the whole thing had me thinking all sort of cliched nonsense about how you don’t always have to go far from home to go on a little adventure, and the only thing stopping you from turning off the telly or putting your phone away and experiencing some calm in nature is just actually getting off your sofa and doing it. Nice old ladies will stop and ask if you are mad, but maybe mad is what you’ll be if you stay at home?