Trail: Finding your peace

Photo: Suilven, Scotland by Paul Hermans

Finding an excuse to stay indoors is easy, especially today as I write and outside it is sub-zero. But, the joy of getting out of the house, into the countryside and onto the hills is wonderful. It beats the stifling feeling you get when you stay in and watch something terrible on TV.

That's why when I saw this video 'The Trail Runner' I felt the urge to get planning more adventures this year. In it, the trail runner, Tom Hill, sets off from 'civilisation' in just his trail running shoes and clothes. He heads off to Suilven Mountain in the north west of the Highlands of Scotland.​

​Breathless along the trail

The videography is breathtaking. You follow Tom along roads, tracks and knife-edge trails up to and over the mountain. Tom runs at a pace which is enough to make you feel breathless. You see him running along a rocky trail through forests, over ridges and down hills.

The music sets the mood for the video. As Tom reaches a ridge on the trail and the drone rises above him to open up a view across the Scottish landscape. But, Tom's pace never lets up as he covers what looks like a long route over Suilven.

​The freedom of the trail

The Trail Runner video, above, all feels like it reaches into your mind and says 'What are you doing there? Get out onto the mountains!'. The freedom of the trail and the emptiness is what I find so appealing. No traffic jams, no social media hassling you to respond, no distractions.  Just the peace of the wilderness.

As much as I like following adventurers online, it’s still no replacement for doing your own thing. The feeling of release you get when finally get away from the crowds.

Kit Used to make the video

Drone: DJI Inspire 1 quadcopter​
Cameras: ​Canon 5d mkiii, Canon 7d, Panasonic GH4
Gimbal Rig: Freeflysystems Movi M5

Walk two hundred metres from any car park in a National Park and the number of people you see decreases by about 75%. Get another mile away from where you parked and you hardly see a person all day.

Tom Hill’s trail run encapsulates the freedom of being out in the hills. Although he has a cameraman and drone pilot with him, Tom looks like he is the only person in the Highlands for miles.

​The trail and that moment

​There comes a moment on each walk on a trail when I find my peace. It’s usually when I’ve reached the top of a hill or mountain, and I am off the main trail. I open my backpack, take out a flask of tea (it always tasted stewed by then!) and sit down out of the wind.

Just then is when I get an overwhelming sense of peacefulness. That’s the power of the trail. Nothing to worry about, lots to see and the feeling of peace that I don’t get anywhere else.

Watch Tom’s video below and sign up for my newsletter here to get more adventures in your inbox.