On top of the world

Despite being a typical teenager, even Jasper had to admit that playing computer games for hours soon got boring - but walking and being outdoors never did.

Jasper

When lockdown happened, I was a bit sad and it was a bit stressful doing school work from home because I didn’t really know what to do at the start.

Lockdown was a big difference to what I’m used to.

On a normal day, even just walking to school, being in school and going for lunch, I’d walk about six miles, and I’d play rugby with friends, or go biking, lots of things.

Lockdown felt very restrictive, but it was good going out a walk in the morning and seeing the birds.
After a walk, I always felt good and I felt healthier. Even just being out, seeing some sheep, getting stuck in a sheep field, just having a bit of a problem to laugh about. It was cool because our walks were more out of town, so I’d see a lot more wildlife than usual.

It’s not just lockdown that has made me grateful that I am actually able just to go for a walk.
At the start of the year, I was in hospital. I was really sick with pneumonia and just walking to the toilet was a big step. So because of that, and then lockdown, I’ll never take walking and getting out for granted. Now I can do a 40km bike ride. It’s made me realise how far I’ve come.

I would have felt very stressed during lockdown if I could not have got out at all and would probably have felt a bit down.
I was especially grateful to get out at the weekend because that was when I’d normally see my mates much more. We couldn’t go to a trampoline park so we’d go for a walk, go to a field or walk up Cockleroy and you’d see things you don’t usually get to see.

Before lockdown, you’d just want to play computer games, but after having a lot of that you realise it’s not entertaining, just doing that all day. You’d get annoyed and stressed after a couple of hours on it, but when you’re outside, running around, seeing wildlife, the only thing you could probably get annoyed about it stubbing your toe or something.

To me, walking means spending time with friends and family, it almost makes you relax. To me it’s awesome. You go out, chat, have a laugh and come back and talk about what you did that day.

Even if it’s raining, me and mates still go out. It’s only rain. After being out all day, when you sit down in the evening, you know you’ve done enough activity because you went for that walk.