Adventuring during lockdown. With even long, solitary bike rides off-limits I’ve decided to explore smaller than ever. Starting from my front door I’m going to run every street (using citystrides.com, heatflask.com and Strava) on a mission to go places I have never been before. It is a way to notice new and beautiful and wild things, even in the most familiar of settings. It gives my ration of exercise a sense of purpose and adventure.⁠

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Adventuring during lockdown. With even long, solitary bike rides off-limits I’ve decided to explore smaller than ever. Starting from my front door I’m going to run every street (via citystrides.com) on a mission to go places I have never been before. It is a way to notice new and beautiful and wild things, even in the most familiar of settings. It gives my ration of exercise a sense of purpose and adventure.⁠ ⁠ I loved following @RickeyGates run every street of San Francisco (www.everysinglestreet.com) and this New York Epic: https://imjustwalkin.com⁠ Rickey’s website has a brilliant list of other people attempting the challenge in their own neighbourhoods, plus a how-to section if you fancy trying this yourself.⁠ ⁠ What do you reckon? Fancy joining me?⁠ #everystreet

A post shared by Alastair Humphreys (@al_humphreys) on

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Out tonight to run some more miles in my new lockdown adventure to run #everystreet. Looking for bright specks of light in dark times. I found Capella, the 6th brightest star in the sky and a mere 43 light years away. (Thanks to the fab Star Walk app for teaching me that.) The main thing I noticed tonight was an absence of smell. The lush, warm fragrances of spring – new growth and grass cuttings that have filled the last two weeks – were gone tonight. In their place, a cold wind and my breath ballooning in the light of my head lamp. Spring had tricked me, luring me out again in t-shirt, shorts and my newly shaved head. I shivered through 10k, never warming up, before deciding to dash for home. Two nights in, however, and I’m loving this new local exploration challenge. (Tip: www.heatflask.com is brilliant if you want to give this a try where you live.)

A post shared by Alastair Humphreys (@al_humphreys) on

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Knowing that the wild world is trundling merrily along on its way without me, I’ve been missing the chance to go running in ancient woodlands carpeted with bluebells – one of England’s finest times of the year. Luckily tonight, out on my random mission to run #everystreet, I stumbled upon some bluebells on the verge of a busy road, right opposite the council landfill site. Stooping to photograph them, the breeze brought me a waft of rotting rubbish, a smell which weirdly I always quite like, for it whisks me away to whiffier, wilder parts of the world. I remembered being lost late one night in a part of Chennai I didn’t really want to be wandering aimlessly around. I hailed a tuktuk and the driver whizzed me back to where I wanted to be, zipping through the hot, humid night, the endlessly busy, beeping streets, the clicking of cicadas and loud Bollywood music playing from roadside food shacks, lit by bare bulbs and smelling spicy and exotic over the humdrum background aroma of the local tip… Who says we can’t travel the world right now…?

A post shared by Alastair Humphreys (@al_humphreys) on

 

View this post on Instagram

 

I’ve found the perfect book to listen to while I run #everystreet – On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz. From the introduction, ““As it turns out, I was missing pretty much everything. After taking the walks described in this book, I would find myself at once alarmed, delighted, and humbled at the limitations of my ordinary looking. My consolation is that this deficiency of mine is quite human. We see, but we do not see: we use our eyes, but our gaze is glancing, frivolously considering its object. We see the signs, but not their meanings. We are not blinded, but we have blinders. My deficiency is one of attention: I simply was not paying close enough attention. Though paying attention seems simple, there are numerous forms of payment. I reckon that every child has been admonished by teacher or parent to ‘pay attention.’ But no one tells you how to do that.”⁠

A post shared by Alastair Humphreys (@al_humphreys) on

 

View this post on Instagram

 

“The world is full of obvious things which nobody ever observes.” – Sherlock Holmes I’m out running #everystreet and (in one direction) I’ve finally reached the darkness at the end of town! Beyond here lie dragons. Or at least paths and woods beyond my running reach during lockdown. But along the way I’ve found myself some new ideas for when real life resumes, screenshotted a few map locations and sent them to myself: “Go explore here!” So now I turn my attention to another compass point. My evening explorations of every street continue… * (If you haven’t tried this idea can I urge you to give it a go? It’s given me real purpose and oomph in these unsettling times. I have found it fun, interesting, and a pleasing sense of mission. I use @strava and heatflask.com to record progress. Go on, give it a try… #everystreet. Thank you to @rickeygates for the initial inspiration.)

A post shared by Alastair Humphreys (@al_humphreys) on