Thanks to my bretheren over at Walkspace Midlands, a set of reflections upon what I have found out over the first two years of working on Walk Midlands (the site was launched at the end of March 2022, but I started working on the project in August 2021) is now online.
Here is a snippet:
Just over two years ago I embarked on a voyage of discovery in a part of the UK where there is only one scrap of coastline. A project called Walk Midlands (NOTE: that this is distinct from Walkspace, of which I am a proud member). This sees me – usually on a Friday – embark on a walk somewhere in the English Midlands, which I then write-up and share with the world via the Walk Midlands website, social channels and in the form of a monthly digest via the Walk Midlands Newsletter.
The project is first and foremost a practical walking guide for those interested in day walks that they can do without a car in the English Midlands. It is also a kind of reflection upon how we live now, a means of telling stories from history and a mediation on the landscape and topography of the central part of England, that comprises the bulk of the mighty River Severn and Trent catchment areas.
It is a natural extension of my practice as a journalist and creative non-fiction writer as well as my commitment to a form of politics where, to improve the world around you, you first have to understand it. This comes through in the choice of walks, which provide routes for non-drivers to access historical sites, culture and beauty spots across the English Midlands. As well as in the introductions which frame the walks, short, accessible, magazine style texts which explore all manner and facets of the Midlands region.
It is these components which attracted me to Walkspace. If one thread unites the medley of walking artists and other creatives comprising the collective, it is an orientation, perhaps even a compulsion, towards using walking as a means of tilting the everyday world 90 degrees and looking at the familiar askance. Walk Midlands, I hope, does it in spades and provides all those who appreciate and are intrigued by the English Midlands with a new route to explore it every week.