Have you ever been to a place in the woods that you know very well, yet approached it from a completely new direction? I did this last week, and for a few pleasantly confusing seconds I was somewhere new. Granted, it was a lovely summer evening, the light was magical and I was preoccupied with a noisy owl that wouldn't sit still, but the place just looked, well, different.

Odd?  Assuming that at 38 senility is not setting in, it was a stark reminder of how easy it is to take my local haunts for granted and stop actually ‘seeing' them. I sat down like an old zen master , well slightly out of condition Englishman, and had a good think.

 I have been out of sorts the last few weeks because this time last year a mate and I were providing food for mosquitoes in Jämtland. I can't go away this year for my traditional two week break from civilisation and technology due to work/ family commitments. I just kept comparing Cannock Chase to the wilds of Sweden and, though I'm ashamed to admit it, felt a bit sorry for myself.

What was it ‘physically' about the two places that were so fundamentally different? Uhmm......nothing I suppose.

What was different was the time line! In Sweden you can easily go a week without seeing a soul or hitting a road. On the Chase you're lucky if you can go two minutes before being mown down by lycra clad middle aged men on mountain bikes.

I think this is important. To be in touch with nature, hence my own thoughts about nature, requires me to synchronise my perception of time with nature. In Sweden, where it doesn't even get dark this time of year, it's wonderfully easy to become totally immersed in ‘natural' time. This got me thinking how long it takes me to achieve this enviable state of unhurriedness.

 I can achieve a calm contemplative ‘ lostness' in about 2 hours without being disturbed, whether that's standing in a river waving a stick or walking through a forest with a pair of Binos.

 To truly get lost in natural time takes me about two days somewhere really remote.

Ok, all I have to do now is find wild places in a British summer where I can walk for 2 days without meeting anybody. Not too difficult then.

 The only places I have experiance of that meet these criteria are the Western Isles and the Floe of Caithness, both of which don't have any trees and too many midges, so are far from ideal. Fortunately, for the sake of my sanity, there are some local places, with early starts and late finishes, where two hours can be achieved.

Watches are kryptonite to lovers of the outdoors.