Leading in Nature

This is great opportunity - Kath is a legend!

I’M GIVING AWAY A FREE PLACE ON MY FIRST AID COURSE!

Every now and then it feels good to give something back… so I’ve decided to give away ONE FREE PLACE on my One Day Basic First Aid Course, worth £115.

I’m looking for someone who is genuinely deserving of the opportunity.

Maybe you’re someone who:
🙌 Volunteers your time to help others
🐕 Does good things in your community
❤️ Regularly puts other people before yourself
🌱 Gives your time to a worthwhile cause
💼 Or perhaps you’re looking for work and having a first aid qualification could give your CV a much-needed boost.

This is a practical, hands-on day designed to give you the skills and confidence to help when something goes wrong — because knowing what to do in those first few minutes can make a huge difference.

📅 Tuesday 15th September OR Wednesday 16th September
📍 Llanberis
💷 FREE — normally £115

To nominate yourself (or someone else), drop me a private message and tell me in a few words why you think this place should be yours. I’ll choose someone who I feel would genuinely benefit from the opportunity.

And please share this post — the person who needs this opportunity might not have found Active First Aid yet.

Sometimes giving someone the skills to help another person is one of the best gifts you can give.

Some active R&R yesterday thanks to an unexpected opportunity to ascend the Cneifion Arete as a mock MCI client. A perfect afternoon - sunshine, a mild breeze, a kestrel hovering below us 💚

It was my first time doing a Grade 3 roped scramble and I loved every moment, except the moment I got my foot stuck in a crack. Managed to extricate myself tho 😅

Thank you Rob Rob Morris and David WalkThis.Land for a splendid time 😍

Helloooo!!! You probably haven't been wondering where I disappeared to, have you? Never fear, I'm going to tell you anyway 😂

I'm just back from a full month of lazing around, being completely off the socials, walking bits of the Slate Trail, reading fiction, and tending my tomatoes. But that's not the whole story.

The last few years have been busy ones for me; growing Leading in Nature, doing my part-time day job, learning lots of new things, and - frankly - DOING WAY TOO MUCH. So as much as I'd like to pretend that I just had a lush month off, the truth is that I spent much of the past month feeling too exhausted for words. I curled into the sofa despite the beautiful weather, was vastly antisocial, ate too much chocolate, and felt rather sorry for myself. Do we have a word for this? Yes, we do. Burnout.

Am I alone in having had burnout? Definitely not. Many sole traders, small business owners and outdoor professionals hit the skids at some point or the other. It has made me think a lot about what self-care really means, and how to live it rather than just talk about it.

If you know me, you know that I don't generally do "warts and all" social media posts. They're outside of my comfort zone. But I feel it's important that we talk about this as outdoor leaders. We're trained to take care of ourselves and others physically, but where does that leave us emotionally, mentally and spiritually?

I open the field to discussion: Please comment and share your experience, if you feel safe doing so. And watch this space - I feel a new workshop on self-care brewing 😅

Do you know Glan Faenol? It's a peaceful little oasis of swaying grasses and woodland walks, with some lovely benches and a beautiful carved gate. It was a joy to explore it 💚

I was awestruck by the wind playing in the meadow, it was like watching waves ripple across a lake, only more beautiful 💨

A different kind of adventure yesterday learning how to build and maintain crawiau, the gorgeous slate fencing that's so traditional here in the Ogwen Valley (Dyffryn Ogwen) where I live.

Celyn and Bryn at Kehoe Countryside Ltd were awesome teachers, showing us how these fences have traditionally been built for hundreds of years. By lovely coincidence, when my 81-year-old neighbour Dafydd saw the photos he told me all about his time building these as a young man working on a nearby farm, and the process he described is exactly what we learned from Celyn and Bryn. There's a magic in learning the old ways ✨✨

Crawiau built in the traditional way will last a good 100-150 years. Such a fence is strong enough to stop cattle pushing it over thanks to the "feet" laid horizontally in the trench, which are supported by stones. The jagged tops stop sheep jumping, and the four finger-width spacing stops lambs putting their heads through and then getting stuck. Ingenious!

I also loved making the knots using a replica of the wire twisting tool that's been in Celyn's family for generations. This tool is just right for the job, and apparently unique to the family. You can sort of see it in the third photo.

What made the day even more amazing was to work in a team with Sean from SG History in the Hills, whose history walks I highly recommend, and Daniel of Retracing Footsteps, who I've been following on socials for a while. Also great to reconnect with Julia who I know from Caru Eryri volunteer litter pics. It's a small world - byd bach ❤️

Do you live in Eryri? Wyt ti'n byw yn Eryri? Are you free next Tuesday to help researchers at the University of Bangor? Details below. Photo of Carneddau ponies just because ❤️🧡💛

PROJECT DETAILS
Join us Tuesday 21 July at Memorial Hall, Betws-y-Coed for an interactive workshop to discuss what you value about Eryri and how your local area impacts your wellbeing. Sessions run 2-4 pm or 6-8 pm. Register, participate and receive £20 voucher. You need to register your interest by Friday 17 July.
https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/Xe1GbmGnkp

The project seeks to explore the interconnections that exist between our cultural history, our identities and our well-being within the Eryri National Park. The landscape, long viewed as one of rugged beauty, is both a working landscape and playground for visitors, but what of the communities who live and breathe this region, what of their lived and relational experiences of and to the park. Our research is taking a place-based approach to understand rural cohesion, attachment (including heritage), and well-being across the whole park.

Bydd un sesiwn yng Ngymraeg. Cofrestru yma:
https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/Xe1GbmGnkp

Thanks pawb!

In his book, Tir: A History of the Welsh Landscape, Carwyn Graves talks about the Welsh word cynefin. He explains that cynefin has three interlinked meanings:
- habitat
- an area of a hillside/mountain that sheep heft to
- a person's home territory, their "stomping grounds"

In so many words then, cynefin brings together the concept of the ecological niche (wild belonging), domesticated animals' home range (domesticated animals belonging) and the human niche or nest (a deeply rooted sense of human belonging). I just love that 💚

The first photo is from last year's Up On the Farm day run by Mike Raine: Notes from the Hill. This photo shows the farm's stone-built cynefin, literally the place where by tradition grandfather and grandson took the sheep to the hefting area, and then rounded them up and penned them in for the night to build the association. Lovely working sheepdog in photo as added bonus As Mike always says, when we live and work in a landscape, it's important to understand its human and ecological history.

Also, isn't that a just handsome sheepdog? 😍

When was the last time you played outside like you did as a child? Join me and Dr David Fong for a light-hearted morning of exploration, imagination, and general messing about. We might build castles and fairy trails, make little boats to send down a stream, or share a few laughs and tales about what we've built. But no matter what, we'll definitely have a fun, relaxing, and carefree time 🤩

BOOK NOW: Link in comments 👇

This event is just one of the many awesome workshops at Furey Festival 2026. The cost associated with this session is a donation, 100% of which will go to the Tom Furey Memorial Trust. The Tom Furey Memorial Trust, established in memory of local legend Tom Furey, is a registered charity that supports education and training in mountaineering activities for those experiencing financial hardship.
Financial support. What's more, every workshop at Furey Festival will have one space available FREE OF CHARGE for those experiencing financial difficulties.