My wife is a strict vegetarian and therefore so am I. I do eat meat when we are out visiting and use cafes and restaurants but when I am at home then I am happy to eat vegetarian food. It’s always delicious and cooked and served with love. The reason I stared this blog with such personal information is that the other morning coming in from my daily bathe in our river.

I walked into the house for breakfast and said to my wife, “I would love a bacon sandwich” Her response was to laugh and point to a dog treat that she had just prepared for our young Labrador that consisted of a hollow bone stuffed with pieces of dried meat that had the smell of bacon. As I had walked into the kitchen I had subliminally picked up that smell without realising it. Our animal nature is still there and influencing us.

Just recently I had a similar experience. I had been on Skye for a couple of days working and rather than take the short ferry crossing from Armadale to Mallaig which cuts about 90 miles off the journey I decided to drive round via the Skye bridge to Kyle of Lochalsh, Fort William and Glen Finnan. It was a warm day and the air conditioning unit in the van does not work and so as I turned west on the single track road that runs past my house and out to the Point of Ardnamurchan I opened my window and noticed a change in my tiredness. After a couple of miles I realised that I was aware of this amazing scent of greenness in the air. The shores of Loch Sunart is home to one of the few areas left of temperate rain forest in the UK and I had picked up on this, the terpenes in the air had stared to rejuvenate me..Becoming aware of senses we rarely use is true rewilding.