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When the cold months make you hunker down and hide, how do you teach your soul to open up instead—to new rhythms and unlikely beauty—and begin participating in the unique joy of winter?
Helen Moat used to dread winter. When it approached, she would hunker down inside, yearn for the sun, and wait it out. Then, determined to overcome this anxiety, she vowed to set out into the darkness in search of ways to embrace it.
Beginning her discoveries at home in Scotland, she moves on across the world through the Arctic Circle to Asia. Along the way, she finds beauty in the small things that only winter can offer. Helen’s quest to dispel her seasonal blues has its ups and downs; slowly, though, she learns not only to accept the darkness of winter, but to welcome it. When she travels to Lapland and Japan, their cultural and philosophical attitude to the season is a revelation.
While the Earth Holds Its Breath nurtures resilience and determination, finding a joyous positivity that does not ignore the darkness, but finds something to love there.
Praise for A Time of Birds
“Glorious … an inspiring adventure … humorous encounters and joyful times.” Tom Chesshyre, Daily Mail“Ideal reading for vicarious armchair travellers … rich in emotional flashbacks and keen observations … Moat is an exquisite stylist. Her unhurried, free-flowing narrative captivates the reader from the very first sentence … a thoroughly unputdownable travel book.” Vitali Vitaliev, Engineering & Technology Magazine
“A moving and thought-provoking set of meditations … detailed, vivid and lyrical” Patricia Carswell, WI magazine
“Lyrical and immediate … a reflective travel narrative about a bike tour through Europe, noting its histories of upheaval and change.” Wendy Hinman, Foreword Reviews
“A prayer of a book. A hymn to the healing power of cycling slow.” Chris Dolan
“A stand-out work of honesty and integrity, loss and hope.” Alan Brown
“A perfect read for these times of isolation … a fantastic book.” John Toal, BBC Radio Ulster
“Slow travel at its best.” Paul Cheney
“[A] wonderful narrative … harrowing and inspiring by rapid turns … Indispensable, heart-breaking, uplifting, beautifully-conceived and -written.” NI Arts Council
“Lovely, engrossing, book … beautifully told, vivid in its colours and characters … the prose twinkles and sparkles like birdsong … a reminder of the healing power of nature, humanity and the active joy of slow, self-powered movement.” Dead Deer blog
Helen Moat is a writer on slow travel and is the author of multiple travel guides as well as While the Earth Holds Its Breath, her meditation on learning to love the winter season, and A Time of Birds, a travelogue of her journey across Europe, by bike, with her teenage son, both published by Saraband. She is a regular contributor to Derbyshire Life, BBC Countryfile magazine, Wanderlust, a variety of websites, and to regional radio, as well as leading travel workshops and contributing to national newspapers and magazines. Originally from Northern Ireland, she now lives with her husband in Scotland.
Prologue: In the Beginning
Kittilä
THE FIRST WINTER: A Winter of Small Things
OctoberThe Sea, the Sea
Shinrin Yoku – The Japanese Art of Forest Bathing
The Earth Holds its Breath
The Buzzards
End of Season Fruits
Rambles in the Dark
Boundaries
NovemberBonds
Gossamer
Patterns on the shore
Frost and Fruit Cake
Steaming Soups and Sizzling Stews
December
On a Snowy Evening
Winter Solstice Among the Stones
Jólabókaflóð – The Christmas Book Flood
A Snowy Christmas Eve
January
New Year Dawn
In Search of Starlings
The Deerhunter
The Woodpecker
February
Resurrecting a Winter Past Skiing Through Forest
The Joy of Human Connection
The Thaw
Transitioning
Waterside
THE SECOND WINTER: Widening Horizons
November
Coastal Highs
Storm Watching
The Seals
December
A Walk in the Polar Twilight
Creatures of the Arctic
Black is the Night, Bright is the Land
Whiteout, Blackout
January
In the Stillness
Snowbirds
February
Winter Storms and Almonds
The Calm Between
Winter Rains An Arabian Gift in the Sierra Nevada
Foraging in the Alpujarra
Into the Blue
The Red Palace of the Alhambra
The Green Gorge
THE THIRD WINTER: Across the World
October
L’été de la Saint-Martin en Bretagne
L’automne sur la Loire
Hot Leaf Walks
November
Dreams of Japan
Washoku – Cooking in Harmony
The Edge of Winter in Gifu
On the Sea of JapanDecember
Putin’s War
Olga’s War
Christmas with a Ukrainian Family
January
New Year Heights
Winter Winds
Searching for Ancestors
Rabbie Burns
February
In the Blackness of Night
Winter Music
A Japanese Garden in England
Scotland – Into the Dark, Into the Light