A Single Map - the Final Episode

Interactive Transcript

spk_0 6 months later. As I made the final edits to this book, there was one more ride I wanted

spk_0 to do before letting go of it. I decided to cycle through every square of my map in a single,

spk_0 unbroken journey. Starting in the middle and circling outwards through all 400 grid squares,

spk_0 appealed to my old instinct to spiral away, faster and faster, until sling-shotting beyond

spk_0 the gravitational pull of home and blasting out into the world. But I decided instead to begin

spk_0 on the maps out of fringes and to circle inwards until I arrived home, or more precisely reached

spk_0 the pub. It fitted better with my search for somewhere to belong and was a dive towards the heart

spk_0 of things. The route I plotted through every grid square was 300 miles long, climbed 5,800 meters,

spk_0 and looked utterly ridiculous like a plate of wiggly spaghetti. I transcribed it from my paper map

spk_0 into a digital navigation app, ride with GPS, to save me having to check the map at every junction.

spk_0 Two-thirds of the route was on paved roads, the rest was byways, footpaths, and the odd spot of

spk_0 gentle trespassing. I didn't know where I would eat or sleep, but I was confident those details

spk_0 would work themselves out over the next four days. It was time for 300 miles of adventure on a

spk_0 20km map. Yes, I think in miles when I'm cycling even on a metric map. I felt the old

spk_0 combination of joy and nerves as I ate a large breakfast, squeezed a last minute extra warm

spk_0 top into my pack, and hit the road. Spring was on its way as I peddled through familiar grid squares

spk_0 towards the edge of my map. The roads lined with black thorn blossom and the first blush of

spk_0 Hawthorn leaves. This was my world, my roads, my sunshine, my plastic junk floating in the river,

spk_0 my broken bottles. It was my home, and I was happy to be here.

spk_0 I crossed paths with a cyclist who was out from the city for a day ride. He drove buses for a living,

spk_0 wore designer cycling clothes, and was jealous that I was going to camp out tonight.

spk_0 Oh, I'd love to do that, but I'm too scared, he said, pointing at the bags on my bike.

spk_0 I've camped with friends, but never on my own. I need to lose my camping cherry.

spk_0 I asked why he'd ridden out this way. I like scuzzy stuff, he said. Old, broken, weird,

spk_0 forgotten. That sort of stuff, you know? Scuzzy. There's loads of it round here.

spk_0 He looked embarrassed at this odd admission, but I knew exactly how he felt.

spk_0 Me too, I said, edgelands, bus depots, graffiti, scuzzy. I love all that too.

spk_0 I certainly got my fill of scuzzy on this ride, but I also heard the first lapwings and skylocks

spk_0 of the season. And while riding the hard shoulder on an unavoidable but stressful stretch of

spk_0 dual carriageway, I spotted my first brimstone butterfly of the year, a flash of yellow,

spk_0 darting among the roadside litter. Around mid afternoon on that first day, I paused for coffee and

spk_0 rocky road cake in a posh village of black and white chewed buildings and tezlers.

spk_0 I flicked idly through the financial times weekend supplement that a previous customer had left

spk_0 behind. I was embarrassed by how knackered I already felt. All those weekly bimblings clearly

spk_0 hadn't helped my endurance. Earlier I'd rested in a rundown town that smelt of weed,

spk_0 a home office immigration enforcement van pulled up, sirens wailing, and the officers piled

spk_0 swiftly into a block of flats. I watched a street clean a sweep a cigarette, but miss,

spk_0 sweep again, miss, then shrug and walk away. My map was actually far more rural than I had realised,

spk_0 more wooded and hilly and less built up. That was a nice realisation, but it also meant I

spk_0 failed to find a village pub to eat dinner in, so I had to backtrack a few miles to a McDonald's

spk_0 in a retail park. I wild away a couple of hours there, merrily stuffing my face with delicious

spk_0 diacetyl tartaric acid ester of mono and diaglycerides, while I charged my camera batteries and

spk_0 stayed warm until it was time to sleep. I slung my hammock beneath a three quarter moon

spk_0 in a wood I'd visited earlier in the year. The night was bitterly cold, and by dawn my water bottles

spk_0 had frozen solid. I cursed at the stupidity of shivering through a long night just a few miles

spk_0 from my cozy bed. At first light I peddled quickly to the nearest petrol station to recover with

spk_0 hot, bad coffee. I resolved to detour home later for a warmer sleeping bag and a tent.

spk_0 I was weary on day two, slogging up muddy trails through woods and down slippery footpaths across

spk_0 fields. Heading through every grid square like this was making my map feel huge.

spk_0 Although I'd often felt concerned this year about the scale of new housing developments,

spk_0 this microadventure showed me there was enough space for everyone here, as well as for wildlife

spk_0 and farming. We can certainly rewile some land for nature once people are enthused to think it's

spk_0 a valuable idea. Soil can heal, and hedgerows and ponds can recover once there is demand to support

spk_0 sustainable regenerative farming. The river filled with slimy lager cans is a clear chalk stream at heart,

spk_0 home to water crow foot flowers and otters, and just waiting to revitalize as soon as the political

spk_0 will is there to get it cleaned up. This is all so achievable, making it an exciting time to be an

spk_0 engaged adult concerned with leaving the world in a better state for our children.

