This Christmas, celebrate the dawn and see new light

In the latest in his series exploring ideas of place and pathway, Will Gore finds solace in a winter wonderland

It’s a good feeling to have the land to yourself (iStock)

Dawn is the best time to set out for a walk: that glorious period when the world is emerging from the night, and the sun streaks the sky with pink, before casting long shadows that prise open the day.

Alfred Wainwright, the great chronicler of Lakeland hills, said the early morning was when “the air is freshest ... the earth sweetest”. Birds, he went on, “are happiest in the morning, and most lively then. They dart across the path ... They chatter and chirrup and sing in unending chorus, blithely contended and gay, and so very glad to be alive.”

Even in the depths of winter, it is good to get moving as daybreak comes, however tempting it might be to draw the duvet back over your chin and slumber on. At Christmas, when there are so many things to occupy us, or to indulge in, you can have the land to yourself.