Rakesprogress Volume 13

The Japanese word, shinrin-yoku, which translates as 'forest-bathing', describes an immersion in nature so precisely that it is hard to resist, suggesting as it does the beneficial effects of being able to de-stress and relax. In this, another bumper issue of Raksprogress, partly created in lockdown, we travel to Japan to walk the ancient Kumano Kodo Trail, we head to the Cerrado in Brazil, an area under threat which houses 11,000 plant species. We also walk among the traditional hay meadowlands of England, meet the weaver who threads thorns in the wdoos and even discover how Napoleon, exiled for the lifetime of warmongering to the remote island of St Helena, finally found peace in gardening.