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OS Maps, Navigation Training, Silver, Leaders, Ramblers

Mini Walking Stories: OS Maps

Learning To Read Ordinance Survey Maps   I was first introduced to OS Maps when we lived in Scotland. When we would go hiking with other families, someone would bring along a paper Ordinance Survey Map, usually in a plastic square waterproof case that they wore around their necks. When the kids were in secondary …

picking blackberries

Mini Walking Stories: Picking Blackberries

Picking Blackberries I get so excited when I start to see berries on the trail. And it’s even more fun when I am walking with someone who shares my enthusiasm for picking them. This past summer, we found blueberries, blackberries and raspberries on the Via Alpina. And blackberries were absolutely everywhere along our summer hikes …

Life Goals

Mini Walking Stories: Life Goals

Life Goals Taido and I say to each other all the time that we want to keep hiking well into our old age. Then this summer, only a few days into the Via Alpina, I was starting to think thoughts like: I think this might be my last serious mountain climb. It’s time for me …

Love on the Camino

Mini Walking Stories: Love on the Camino

Love On The Camino Walking long days can push you to your edge. So when you’re walking long days with other people, sometimes everyone’s edges bump up against one another. But more often, what comes out is something beautiful. Someone will have a blister, and someone else will have exactly what they need. Or someone …

Pilgrim Blessings in Barcelos

Mini Walking Stories: Pilgrim Blessings

Pilgrim Blessing Hey y’all, do you think you can all be ready in an hour to walk to Santo Antonio church together for the pilgrim blessing? We had just finished a long day of walking, but I had read about a pilgrim’s mass at a church in Barcelos that I wanted to attend. I told …

Along the Avon River

Mini Walking Stories: Along the Avon

Walking Along The River Avon The River Avon runs right through the middle of Bristol and on out to Avonmouth, which is obviously, the mouth of the river. Since the river leads to the sea, the Avon is tidal. Some parts of the day it just looks like an emptied out basin of mostly mud. …

Google Translate, Camino, Ukraine

Mini Walking Stories: Google Translate

Did You Know That Google Translate Will Talk For You? One morning on the Portuguese Camino, we met a couple from Ukraine who were living outside their home country when Russia started a war there. Feeling helpless, they decided to walk the Camino to raise awareness about the war in their country. Walking extra long …

Picnic Lunch over Derwentwater, Keswick Cat Bells, Lake District

Mini Walking Stories: Picnic Lunch

The Perfect Picnic Lunch We almost always pack a picnic lunch for our Saturday shenanigans in the hills. Tuna sandwiches are lovingly prepared and then stacked into tupperwares, or in a pinch, we will pick up boxed sandwiches in the shop on our way out to the countryside, taking part in the ubiquitous meal deal …

Stork Delight

Mini Walking Stories: Stork Delight

Stork Delight One of the best bits of taking a friend on a walk is that you get to see the world through their eyes. My friend Shana really likes birds. She and her husband have a big picture window in their living room and outside the window, they have put loads of bird feeders …