In the spirit of going and doing something positive rather than wallowing in what the inevitable weather might have us feel, I have learnt to time my annual my One Hour Outside 30-day challenge to encourage us all to spend a little bit of time outside every day in November.
The Why of One Hour Outside
The idea of One Hour Outside – and especially my November challenge – is to make spending a little bit of time outside every day a purposeful habit.
We all know that getting outside is good for us. There are so many reasons we should be making an effort to spend as much time outdoors as possible – fresh air and natural light are good for our body, our mind, and our soul. (Here’s a post which says some more about that.) But how good are we at making sure we get time outdoors every day, especially at this time of year?
By concentrating efforts in November, I hope that we can remember, in just a few weeks, what a difference the outdoors makes to everyday life, turning what is often a dark and difficult month into one full of fresh air, clear heads and lots of energy.
Hear me chat about One Hour Outside for an hour with Rob on The Outdoor Adventure Podcast.
Outside Every Day
This year, more than ever, I have found my One Hour Outside challenge to be, well, a challenge. I just about managed to keep my outdoors promise to myself, but it’s not been easy. And that’s the reason I do this each November – because it’s hard. Spending time outside makes such a difference to my physical and mental wellbeing that it is always worth the effort.
On quite a few days my One Hour Outside had to be split into three or even four chunks of time. But even that has done what I needed it to – 15-minutes outside has been scientifically proven to make a difference. It wasn’t always like that; I had a few really lovely walks on my local hill, and did get a handful of proper lunchtime walks (my favourite). But the ratio of easy days to really-needed-to-try-hard days was much worse than I’d have liked this year.
I might not have been on any truly exciting outdoor adventures, or been anywhere I’ve not photographed before, but getting myself out into the fresh air and natural light has had real benefits – for myself, and the people I work with(!). It’s times like this, when work is particularly busy and life is especially energy-sapping, that the importance of getting time outside every day is made even more obvious. The outdoors really does work wonders!
Wet and Windy Birthday Walk
The weather at the start of the month certainly didn’t help with the challenge – we had two named storms roll through in quick succession (so much so I put a One Hour Outside disclaimer on Instagram!), and my lunch time errands were more often than not run holding an umbrella over my head. So, when it got to my birthday near the halfway mark of the month, and it was once again wet and windy, I decided it was about time I just got on with it.
I guess if I can’t wrap up in head-to-toe waterproofs on my birthday and go for a stompy walk up on Cleeve Hill, when can I? And if I’m honest, part of me loves it up there even more when the weather is poor – the Cotswolds has a real wild and rugged charm to it in the rain. If you’ve been following my outdoor antics for any length of time, you’ll know that being somewhere that feels wild and rugged brings me a weird sense of joy – I do like hunting out that wildness when I can.
And in the words of a friend who messaged me that morning… “I knew you’d be out on your birthday, whatever the weather.” Absolutely yes, I rather like that I have that reputation. Even if being out wasn’t out doing an impressive-sounding adventure, I honestly had a grand old time in the blustery Cotswolds.
Discovering Fairy Rings
One of the things I noted in my Bucket List Reset post back in early 2023, was that this year I wanted to go on more short walks with friends. I did just that in mid-November, when I met Katy and her dog Jip for a Sunday afternoon wander. It was on this walk we discovered the Fairy Rings I spoke about in my recent Currently Loving post.
I already knew there were a lot of mushrooms on Cleeve Hill, but this was the first time I’d noticed that they grow in rings. Massive circles, several feet across, all over the Common. Clearly we got to googling, and discovered the Fairy Ring phenomenon, and I am completely fascinated.
The internet taught me that these (almost) perfectly formed rings are caused by an individual fungus growing underground – a sneaky subterranean network of fine, tubular threads called hyphae, which grow out evenly in all directions, creating a circular mat of underground threads. Fairy rings like these can spread from a few inches to many feet across. And they really did – some of the rings were twenty or thirty feet in diameter.
The best bit is that rings of mushrooms like these have plenty of folklore attached to them. Of course they do! In some traditions, fairy rings are good luck, and in others they’re bad luck… thankfully I think we are in a ‘neutral luck’ zone here in the Cotswolds, or maybe that was because we chose to walk around the rings rather than across the middle – it didn’t seem right somehow!
Look Behind You
Here’s your reminder to turn around and look behind you sometimes – even when you’re not out for long.
On that same walk with Katy, the light in front of us suddenly turned a beautiful golden colour, casting long shadows over everything. Turning around, we saw this beautiful rainbow lit up across the sky. The clouds behind it were very dark and ominous looking; we managed to get away with just a bit of drizzle, rather than full on rain – I can only imagine how heavy the rain was for those under that rainbow!
It stuck around long enough for us to climb back out of the valley and on top of the hill, and get a few snaps from a lovely vantage point overlooking the valley. It’s fair to say we’ve both seen more impressive rainbows before, but there was something about this one which was vert right-place-right time. And I really love the behind the scenes shot Katy got of me with it, too.
Getting Jobs Done
Some days, especially when my working day is busy, the only way to get One Hour Outside is to combine running errands with getting outside, or when all else fails, going outside for a walk around the block. And let’s face it, the vast majority of my time outside in November was spent doing one of these two activities.
