The Great Outdoors

DIVE INTO THE GREAT OUTDOORS

“Make the most of the waterside; sit back, kick off your shoes, breathe deeply and take the time to look around; allow yourself to be healed and inspired”

) During a year of lockdowns, the outdoors has become a new haven for many people. Denied what are, for many in our LGBTQ+ community, the natural social hubs of bars, clubs and restaurants, refuge instead has been sought in the companionship afforded by being allowed to meet friends and relatives outside in the sunshine.

Of course, even that has been banned since Christmas, despite the prime minister assuring everyone last September that everything would probably be back to normal by the festive season. So when we set this magazine’s themes for the coming year, we were labouring under the impression that we would all be enjoying at least some freedom to roam in the elements.

Obviously, we were mistaken, although strangely the ‘great outdoors’ has actually taken on more resonance in recent weeks, that window of time afforded to exercise the only escape many currently have from their own four walls.

And maybe an upside to this has been the inventive ways people have found to make the most of that time outside. New hobbies have been discovered – the first lockdown reportedly led to record sales of paddle boards, surf boards and kayaks as people sought the tranquillity of riverways or the thrills of the ocean, while on dry land skateboarding too saw an unprecedented boom. Wild swimming has become a thing, as has sea swimming – evidenced by the hoards of dry robe-wearing (please don’t let that become a fashion…) bathers on Brighton beach. Then there have been those who have discovered birdwatching, either by design or luck – the latter contributed to in no small part locally by the sweeping starling murmurations that accompany winter sunsets between the piers – fungi-foraging, stargazing, frisbee… the list goes on. But the fact is our outdoors freedom is still severely curtailed and will remain so for some weeks with restrictions put in place to help check the spread of coronavirus not being fully lifted until June 21 at the earliest. So those pursuits that can be accomplished solo are likely to remain our only respite from the crushing monotony of being stuck in the same place for months on end.

While there is some light at the end of the tunnel for those who play basketball, tennis and golf, many of the team sports enjoyed by vast swathes of the community look set to remain off-limits at least until May, but in the following pages we have some tips from the experts on keeping up team morale and how to continue ‘outdoor’ pursuits in other ways. We also look at how to enhance the solo walking or running experience, offer some suggestions of things to look forward to and generally bring the great outdoors to the pages of this magazine.

“We can all benefit from some of the healthgiving properties of water to swim in, jump in, splash our friends with or sit beside and reflect on life”