Meet at: 10.45am for an 11.00am start at Ashton Court’s upper car park by the golf course cafe. Finish by 4.00pm.
Why? We are walking a 4.6km geological timeline through the Ashton Court estate by way of experiencing the Earth’s deep time history from its beginnings right up to the present Anthropocene moment.
A Deep Time Walk is a way of grasping the vastness of Earth's 4.6 billion year history when each step counts for one million years. Just by putting one foot in front of another, we’ll experience the phenomenal story of the evolution of our planet and glimpse how humans have evolved in the blink of a geological eye, resulting in today’s man-made climate and nature polycrises. There will be creative writing opportunities along the route to reflect on our insights and sharings.
Pricing: we are offering this walk at a discounted price with a sliding scale. Please consider genuinely what you can afford to pay. If you feel able to purchase the upper price ticket you will be helping to cover our costs and subsiside someone joining for a reduced fare.
Route: We're walking 4.6km (just under 3 miles) around Ashton Court estate beginning and ending at the upper car park. Every 100 metres = 100 million years, hence by the end we will have covered the 4.6 billion years since Earth's beginnings. Our lunch break point marks that epic moment 2.3 billion years ago when life’s early organisms released enough oxygen into the atmosphere to create the breathable environment we know today. The walk’s second half gets busier as we hit the Carboniferous and the time of the dinosaurs, while the last few metres hurtle us through evolutionary developments, with humans only getting a look in during the final few centimetres!
Preparation and Purpose: In part our Deep Time Walk resembles a walking meditation from primal beginnings right up to the polycrises of the Anthropocene. No geological knowledge is required. This Deep Time Walk is led by geology educator Mathilde Braddock and creative writing facilitator and activist, Mark Smalley. Along the way we'll be pausing from time to time to mark the major milestones that chart Earth's long, slow development with time for reflection and writing.
It can be quite a powerful emotional thing, to walk back through time, 4.6 billion years in 4.6 kilometres. We witness the long evolutionary journey that life has been on, including five previous mass extinctions, such as that of the dinosaurs 66M years ago. As we know, we are currently living through the sixth mass extinction. The last time that levels of atmospheric CO2 were this high (422 ppm) was 4 million years ago when sea levels were much higher and temperatures at least 3°C higher than today. Such deep time insights carry considerable weight for us in the here and now.
As Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the UN, said in September 2023, we have “opened the gates to hell” by allowing the climate crisis to worsen while failing to stop burning fossil fuels. In the light of this, there is a reflective aspect to the walk with several opportunities to quietly reflect on what Deep Time means for us. You will be invited to use your notebook to capture some of your thoughts and feelings, or you may want to just quietly reflect. The end of the walk will be followed by an opportunity to safely share some of your observations, without any pressure whatsoever.
Why Deep Time? We believe that there is a therapeutic and wellbeing benefit in grasping the enormity of Deep Time and recognising how brief the window is for us to do something about man-made climate change and the accompanying nature crises. Connecting with Deep Time can be a deep experience of connection, encouraging us towards action. Using creative writing to explore some of our responses can support our growth while rooting us in our endeavours as people who care for life on Earth.
The Deep Time Walk materials are provided by the Deep Time Walk Project. 10% of your fees will go towards supporting the Project.
We are looking forward to sharing this Deep Time Walk with you. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions. Email: mathilde@stepsinstone.co.uk
Thanks and see you on the walk!
Mathilde Braddock and Mark Smalley