I actually love using running errands as an opportunity to get outside. When I’m working in the office, I can use my lunch break to get one or two in-town jobs done and have a brisk walk at the same time. On working from home days, I line up trips to the post office or grocers as my must-get-outside time. Having errands to run is the perfect excuse – I’d go as far as saying they make it much easier to get out in the middle of the working day than it might otherwise be.
Round and Round the Block
Errands aside, one of my favourite ways to spend One Hour Outside during the week is to go on a wandering lunchtime walk from my front door. I’m very fortunate that I can reach something akin to the countryside without straying too far from home, so when I do manage to take an hour in the middle of the day without any jobs to do, I can get some real fresh air and reasonably large views.
I’ve even got a choice of routes, and a choice of lengths, so I can rotate different loops depending on how my mood (and available time) take me. I can also choose to stick to pavements when the weather is particularly wet and muddy, as it often was in November, although I’m quite poor at making those good decisions so did often end up arriving home an hour later covered in mud and needing to change! It’s just nice not having to do the same one or two routes every day.
And when I’m working in the office or somewhere else, I use my lunch hour as an opportunity to explore the area around me.
Terrex Free Hiker
Speaking of getting muddy… lets’ talk shoes. I guess it wouldn’t be a Splodz Blogz outdoor roundup without including a bit of a gear review, and I want to use this opportunity to give a mention to the adidas Terrex Free Hikers I’ve been wearing for most of my One Hour Outside activities for the last three months or so.
Released this summer (seems a very long time ago), these are the adidas Terrex Free Hiker 2.0 Low Gore-Tex hiking shoes, and they are a brilliant every day trainer. I received a pair thanks to my year-long collaboration with adidas (for which I wrote posts like this one on stretching), and they’ve really proved their worth and have easily slotted in as a firm favourite.
The marketing blurb tells me the Free Hikers are designed for everything from quick hikes to multi-day treks. The designers have paired the lightweight feel of a trail runner with the stability of a hiking boot – with the added benefit of being waterproof. And I can see all those things at play.
Trainers Made for One Hour Outside
These shoes are easily as comfortable as any trainers I’ve had (I’m wearing my usual size), and very quickly became the pair that’s sat by the front door ready for me to slip on for my daily One Hour Outside antics. The toe box is nice and wide giving me lots of room to wiggle my toes, the structural elements around the heel and through the sole mean I keep a stable stride when moving quickly, and the Boost midsole does a great job of turning my input into movement – bouncy without feeling spongey.
I’m not going to suggest I wore these for every One Hour Outsides walk since I got these, and I’ve not had the pleasure of heading out on any long-distance hikes since doing the Cotswold Way and Cumbria Way earlier in the year (shame!), but I’ve given these trainers a very decent going over in recent weeks and especially over the last month.
As a pair of technical hiking trainers, I’m impressed. I like them. They feel nice on, and these could well be the trail shoes that make me seriously consider whether I need boots the next time I go on a long-distance hike. Maybe. We’ll see. I at least intend to get an awful lot more wear out of them over the coming weeks and months.
The Outside is for December, Too
I’m rather hoping that the underlying message received when you’re reading this post is much less about the fun outdoor activities I did – or didn’t – do during my One Hour Outside Challenge in November 2023. Rather, that the outdoors is for every day. Every single day. Even if all you have time for is a brisk walk to the local shop to pick up a potato to go with dinner.
Given the festive nature of December, we are blessed with lots of opportunities for different kinds of One Hour Outsides for the taking. Christmas light trails, markets, carol singing, special events, wintery walks, and more. At least the weekends can be filled with interesting ways to spend a little bit of time outside.
Christmas Lights and Markets
On Friday I had what has become an annual trip to a light trail local to home. For the last few years we’ve been to Cotswold Farm Park (which is a great trail complete with opportunity to pet animals), but this year decided to change things up and head to Sudeley Castle for their Wizard of Oz themed Spectacle of Light.
It was so pretty, with brightly coloured nods to this famous story including the yellow brick road, Emerald City, and even the poppies and winged monkeys. The live actors playing the story’s main characters added something extra, too – although we missed the good witch!
We only spent around an hour following the light-filled trail (these trails are an expensive way to spend #OneHourOutside), but it was really lovely. A nice way to make the most of a dark and wintery evening. Even if it was incredibly cold!
And then on Saturday we headed to Bath for a mooch around the famous Bath Christmas Market, said to be one of the best in the UK. It was a really lovely day out wandering around the market stalls, eating food, buying gifts, and enjoying the (very cold) Christmassy backdrop. Admittedly, we shared our wandering with thousands of other people (I don’t really like crowds!), but it wasn’t too bad – we’d left before it got dark which is when I imagine it really picks up.
Unlike some markets where you enter a fence-off market zone, the market at Bath is spread all over the city centre, which I liked. It was predominantly small traders selling one or two things, and I definitely came away with a little wish list of things to look up online.
Keep Getting Outside
I hope this post has encouraged you to spend a little bit of time outside every day over the coming week, month, and dare I suggest it, throughout 2024. Get out, breathe in the fresh air, soak up the natural light, and use the outdoors as a place to move your body and clear your head.
If it’s the challenge element of One Hour Outside you like, you may like the other annual challenge I organise. My One Hour Outside Daily Photo Challenge is a daily prompt to get you outside and looking at the world a little bit differently each day in February. Keep an eye on Splodz Blogz as I’ll be launching my 2024 challenge – which will have 29 prompts for you as it’s a leap year – in late January. If you want to know when that post goes live, stick your email address in the subscribe box over on the right.
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