On a recent trip to the United Kingdom (UK) to visit our children, who both live there, we were very fortunate to be able spend time out in nature with them, as we’ve always done their entire lives growing up with us in South Africa.
It’s a known fact that being close to and being in natural environments makes one much healthier - physically and mentally. Vitamin D is an essential nutrient, which is one of the most important components of keeping our immune systems working properly. Who would argue with wanting to spend time outdoors on sunny days absorbing this crucial vitamin from the sun? Also, any time spent in nature in most weathers is never a waste, in my opinion.
While the UK is not known for an over-abundance of sunshine, there are certainly days when the sun does shine beautifully, even in the north. Especially so in the summer months if a high pressure weather system dominates - it can be really glorious outside. You just have to make the most of those days when they happen and get outside as much as possible!
We’ve had a lot of different types of holidays in the UK over the years, and the times spent outside in natural places have always made a more positive impact on me than visiting endless museums or shopping, for example. The built environment, no matter how historic or magnificent it is architecturally, can never supersede my love of real nature, where biodiversity in balance is evident.
This year, our daughter accompanied us from where we were staying at her home in bustling London to spend a long weekend in the southern part of the New Forest. We visited the Forest many years ago, long before we had our children; she had never been before. And we really made the most of those days we spent together in the New Forest, walking in the forest, visiting all the pretty villages, with their community art galleries; colourful, narrow, typically-English high streets fashioned from unique gift shoppes and scrumptious tea-time treat cafés.
However, the highlight of our trip, for all of us, was the early morning misty hike that we made deep into one of the remaining fragments of real New Forest. We encountered vast swathes of heather (Heath species - Erica cinerea, Erica tetralix and Calluna vulgaris) in all shades of pink in among the dense copses of forest, which are composed largely of native Oak, Ash, Beech and Silver Birch trees.
To make it even more special that morning, were the number of New Forest ponies we spotted wandering nonchalantly among the dew-laden paths in the heather and forest. And best of all, as it was early, we were the only humans there enjoying the peaceful magic of that place. We were together, the three of us, amid the healing sights, sounds and smells of almost-unspoilt Mother Nature in the New Forest.
Another memorable feature of our UK trip this year was climbing our first Munro in the Scottish Highlands with our son, who is lucky enough to live just south of the Cairngorms in a rural community. He’s a very experienced climber and mountaineer, so we had no qualms about going on what started out as just a hike from Glen Clova up the Kilbo Path, and ended with us reaching the summit of the Munro of Mayar (928m) and walking out the other side of this down a steep path into Corrie Fee in order to get back to the start of our circular hike.
What a privilege to be able experience a hiking adventure such as this, among the mountains and big skies of Scotland, and the weather held fair, too!
Special things about this excursion that I’ll never forget, are:
Munching on loads of Blaeberries (aka Bilberries) on the way up the mountain. Such a good source of vitamin C they are, and I just really love the act of foraging for food in the wild - there were literally thousands lining the path!
The towering amphitheatre of mountains watching benignly as one ascends the path to Mayar and comes down the other side.
The sight of the magnificent tumbling waterfall as you come down over the edge of the plateau, along the very steep path into the Fee of Corrie.
Walking through a wondrous glaciated landscape which is the Corrie Fee National Nature Reserve, a place of rare alpine plants and wildlife such as Golden Eagles.
Being with our son outside in wild, natural Scotland, one of the best places in the UK to go to ‘recharge your batteries’.
If we allow her, Mother Nature can heal all manner of ailments and reduce stress-levels, the latter being the cause of so many modern diseases. Give it a go, get out into nature whenever and wherever you can and you’ll see almost-instant, remarkable and positive things happening to your mental and physical health, at very little cost.
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