spk_0 Each day on my ride the tree seemed to turn a little greener. The dawn chorus woke me earlier

spk_0 each morning. Winter was on its way out. Brighter days lay ahead.

spk_0 Here we go again, my map said to me. Another season, another lap of the sun, another lap of the map,

spk_0 another chance to make the best of things and choose to bloom as brightly as you dare.

spk_0 My sinuous route wound round and round, nonsensically but pleasingly. It was astonishing how many

spk_0 new backroads and bridal ways I found, even from just whizzing straight through grid squares.

spk_0 Before this year I had focused too much on the oceans and mountains I did not have where I lived.

spk_0 But that had been replaced now by a strong sense of how much this map did have to offer.

spk_0 I was proud of how much I now knew about this area. If you join me for a ride I could show you

spk_0 around well. I passed rambling old houses with tennis courts and trampolines. The sort I will buy

spk_0 once I start writing blockbuster bestsellers rather than niche books about bicycling around business

spk_0 parks. There were decaying tower blocks with washing lines and barbed wire on the roofs and

spk_0 repeating suburban streets with everything in between. As I rode randomly through so many diverse

spk_0 lives I hoped that contentment was spread more evenly across my map than wealth or opportunity

spk_0 seemed to be. I slept well in my warm tent that night back into the groove of the cycle touring

spk_0 life I knew so well. This trip was no different from all the times I'd ridden hundreds of miles

spk_0 in other countries, apart from the need to accept that I wasn't moving very far and to be okay with

spk_0 that. There was a lot to love about riding a long way yet never being more than 10 miles from my

spk_0 fridge. I loved the detours down hidden away footpaths, hemmed in with chain-link fencing around

spk_0 railway shunting freight goods, faceless facilities management warehouses, sewage works and hedgerows

spk_0 scattered with nitrous oxide canisters. I loved the estuary with its derelict broken windows and

spk_0 its bird song and dramatic skies scudding with storm clouds, bursts of rain and rainbows.

spk_0 I loved the marshes, pylons and dilapidated wrecks of boats hauled up on muddy creeks,

spk_0 paint fading, wood peeling, full of intrigue and character. I loved the peaceful hideaways that

spk_0 few people knew about, the silent valleys and my first bluebells of the calendar year.

spk_0 I loved the wild predators who made this tame landscape their home, the foxes, the marsh

spk_0 harriers, the dragonflies and brown trout. I loved the ancient churches and gigantic trees

spk_0 standing proud from long before the industrial and agricultural revolutions and I loved knowing that

spk_0 they will still be here once we get back to living in harmony with nature and our communities again.

spk_0 And I loved that I was free to enjoy all these places on miles of public footpaths.

spk_0 I didn't much like all the keep-out signs, the locked-away lakes, the litter, the dog poo bags

spk_0 and the miles of new streets named after the meadows, birds and trees they had replaced.

spk_0 But even so, there was still plenty of space for me to watch the sunset behind a Titanic oak,

spk_0 the golden sky splintered like a shattered windscreen by the trees' thousands of crooked twigs and

spk_0 branches. As the first stars appeared, I pitched my tent in an empty wood that I shared only with

spk_0 duetting pair of tornials. My frustration at the start of this book about living in a built-up area

spk_0 felt mistargeted on this ride. It wasn't that there were no woods to explore or trails to ride here.

spk_0 My real problem was having nobody to do those things with and I hadn't solved that problem this year.

spk_0 I frequented plenty of cafes and pub gardens, delighted to squander more money on cold

spk_0 lagers and steaming americanos in four days than I had during four years of riding round the world

spk_0 on a young man's frugal budget. I savored the lone traveller's prerogative of listening in

spk_0 anonymously from the edges, overhearing cafe conversations about a long-lost brother from Australia,

spk_0 one half of a phone argument with a boyfriend, and a place to buy excellent belly pork.

spk_0 There are so many lives playing out on this small map, so many demands on the land's resources,

spk_0 so many differing priorities. My meditative looping round and round the map towards its centre

spk_0 gave me time to think about the ways our priorities differ. Not everyone will agree with the things I

spk_0 care about. But if any topics in this book do resonate with you, I urge you to tell your friends about

spk_0 them and to write your MP to engage them in the conversation. It's quick and easy to do via

spk_0 www.theyworkforu.com. Nothing major changes without sufficient people speaking up and without

spk_0 voters holding their officials to account. Ultimately it is the government who will decide whether or

spk_0 not we meet our climate targets, whether we shift swiftly to electric vehicles and effective

spk_0 public transport, whether sustainable farming is adopted seriously, whether paying public money for

spk_0 public goods will result in cleaner rivers and an increase in rewilding and conservation,

spk_0 and on how much importance is placed on helping people to spend more time exercising in the outdoors,

spk_0 with improved access and education on how to care for nature.

