Walking into spring

Bring the bounce back into your steps as nature comes back to life

Urban spring

Hello walkers and writers 👋🏻

Today is National Walking Day – and what better way to get into the walkerly writer habit than with a spring stroll. If you’re new to walking or writing then it only takes 10 minutes a day to get into it. And hopefully these posts will help inspire you to take your first walks with words.

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Walking

I woke up the other day thanks to the morning light flooding into my bedroom. Remembering a meeting I had to get to, and thinking I’d seriously overslept and might miss it, I checked the time and actually squealed when I saw that it was only 6am. Yeah, I’m one of those morning people.

I opened the blind, and for the first time in days, instead of a dishrag grey sky, it was blue, blue, blue. And across the street, a tree that I swear had been bare the day before was alive with blossom.

All of a sudden, spring was here.

I am a summer soul. I’m drawn to the light and want to burrow away when the days are dark and long. UK winters feel so long that as soon as spring pops up, I need to get up with the dawn each day because I don’t want to waste a single drop of the light.

There’s no better way to set up my day than to get up and out for a walk just before dawn and head eastward to see the sunrise.

Getting ready for an early morning hike after a night beneath the stars

I visit my favourite tree in Victoria Park – this lovely old magnolia, which may not be the most photographed tree in London, but it’s the closest magnolia tree to where I live and I like to track the seasons by it.

The magnificent magnolia

I absolutely must do a bluebell walk (they usually flower in May) and I love those because I get to combine them with walking in woodland.

Bluebells in Wanstead Park

I follow the sounds of birds.

Let’s imagine we can hear this robin singing

I follow the scent of blossoms and flowers.

Jasmine along a footpath – you’ll have to trust me that it smelled glorious

And I might even take off my boots and ground myself by walking barefoot.

Boots off, toes out

So I invite you to take a spring walk and notice the world coming back to life after its winter snooze. Explore with all the senses – sight, smell, sound and touch – and pay attention to what stands out for you. Perhaps you’ll notice a flower, birdsong, the temperature or the quality of the light as it passes over trees, grass or water.

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Writing

Write a 6-word refection of your walk. And for an extra twist, to make it more interesting and to help stretch your writing muscles, try making it an acrostic-style piece of writing where the first letter of each word spells out this 6-letter word:

S
P
R
I
N
G

As always, please feel free to comment with what you enjoy most about spring and what you notice on your walks.

Happy walking and writing until next time.

Sarah

PS The sunrise photo of me taking down my tent was taken by Ian Finch, expedition leader and photographer, during a weekend of sailing, hiking and wild camping in Norfolk.

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More from The Writer’s Walk

If you enjoyed this edition or if you’re in the southern hemisphere right now, you might like Walking into autumn.

Walking into autumn