The title of this blog came to mind as I uploaded the pictures from the walk I took in Carluke last week. I knew I hadn't invented it, so had to do some research (a time honoured procrastination technique so much easier to perfect in the internet age) and skimming over the first result I was surprised to discover it was taken from a Marcel Proust TED talk. On a more careful evaluation it was something that author Pico Iyer said about the Proust quote, and the quote itself - "The real voyage of discovery…consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes" - is actually a summary of a much longer piece which culminates in an exhortation to see the world through someone else's eyes or the eyes of many other people, indeed to see the many different worlds each of us contain. Thinking about it more, I realised the phrase is currently in my head from reading about The Work that Reconnects (of which more here); it is the third of four prompts and is there to encourage a different perspective as a precursor to the final stage of taking action.
Anyway, that was a lengthy introduction to a new piece of work that we've been collaborating on and as a result of it last week I saw Carluke with new eyes. As part of our South Lanarkshire Smarter Choices Smarter Places funding from Paths for All, we've got lots of plans in Carluke, which kicked off during the summer term working with Wellriggs Ecology and some of the kids that make up the Carluke High School Forest School group. Usually this group gets out into a local greenspace to do a range of forest school activities such as shelter building, exploring, camp fires and cooking, as well as having the opportunity to learn more about the natural world. Our project offered a further opportunity to continue with some outdoor learning through planning some walks for the Go Jauntly app in and around Carluke, as well as the chance to contribute to our wider aims of discovering the issues with and improving the connectivity of walking and cycling routes in the town. The group researched and planned three new walks in Carluke and uploaded them onto the app with pictures and all kinds of interesting information about things to spot along the way. The added bonus for the pupils is that the work they did for the routes, the planning and implementation of the walks will help as gathered evidence for the award of credits at Nat 4 level for Forestry and Outdoor Learning.
I often go to Carluke for work purposes; I've taken part in various projects at Jock's Burn and the Tile Works Local Nature Reserve; Carluke Development Trust are great supporters of the wider green health work. A particularly memorable moment was doing the slosh with them in the sunshine during Green Health Week 2023. Despite finally knowing my way around the town, I didn't really know how things related to each other geographically and so, with a free lunch hour between meetings, I decided to try out one of the new walks. Conveniently, I was parked in the Tesco car park for lunch purchasing purposes, the starting point for one of the routes and thus was ready to begin. I'd reviewed the walks from a work perspective but it's always different to walk a route in real life. The beauty of Go Jauntly is that because each walk is based around pictures, you never worry for long about whether you've gone wrong. You are quite literally seeing through someone else's eyes with their photos - what did they particularly notice about the route that you might have missed? What kind of weather did they have? What season were they walking in? How are things different now? It has been a wet few weeks here, as evidenced by some of the puddles in their pictures, but when I reached the highest point on the route, looking out over fields, I had sun and blue skies. By the time I reached the woods it was lashing but by then I was sheltered by the trees and the sound of the raindrops on the leaves was comforting. Not so, the squeaking trees as they thrashed about in the sudden winds just before the rain hit. I think my favourite prompt on this walk was the green bench hidden in the bushes, but I also enjoyed having my attention drawn to the small copse of trees just off Lanark Road planted by the Scouts for the Jubilee as well as the young trees planted last year by Carluke High School pupils in the nature reserve. I spotted oak and rowan. As I headed off the path, as directed, I no longer knew where I was going, but I trusted the route and everything went according to plan. Suddenly I found myself back on Lanark Road just along from where I had started. I know plenty of people set off on much grander adventures and achieve loftier heights but I felt my day had been a successful one.
I've reviewed, but not walked, the other new routes, and will be sure to try them out on future visits. A direction I followed this time was a sign to the General Roy Monument and one of the other walks takes you to the actual monument. I love the irony of the fact that a memorial to the person whose work lead to the creation of the Ordnance Survey can be visited on a walk using an app that requires no map reading knowledge at all. There is something for cartophiles and cartophobes alike here!
Future developments of this work will include a collaboration with Community Action Lanarkshire for a Make Your Way Carluke project. Find out more about these projects here. If you're a resident of Carluke there will be plenty of opportunity to get involved, so keep your eyes peeled for more information on the OneCAN facebook page but do pencil in Wednesday 21st August as a time to pop down to One Space and find out what we're up to! If you don't currently have the Go Jauntly app then please do download it. There are an increasing number of walks available across the whole of Lanarkshire, not just Carluke, whether you want an outdoor adventure or a slow stroll round the block. If you have ideas for walks you can upload them yourself, it's pretty easy, or we're happy to come out and help too. Talking of slow strolls, there are a number of new ParkBathe sessions up on Eventbrite ready for booking, if you'd like to take some time outside to destress and connect with nature. These are not walks in the traditional sense, more an outdoor mindfulness activity and we'd love for you to join us. If you are part of a group and would like us to run a session just for you, get in touch and we'll try to make it happen. Let's get Lanarkshire more nature connected!
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