spk_0 Dodging broken glass down a back alley on my final morning, I came across an abandoned building

spk_0 with only the walls still standing, an old vehicle's rusting among self-seeded salo saplings.

spk_0 An elderly gentleman was walking his dog and I asked if he knew what the building had been.

spk_0 A builder's yard, I believe, he said, it's been abandoned as long as I've known it though.

spk_0 Forty odd years since I moved into the area.

spk_0 Where did you come here from? I asked. Oh, only from town, just a couple of miles, you know.

spk_0 I don't know about you, but I'm not exactly a world traveler. You must like it here to have stayed

spk_0 so long. It's alright mate, but they've built all those new homes on the old community field.

spk_0 Barry used to keep those pitches immaculate, you know. I can't believe they squashed so many houses on

spk_0 there. Sometimes I think it's time to move on. But there's all the upheaval. And it's what you

spk_0 know, right? People get used to a place. It's home, isn't it? I had peddled, pushed and carried my

spk_0 bike for four days, going round and round my map. I fixed punctures and lifted the bike over gates.

spk_0 I took selfies and wrong turns. I fell off the bike hard and stuck my middle finger up at the

spk_0 passing car taking a photo of me as I lay in pain on the pavement. I ate cakes and crisps and

spk_0 cuissons and curry. I rode through hundreds of grid squares. But in the end, I didn't manage to ride

spk_0 through every square. I had overestimated how far my unfit legs could carry me each day,

spk_0 and underestimated how much I like cafes these days. So I ran out of time before my family

spk_0 returned from a trip away. I turned for home and peddled back to them. Vaya, the mirrored of stop-offs

spk_0 in a pub garden to toast to the end of this long project. Even after a year, plus four days,

spk_0 I still hadn't covered many of my maps, roads and footpaths. There were still grid squares I

spk_0 had to label as terror incognita. But I feel content knowing they are out there waiting for me to

spk_0 explore in the years ahead. My small weekly forays had been a contrast to the bigger adventures from

spk_0 my past. Long, slow journeys through unfamiliar landscapes and cultures are an astonishing privilege,

spk_0 stuffed with lifelong lessons and perspectives. Let nothing discourage you from heaving on a

spk_0 rucksack or strapping a tent to a bike and leaving town. Go, you can't beat that feeling of being

spk_0 untethered and free. Do it if you possibly can. Those star-filled nights, huge horizons and

spk_0 strangers who will become friends. They are out there waiting for you. Your life lying before

spk_0 you like a blank page brilliantly with possibility daring you to begin. Yet Theroux, whose

spk_0 dogged enthusiasm for staying put and paying attention makes him the unofficial ambassador for this

spk_0 book, boasted that he had travelled a good deal in Concord, his small hometown in Massachusetts.

spk_0 I like that idea too. For if I were to boast in my local pub, pint in hand, I could certainly

spk_0 bore punters with memories of cycling through Albania and Zimbabwe or paddling to Barbados or

spk_0 through the Yukon. But I would now also tell them, with fair confidence that nobody else knew these

spk_0 places, about a delicious chalk stream under a motoy bridge near here, a hilltop of summer orchids

spk_0 and oregano, and a twisted oak tree six metres round and centuries old, standing dark and

spk_0 strong in fields of snow. I am proud to know these familiar little spots, for they have helped me

spk_0 learn to appreciate where I live and feel more attached to it, despite Theroux's insistence that

spk_0 a landscape can never become quite familiar to you, no matter how long you live there.

spk_0 But can a single map really be enough exploration for a lifetime?

spk_0 Pootling around one map for a year rarely felt like an adventure, I'll admit.

spk_0 But it did often feel like exploring. I enjoyed many tingles of surprise on my map of small

spk_0 wonders. I won't push your credulity in claiming it was epic, but something about the experience

spk_0 resonated with the sliver of my soul that once always to look beyond the horizon.

spk_0 My weekly meandering did a decent job of keeping a lid on that restlessness.

spk_0 So much so, in fact, that I feel something akin to vertigo at contemplating the prospect of

spk_0 having the entire globe to explore. If you pick up a map of your local area, choose a grid square

spk_0 at random and begin walking around it with your eyes open, you'll soon be mesmerized by the

spk_0 possibilities for local exploration. After that, it is up to you. What will you look for?

spk_0 What will you care about and want to take a stand on? When you start exploring your own local map,

spk_0 please tag your photos on social media with hashtag a single map to help inspire others.

spk_0 My map has changed my perception of home, made me less tempted to fly and more motivated to care

spk_0 for the environment. There is so much potential for a future full of positive stories,

spk_0 if only we demand change and take action. This local map could fuel my curiosity forever,

spk_0 in a way I once thought only distant places could do. My map is a fractal of the world.

spk_0 Today is a fractal of my life. To know one place well and to make it better is the work of a lifetime.

spk_0 And so, yes, a single map can be enough.

A Single Map - the Final Episode

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