Overheard in Twitter, February 2009:
Ben Hammersley, editor:
"nominations please for women to profile in Wired issues 2/3. Innovators, scientists, artists, cool people."
Giles Turnbull, journalist:
"ruth luckhurst, explorer of Britain's empty parts"
After years of high-pressure work in tiny, gloomy offices, one day I looked out and noticed the landscape, and I fell instantly in love.
Being brought up in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, I took it for granted that the backdrop of my life should be golden sand and Atlantic surf, craggy cliffs and secret caves, plunging hillsides and wooded valleys with little tumbling streams. It had never occurred to me, until now, to go and explore them, beyond my own little patch. Armed with camera and notebook, I put that right; and then I ventured further afield, onto Britain's long distance footpaths and into its wildernesses. Out there I found so much more besides: moors and mountains, lochs and forests, gorges and islands, winds and sunsets, orchids and wildcats.
As with any worthwhile love affair, my passion took over my life. A commission to write a book of walks was followed by a contract to write up others for a magazine, I sold a few photographs along the way; and like a fitful wind blowing up from nowhere along a peaceful glen, my new career whipped me out into Britain's empty quarters to capture those unexpected glimpses of paradise that never quite make it onto the maps, no matter how hard you look.