Guaranteed For Life
Massively increase your chances of bumping into an idea or a human that will change your life
Happy Teasel Brush Silhouettes!
And a warm welcome from the bathroom. (The only other room in the house that gets decent wifi.)
Do you remember the story I wrote in May 2023 about The Secret Society of Lost Hats?
Frankly, I’d be amazed if you do, but, last weekend, standing on the storm-whipped asphalt of Warwick Services, my membership of TSSoLH paid off, big time:
Urged on by discerning shed-punk technologist
, I’ve been lusting after a Tilley hat for half a decade, yet always shied away from the premium price tag (£60 in the current sales).But here I am at Warwick Services in a rainstorm, an abandoned Tilley hat fallen at my feet.
Stooped drivers scurry across the service station forecourt and rain rattles the tinny roof of my car. I scan the horizon for anyone who looks like they might have recently lost a hat.
Pretty much all of us, then. Forty mile an hour winds will do that to headgear.
The Tilley was squashed down with storm water and smelt of boiled mushrooms. It was so hydrated that I figured the owner had been and gone and lost the hat an hour ago or more.
They were probably six junctions away by now, their takeaway coffee long since finished or gone cold. So I chucked my new acquisition on the backseat and drove off as fast as I could.
But why the fuss over a lost and found old hat?
Le Chapeau Tilley was designed by a persnickety Canadian sailor in 1980 and does all of the things an excellent hat should: ties on your head, repels rain, blocks UV rays and floats on water — whether that water is the Atlantic Ocean or an oily puddle in a car park in the Midlands.
Not only that, but it’s guaranteed for life and boasts a SECRET POCKET.
Knowing how beloved these hats are to their owners, I guiltily asked Documentally whether the law of finders keepers even applies to Tilley hats.
Documentally wrote back immediately: ‘When my Land Rover was stolen with my Tilley inside, I only wanted the hat back.’
So consider this newsletter an appeal for any information that may lead to the safe reunion of a June 2018 edition Tilley T3 with its erstwhile owner (noggin size 7 1/2), who passed through Warwick Services on the penultimate Saturday of October 2024.
Your reward will be your conscience. Until such time as justice is served, I promise to wear with care and maybe write a few more stories in this prodigal hat’s history.
For those of you new around these parts, welcome 👋 My name is David and I’m a writer, outdoor instructor, cyclist-at-large with Thighs of Steel and Expeditions Manager at British Exploring Society.
In this newsletter, I write stories that help you and me understand the world (and ourselves) a little better.
Sometimes I find dirty old hats.
Bump into ideas that’ll change your life
Last week, I spent two days in conclave with the most adventurous minds in the country, at the annual conference they most suitably call Adventure Mind.
We gathered at Bendrigg Trust on the edge of Lakeland to share everything we could about ‘Accessible Adventures’ — the importance of adventure in supporting the mental health of those who face the most significant barriers to accessing challenges in the outdoors.
I can’t overstate the importance of conferences like Adventure Mind: the opportunity to be in the same room as a hundred other professionals for two whole days, massively increasing the chances of bumping into an idea or a human that will change your life.
Last year at Adventure Mind I met the Head of Programmes for British Exploring Society and chatted to a few people who were raving about the EQE Outdoors course in Wilderness Therapeutic Approaches.
Fast forward to this year and I’m at Adventure Mind representing British Exploring Society, having completed my second week of training as a wilderness therapeutic practitioner…
If you get the chance, go.
I won’t bore you with a full list of all the wonderful humans I met this year, but here’s a selection of titbits that’ll hopefully be interesting to most:
1. Opening up the National Trust
The National Trust are Britain’s third largest landowner.
I was heartened to hear that, in January, the National Trust are publishing a new strategy: End Unequal Access.
As part of this new strategy, there will in future be greater openness to working with other organisations to provide activities and access to adventure in the outdoors.
Get in touch with your local National Trust and let’s get collaborating.
2. The benefits of adventure for children
The Adventure Mind Research Panel recently published a 10-page summary of research findings on the benefits of adventure for children.
Examining multi-day adventures, Mutz & Müller (2016) focused on adolescent wellbeing and mental health. In one example, 12 x 14-year olds participated in a 9-day hike across the alps. Four days after completing the hike, child-reported worry and their sense of demands on them had decreased. There was also a large increase in mindfulness as well as wellbeing (underpinned by both happiness and life satisfaction).
3. Free adventure kit for people with low income
Kitsquad are ‘the only UK-based scheme that provides donated adventure gear to low-income individuals’. Respect.
CAT Phone 🐈
In my continuing pursuit of digital nirvana, I bought a CAT phone. It’s an absolute joy. But has it made any impression on my screen time? Full review to come…
Three Tiny Big Things
1. Broken zip? 13-second fix
After spending a couple of days exchanging dead-end emails with a premium outdoor brand known for its sustainability, I watched the first 13 seconds of this video and fixed the broken zip on my down jacket myself.
2. Do you ever get the feeling you’re being watched?
London is probably the third most surveilled city in the world, with about a million CCTV cameras installed and operated by public — but mostly private — eyes.
3. Who are you gonna be?
Thank You
Huge thanks to all the paying subscribers who helped make this story possible. You know who you are. Thank you. 💚
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As always, thank you for your eyeballs and thanks for your support.
diwyc,
dc:
