Like Mr Kipling, Mr Stanley makes exceedingly good confectionery, and his walking sticks are just such a favourite of ours. Even if you haven’t got a box of these minty delights close to hand, we have got something for you curl up to listen to, and dream about the Spring and sunshine soon to come.

Bibi Calderaro

Bibi Calderaro is a ‘forest therapy’ expert who leads people on sensory walks along woodland trails in a north eastern USA, and we had the privilege of chatting to her over the Internet and recording our latest Talking Walking episode.  Like us, you are probably wondering what a forest therapist actually does, and there appears to be a lot more to it that just a walk in the woods. She discusses what are the key elements that she includes in her sensory walks, that tackle the urban maladies of stress and anxiety, and the reaction of participants to them. Such has been the demand for her walks, she has been recommissioned to devise more. Our conversation also explores ‘shinrin-yoku’ the Japanese healing practice of ‘forest bathing’, that as an accredited forest therapist, Bibi has been incorporating in her practice. Bibi is also an artist-in-residence for the US National Park Service, which sounds like an absolute gem of an experience. Have a listen

Bibi’s sensory walks are not dissimilar to the Museum of Walking‘s Sense Safaris, so it was interesting to find out more from Bibi about how her walks have been received.   We have also been doing some ‘forest therapy’ of our own through our Mindfulness through Movement walkshops that have been devised by Mel Sutton.  Mindfulness is proving popular, and Mel has just been running Mindfulness walkshops with elderly participants with slight dementia, commissioned by the Dulwich Picture Gallery – next month she is also running yoga sessions there too.

It’s Talking Walking’s tenth anniversary and we’ve had the pleasure of delving through the archive and getting in touch with all the fabulous people we’ve interviewed – all of whom share our passion for walking.  Hamish Fulton  has provided some fabulous new artwork for his Talking Walking page, that tells you what he’s been up to since our conversation took place. Have a listen

Like many events this week, we have had to postpone Tom Bolton’s London’s Loss walkshop in which he will be revealing the Lost Rivers of Camden but the great news is that on its new date, more of it will be in daylight – why not join him on Wednesday 28 March Book now

Our Urban Forest Explorations with Paul Wood stride into Spring, with our first visit to a west London neighbourhood on Sunday 18 March.  Starting Turnham Green tube station we will be making our way through Chiswick, joined by campaigners from the London National Park City and Abundance London.

The following week, we are celebrating ‘Hanami‘ – the coming of the cherry blossom, which is celebrated in Japan and increasingly in other parts of the world too. Come and join us as we explore first Herne Hill on Sunday 25 March and then Crouch End on Sunday 8th April

We have linked up with the International Cherry Blossom Festival in Vancouver, who have generously sent us this delightful photo by Clarence Chan.

Thanks for reading, and we hope to see you on a walk in the not too distant future.

All about walking blog posting is unpredictable – if it’s raining biblical downpours then a blog post is more likely to appear, in most other weather conditions we are out walking and not blogging on a keyboard…..