Hi I don’t know what drew you to open the blog page but thank you. Please don’t expect too much. I opened MuddyFootprints as a shop primarily to help support my family. What qualifies me to sell outdoors supplies and books well, not much to be honest. I have come to it as a beginner. I’ve worked outside for the last 17 years in Landscaping, a very physical job that was at the mercy of the elements. Then all sorts got thrown at me brexit (like it or love it it makes a difference), COVID, two children who went through a terrible time with school and are now homeschooled and having to navigate the minefield that is the Local Authority SEN services. And then I had my own health issues. I’m a Mum by the way just so you know who is telling the story. So here we are 4 years on and I was trying to find what I loved again. As any parent knows, it’s easy to get caught up in the everyday and lose yourself. We have always gone camping for holidays in part because it’s a cheap way of getting out and about. But we have always found the kids enjoyed the freedom as did we. We would choose a campsite as wild as possible but in a place we could take in as many counties and sights as possible. Once we covered 3 counties and many miles travelling between an amazing hillside campsite in Somerset and Stonehenge, Eden Project and many more local attractions. Now some will condemn this as our planet is struggling and I am the first to admit we are not perfect in any way but of course we do try while still trying to give our children a good childhood in which they learn about their history and hopefully someday soon the rest of the world. It’s a balancing act especially now we are in the position of making sure their education is the best it can be.
Now my weight isn’t great and my health can be a problem, I suffer from endometriosis and it looks like the start of adenomyosis. You may have read about these recently as the stories come out from famous women but they can be difficult to deal with. But I’m determined to find adventures, improve my health and find new ways to experience the world and my kids will benefit from these as well. So I will be starting out easy with swimming, in a warm pool to begin with, mainly to improve my overall health. Archery which my husband and I have wanted to try for a long time. My two older boys did this for some years but I never took the opportunity. Now the youngest teenage daughter and youngest son will join us and hopefully it will stick. I will of course be reading a lot of the books I list and living vicariously as funds are limited and so our new life will have to gradually happen. One goal is to lose enough weight to feel able to give climbing a go something I have wanted to do for a while. It’s funny the circles you go through can’t do this until I lose weight. I can’t lose weight because I can’t exercise in front of people. It’s a trap, that’s for sure. It also means there won’t be many photos of me on here.
So thank you if you got this far and I look forward to seeing all your adventures whether you’re starting out or experienced there’s so much to see and do out there.