I have a theory that we’ve let ourselves disconnect as a species and it’s a pity because we’re sensory creatures. We have a fine array of senses that for the most part we hardly use or even try to avoid.
When the Perfect Rucksack expedition team are out canoeing in the wilds of Canada we wait a respectable time until we’re well away from human eyes (we’re modest folks) and as soon as possible we strip naked and get in the water!
I love swimming in wild water, removing the barrier that usually separates me from nature and getting fully immersed in it, it connects me. I love to get as close as I can to the Earth, to feel it on my skin, to smell it and to hear the sounds of nature undisturbed by noise, just one of the many reasons I love Algonquin in Ontario.
The PerfectRucksack Canadian expedition team playing in the cool waters of Algonquin.
Photo credit: Jasper Kemp (Olympus Trip)
But it’s not really necessary to canoe into the wilderness for 4 days to reconnect, it’s as simple as taking your shoes off. I like to walk barefoot, it’s wonderful in many ways, it physically connects you to your surroundings, it makes you walk more naturally and more carefully, it enables you to walk by feeling your way without having to look down, you’ll see more birds and animals because you’ll be looking up and you’ll be walking much more quietly, you’ll be walking like a native.
When we’re wearing heavy walking boots we walk very differently, we continually fall forwards on to each step rather than placing each foot with care, there are many creatures that can hear and feel that footfall from a long way away. When we arrive in the car park in our lovely air-conditioned or heated car we park up, climb out of our climate controlled cocoon, breathe in the fragrant air and feel free. If you then take off your shoes - you do it all over again at a different level!
If you’ve kept your delicate tootsies wrapped up for a long time then it’ll take a little while for you to get used to it but it doesn’t take long and soon you’ll be able to walk on any surface with bare feet. I’ve walked for an hour or more with frost on the ground before I’ve started to lose the feeling in my toes.
As with all things Perfect Rucksack there’s the Tarzan / Action Man dichotomy, I have some excellent mountain boots and I use them on mountains! They’ll soon come off if I find a cool lake to paddle in though!
I also love barefoot shoes like Vivobarefoot or Vibram Fivefingers, (although I can’t wear Fivefingers myself - as you can see from the photo above I have an evolutionary adaption that helps me to walk in the soft estuarial mud os East Anglia - some of my toes are webbed!) they are a brilliant compromise if the ground is very hard, cold, hot or sharp. They’ll enable you to walk in pretty much the same way as you would barefoot and they’ll protect you from thorns and the like, they’re good for running too.
There’s still a separation though, walking proper barefoot enables a sort of communication with the Earth, it helps you feel what’s around you (and for the more esoterically minded it lets the Earth feel you too). Wearing shoes is like walking around with your fingers in your ears, it’s good to take them out occasionally and let the mud ooze through your toes!
Jonny