This year, October seemed to pass by quite fast. And it was a month that had seen the good and the bad for me.

After returning from my weekend trip at the end of September, I was thrown back into a busy life. Not just at work, but also a lot of tasks with the final adjustments in the hiking club plans for 2024. Even though most of them were finishing touches, this typically has a lot of opinions going back and forth and can end up being quite time-consuming.

Thus, to clear my mind, I went for a solo hike the first weekend. The autumn had yet to reach the best of its colors, and it was quite a warm day, so my mood improved a lot. Especially walking a trail that wasn’t too busy and had a simple charm.

During the hike, I talked with a woman of similar age who seemed to be as crazy into hiking as I am, and I suggested staying in touch (we went down a different trail after around 30 minutes) which made my mood even better, given as I’m quite shy and talking to strangers isn’t something I’d do much unless it’s necessary (or part of a work task).

The following week was, once again, quite busy. I at least pushed myself to reach a chapter or two during my afternoon commute, especially as I’ve been in a reading slump lately. The next weekend, I went for another hike with the hiking club and lured by the autumn scenery and atmosphere, decided to push it a bit beyond the original plan. Using a different trail to ascend, I walked the same highland fields where I got sunburnt in early July, this time with a different atmosphere – a bit colder, but just as windy.

During the next week, the weather kept changing unpredictably. The temperature went up and down twice during the week. I planned to go on another hike to enjoy the beauty of autumn. And I offered the woman from two weeks ago to accompany me, if she’s interested, only to get no response. The weather also changed to strong wind, so I ended up staying home and wondering whether I’m so inept at socializing, made some other (probably dumb) mistake, or if she just wasn’t as much into the idea as I was.

Fortunately, I had my sister and one good long-distance friend to try and talk some sense and encouragement into me, though it tends to take a while to get into my thick skull. Either way, after having a bit of time for myself to think, my mood improved. The weather resumed being warm, and I was looking forward to another club hike, with high hopes of some beautiful colors. This ended up being quite true – but as the hike was only yesterday, I have yet to download and sort the photos. And I reached my yearly goal of 1000km, which was a nice bonus, with two months still to go.

I’ll get to share more photos about the hikes in the coming weeks. I hope to have some nice moments in November, though it’s a month known more for mist and rain than nice weather. I’ll see what the future brings – and hope it’s gentle to you.