29 July 2025
Walking (and sniffing) some country lanes in SW Scotland
What do you think about when you’re walking? I think most of us have tendency to ruminate. Mulling over a problem at work, or a disagreement with a loved one.
I wonder if you’ve ever tried being curious about what the air smells like when you’re outside?
Obviously, depending on where you live, things will smell very different. Even more specifically, the scents I detect when I open my front door are different from those if I open my back door.
If you live in a town or city, you might experience a very rich smellscape, though it’ll be different from one in my local country lanes. There’s no better or worse here. It’s about what you have access to.
But thinking about what you can smell while you stroll is a brilliant way to quieten the chatter in our busy brains. Give yourself a wee bit of respite.
And, as seasons shift, smells change too. So the same walk you take in July will have different scents in December. It’s a lovely way to tune into seasonal variations.
So, what did my walk along the country lanes smell like yesterday?
Richly soapy meadowsweet. The sharp and fruity tang of a fresh cowpat. Headily spicy honeysuckle. A sharp dash from a squashed early blackberry, not quite ripe. Thick, almost syrupy freshly cut grass for forage.
What does it smell like where you live?