Mellow Expeditions - @aurorarealini

This week’s feature comes from @aurorarealini who has travelled to the UK from Milan to start her (AR)OUND project. The project consists of meeting up on hikes and climbs with like-minded outdoor enthusiasts from around the UK. Her story emphasises how the outdoors really does connect us all. Here’s what she had to say about it..

(AR)OUND was born out of a desire to connect with new people and places outside my home country. It is the first step in building a community of people who, like me, have an affinity with the outdoor world.

The first chapter is set in England. To date, I am more than halfway through my journey, visiting a number of destinations: Manchester, Devon, Dorset, Wales and London. I have organised several groups, met important figures in this field and shared with all of them different moments in different places, from indoor gyms to hikes in the mountains.

The last stop will be Scotland, where I am looking forward to a day of hiking and hopefully, a wild swim. What makes me most happy besides meeting new like-minded personalities is being able to connect people who maybe only knew each other through social media, to create a real network of acquaintances.

This is just the first of, hopefully, a long series of chapters that will slowly see me travel to different destinations. I've learned a lot, there are definitely some things that need to be adjusted and better organised, but I'm incredibly satisfied with what I've done thus far.