Breaking away from the daily (stressful) routine—I guess Tsadiktus and I are just lucky to have some spare time (at least we try to find some extra time) on weekends to do the things we love to do, like hiking and photography (ehem!). If we’re still auditors based in the Philippines, I don’t think we could do this especially at this time of the year.

We need this once in a while (and when I say “once in a while”, I mean at least after every busy week!)—to de-stress and to reconnect with the outside world and be in direct contact with nature. The week before this hike was way too stressful and energy-draining; I guess everyone would agree that we deserve this break for having to die every single working day. So no matter how unpredictable the English weather got, we went outside and had a quick hike at the Devil’s Dyke.

When the mountains sang, we listened to their voices, and then sang with them in synchronization.

“Go outside. Don’t tell anyone and don’t bring your phone. Start walking and keep walking until you no longer know the road like the palm of your hand, because we walk the same roads day in and day out, to the bus and back home and we cease to see. We walk in our sleep and teach our muscles to work without thinking and I dare you to walk where you have not yet walked and I dare you to notice. Don’t try to get anything out of it, because you won’t. Don’t try to make use of it, because you can’t. And that’s the point. Just walk, see, sit down if you like. And be. Just be, whatever you are with whatever you have, and realise that that is enough to be happy. There’s a whole world out there, right outside your window. You’d be a fool to miss it.” ― Charlotte Eriksson

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Photo credits: Tsadiktus
Date of Hike: 5 April 2014
Location: Devil’s Dyke, the longest, deepest and widest ‘dry valley’ in the UK – 5 miles north of Brighton
How to get there: From London – take a train to Brighton. From Brighton station, take a bus (no. 77) to get to Devil’s Dyke.