Instant calmer: a mindful walking weekend in Wales

A railway station concourse is a stressful place. Trains come and go, announcements call out, screens flicker, lights flash and people run in different directions. Yet it was this chaotic scene that I was being asked to imagine on a mindful walking weekend in north-east Wales – one designed to help me unplug from stressful situations and learn tricks to sooth my senses in day-to-day life. I lifted my head to look at the assembled group – my friend Cerys, Nicky (who runs her own hospitality business), Claire, whose company started this tour, and Belinda Gammon, a mindfulness guide and therapist. We were high on a hill above the hamlet of Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, where only the sound of wind-rustled leaves could be heard.

“Think of your mind as being this station,” said Belinda in a slow, soothing tone. “Your thoughts are the trains that endlessly pass through, creating noise. You have the potential to jump on to any one of them – without really knowing where it will end up – but doing that can get you lost, confused, overwhelmed. Mindfulness
meditation helps us to observe the trains but not board any.”

Her metaphor was particularly apt. The previous afternoon Cerys and I – mums to a toddler and teenagers respectively – had begun our trip at London’s Euston station, congratulating ourselves for booking a break that would give us mental time out from juggling parenthood and work.

Barely had our train pulled out than we were interrupted by a call from the nursery (my toddler had taken a tumble and I needed to sign an online accident form), an urgent text message from work, and a message from Cerys’s youngest child about the whereabouts of his bus pass. Whether or not mindful walking would work seemed irrelevant: we both needed this escape.

Claire Copeman – owner of Adventure Tours UK, which is certified as a socially responsible “B corporation” – began running these mindful walking tours during lockdown. She met us from Chirk station, south of Wrexham, and whisked us to the West Arms, a 16th-century coaching inn in the Ceiriog Valley.

“It’s totally different from the usual hiking, kayaking, cycling and running trips we offer, and I wasn’t sure how popular it would be,” said Claire. “But they completely sold out, so we put more on.” The weekends appeal to a wide mix of people, she added, from city workers wanting to escape hectic jobs to pensioners keen to get outside in a slow and thoughtful way.

A stay at the West Arms is part of the unwinding process – manager Sian welcomed us as though we were family. Despite our stressful journey, we felt instantly more relaxed, and before long were exploring the nooks and crannies of the old building, which started life as a farm in the 1570s before being transformed into a drovers’ inn, where cattle drivers would rest their livestock en route to markets in Oswestry and London. Now it’s frequented by people from the old market towns, who come to eat locally sourced food (Dolwen Welsh lamb, fish from the north Wales coast and speciality wild meat dishes from the village of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant), and sup ale from a microbrewery down the road.

The next morning, after Belinda explained mindfulness using the station analogy, we continued on what would be a five-mile jaunt into the foothills of the little-known Berwyn Mountains.

We began wandering amid farmland, before resting for a few minutes beside a brook while Belinda led an exercise to help us notice just how busy our minds can get. As we climbed higher into an ancient woodland, we lay down on the grass and learned through a guided meditation how to focus on our breathing. I began to notice things I would have missed while walking at my usual pace. I smelled the tangy scent of wood sorrel, heard the call of a meadow pipit, realised how similar the sound of wind moving through woodland is to waves lapping on a shore.

By the time we reached a line of wizened hawthorn and stopped to eat our lunch, the mood was decidedly serene. I began to realise that on a slower, more considered walk, you might cover less in terms of distance, but experience a lot more.

Next, Belinda made us focus on the microscopic detail of a leaf before drawing us back into the wider landscape. After focusing for such a long time on the minutiae, where moss began to resemble a thick forest, the hills felt suddenly larger than I ever thought possible and my mind was temporarily blown. Claire took the opportunity to remind us of the larger impact we can have on our environment, too. As part of her mission to protect the places she visits (she was one of the first tour companies to start carbon-labelling trips), she has partnered with community interest company Trash Free Trails – so participants have the option of collecting any rubbish they find when walking one of their regular routes, then sorting and recording it in an online survey. The data collected contributes to an evidence base for action on litter pollution.

Being told about this coincided with Belinda asking us to do the final part of the walk in silence. It worked beautifully. As we concentrated on our breathing, the landscape and our place in it and found an inner calm, we removed a lot of farm waste (rope, feed sacks and pieces of machinery) along with cans, food wrappers and water bottles. It sounds arduous, but it felt like a pleasure.

Related: 10 of the best meditation retreats in the UK and Europe

Back at the West Arms for our second and final night of freedom ­– and relishing the chance to chat again – we decided that while we didn’t find every exercise worked for us (the half-hour of silent walking was a bit frustrating for two friends eager to talk), taking time out to listen to the sounds and take in the smells, made us appreciate the venue a lot more. Belinda had also given us some tools to cope with the madness of our everyday lives. My main takeaway was that even as a mum who constantly juggles childcare and working, it’s all right to not think about your kids all the time and to allow yourself time out.

On our last morning, after a hearty breakfast, Claire took us to a footpath on the edge of Moel Famau country park. There we walked uphill to see the small growing forest her company is creating in association with the local Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty wardens. For every guest who comes on a tour, a birch, oak, wild cherry, hawthorn or pear tree is planted.

So far, the company has planted 335. It was a gratifying way to finish the trip, surrounded by thriving saplings. As we made our way to the station my phone began to beep alerts once more, demanding my attention. But instead of stressfully responding, I embraced my inner Belinda and temporarily put it on silent. For now, I’d learned that everything can wait.

• Adventure Tours UK (adventuretoursuk.com) Mindful Walking North Wales trip runs every year from September to May. The next is on 29 September. Price from £365pp includes two nights in the West Arms, welcome dinner, breakfasts, packed lunch for the guided mindful walk and a native tree planted in the Moel Famau woodland.