City Escape Collection

Last night, I sat down and mapped out my next adventure. A walking route. Nothing extreme—about 80 kilometers over five days. I made it deliberately gentle. This isn’t about pushing my physical limits. It’s not about endurance.

It’s about something else.

A different kind of challenge.

A mental one.

The real test isn’t the walking—it’s the sleeping outside.

Camping on my own. Sitting with silence. Learning how to feel safe in the unfamiliar.

It’s step one of something I’ve quietly been dreaming about for a while now: being able to camp in the wild, alone, comfortably. But I know I’m not there yet. This is about building familiarity. Confidence. Little by little.

So I’ve planned it carefully:

Night one in a campsite Night two in a hostel or hotel (a little comfort break) Night three back to camping Night four in another hotel And then the fifth day, I finish in Gien, before heading to Nevers to rest and reflect.

And the more I plan it, the more excited I feel.

At first, I caught myself thinking: “It’s not long enough… some days I’m only walking 10 or 12 kilometers…”

But then I realised—that’s exactly the point. This isn’t a race. This is an exercise in slow travel. In slowing down on purpose.

It’s a chance to notice.

To observe.

To let myself have days where there’s nothing scheduled beyond walking, sitting, looking, maybe visiting a place along the way, maybe having a conversation with a stranger.

And that’s the bigger dream behind this: that this small trip becomes the seed of something bigger. Maybe, if it feels right, it grows into something much longer. Maybe one day… walking from London all the way to Santiago. The Saint James Way. A proper pilgrimage.

But for now, this is step one.

A small, slow adventure.

A practice in being outside, being alone, and being okay with that.

And honestly—I can’t wait.