Historical names for February include the unappealing Old English terms Solmonath (mud month) and Kale-monath (cabbage month). I’m pretty sure the Hawaiian word for February, Pepeluali, refers to neither mud nor cabbage. 

In Finland, February is Helmikuu, the month of the pearl, when snow melts on branches and forms droplets. In Poland it is Luty, mean- ing freezing cold. For Macedonians, it is the month of felling trees and chopping wood, Sechko. 

I was definitely in a mud month here, rather than a pearl month. The mountains may have been calling, but they felt farther away than ever. I had one of my occasional bouts of wondering if I should give up limiting myself to this single map. 

‘What a stupid idea all this is,’ I moaned. ‘It’s cold. It’s wet. I could either be in bed or in Bali.’