Gifts for the Holidays Sweepstakes Rules

Official Policies

NO Buy Necessary TO ENTER OR Acquire. A Acquire WILL NOT Boost YOUR Possibilities OF Profitable. 

The Gifts for the Holiday seasons Sweepstakes – Rozet Landscape Style LLC (“Sweepstakes”) commences on November 28, 2022 at 12:01 AM Mountain Time (“MT”) and ends on December 11, 2022 at 11:59 PM MT (“Promotion Period”). The time will be decided by Sponsor’s timekeeping methods. Sponsor will have the sole discretion in deciding the timeliness of any motion or inaction relevant to this Sweepstakes. All periods described in these Official Procedures are Mountain Time unless expressly noted otherwise.

Open only to lawful U.S. inhabitants who are at least 18 many years of age or the age of the vast majority in their condition of residence, whichever is more mature, as of date of entry and reside in Arizona inPima County. Void where ever prohibited by law and outside the house the listed county. Individuals who have won prizes from promotions sponsored by KGUN-Tv set in the 30 times prior to the commencing of the Advertising Period of time are not eligible. Staff members of Scripps Media, Inc. d/b/a KGUN-Television set, Rozet Landscape Style and design LLC (collectively, “Sponsor”), their respective mother and father, affiliate marketers, and subsidiaries, and of all of the advertising companies, promotion agencies, prize suppliers, and any other vendors furnishing products and services in relationship with this Sweepstakes (collectively, the “Sponsor Affiliates”) and the fast family members associates (husband or wife, mom, father, in-rules, grandmother, grandfather, brother, sister, youngsters and grandchildren) and/or people living in the exact family of any of the foregoing people today are not suitable. By taking part, entrants agree to be certain by the Official Principles and the decisions of Sponsor.

TO ENTER: During the Promotion Time period, visit https://www.kgun9.com, simply click on the “Contest” tab, observe the guidance to comprehensive your entry variety, and click on the Enter/Submit button. All details you provide need to be truthful, accurate, and complete. On productively publishing your entry to Sponsor as explained earlier mentioned, you will get one entry into the Sweepstakes.

Restrict a person entry for every human being, for each e mail handle, and for each home tackle. Entries in excessive of this limit will be disqualified if found by Sponsor. No mechanically reproduced entries of any type permitted. Illegible and incomplete entries are void. Sponsor is not liable for misplaced, late, mutilated, or misdirected entries or entries not received. If there is a dispute about who submitted an entry, the entry will be deemed to have been submitted by the licensed account holder of the electronic mail account determined on the entry kind. The authorized account holder of an electronic mail account is considered to be the organic human being who is assigned to an electronic mail tackle by an Web obtain company, services service provider, or on the internet business responsible for assigning e mail addresses for the area involved with the submitted e-mail handle. Obtained entries develop into the assets of Sponsor and will not be returned. Sponsor will use the data you supply in accordance with its Privateness Coverage.

WINNER Selection: Following the near of the Advertising Period of time, winner will be picked by random drawing from all eligible entries. Selections of Sponsor are remaining on all matters. Limit a person prize for every individual and for every residence deal with. Odds of profitable will count upon the number of suitable entries.

WINNER NOTIFICATION AND RELEASES: Soon immediately after the drawing day, Sponsor will attempt to notify the potential winner(s) by means of mobile phone and/or e-mail. If a opportunity winner: (a) does not react right after the first attempted get hold of from Sponsor inside of 48 several hours of initial notification attempt, (b) is not in compliance with these Official Procedures, (c) does not fulfill the eligibility necessities, (d) declines the prize, or (e) does not indicator and return required documents or present necessary identification by deadlines established by Sponsor, he or she will be disqualified, and the prize will be awarded to an alternate winner as established by random attract from the remaining eligible, non-profitable entries. Sponsor will carry out up to two alternate drawings for the prize, time allowing. The probable prize winner may well be demanded to deliver affirmation that he or she is the proprietor of the suitable e-mail handle. Every single probable winner could be expected, in Sponsor’s sole discretion, to comprehensive and return an Affidavit of Eligibility & Legal responsibility/Publicity Release (TN people require not signal Publicity Launch) and a scan or photograph of legal ID ahead of declaring the prize. Any companion(s) who will participate in the prize activities, if relevant, may be essential to signal and return a Vacation Companion Launch ahead of remaining authorized to participate in any prize routines. If any of the likely companion(s), if relevant, is less than the age of vast majority in his or her condition of home, then the dad or mum or legal guardian of the insignificant possible companion(s) should indication and return all necessary forms. All types will have to be postmarked by the date set forth on notification supplies if return is asked for by using mail, or types should be accomplished ahead of receipt of any prize if prizes are picked up in human being.

PRIZE: One Very first Prize – the winner will obtain a certification legitimate for a 24″ box sized Double Head Yucca Rostrata (ARV: $1,200). Certification expires March 1, 2023. Supply to in just Pima County is involved.

Prize is composed of only those goods exclusively outlined as portion of the prize. Sponsor reserves the appropriate to substitute any prize with prize of equal or increased benefit in its sole discretion. No substitution or transfer/assignment of prize by winner is permitted. Prize subject to all phrases, situations and restrictions on encounter of tickets, gift playing cards or imposed by issuer. If by cause of printing or other error, much more prizes are claimed than the amount of prizes set forth in these Formal Principles, a random drawing will be held between all prize claimants in a group to award the marketed number of prizes in the appropriate group. Effectively claimed prize(s) will be awarded, but below no conditions will much more than the marketed range of prizes be awarded. Prize(s) are awarded “AS IS.” Winner must pick up his or her prize at KGUN-Tv set, 7280 E. Rosewood St., Tucson, AZ 85710 M-F amongst 9AM – 5PM no later than December 16, 2022.

Federal, state, and area taxes on prize, if any, and any other expenditures, costs and bills not detailed over as precisely included as section of the prize are the sole accountability of winner. An IRS variety 1099 and other tax-connected forms and paperwork might be issued by Sponsor if expected by legislation.

PUBLICITY AND Marketing and advertising: Submission of an entry in the Sweepstakes constitutes permission to the Sponsor to use entrant’s title, likeness, photograph, voice, opinions, and/or hometown and point out, and any part thereof for purposes of promotion and trade, in any medium in link with the Sweepstakes, with no even further observe, approval, or payment, unless of course prohibited by regulation.

Legal responsibility Launch & INDEMNIFICATION: By getting into this Sweepstakes, you agree to release, discharge and keep harmless Sponsor, Sponsor Affiliates and their respective dad and mom, affiliate marketers, and subsidiaries and all of their directors, officers, personnel, agents and assigns (the “Released Parties”) from any statements, losses, and damages arising out of, or relating to, your participation in this Sweepstakes (together with, with no limitation, any misrepresentation designed by the entrant in connection with the Sweepstakes any non-compliance by the entrant with these Formal Policies promises introduced by people or entities other than the get-togethers to these Formal Principles arising from or associated to the entrant’s involvement with the Sweepstakes any malfunction, mistake or other dilemma arising in link with the collection, processing, or retention of entry facts or any typographical or other error in the printing, providing or announcement of any prize or winner), or any Sweepstakes-connected actions (which include, devoid of limitation, any function attended as part of a prize), and the acceptance and use, misuse, or possession of any prize awarded hereunder.

OTHER Terms: Released Get-togethers are not liable for any typographical or other error in the printing, the giving, or the announcement of any prize or in the administration of the Sweepstakes, whether or not induced by laptop, technical, or human error. Introduced Get-togethers are not accountable for late, misplaced, damaged, incomplete, illegible, defective, or incorrect transmissions, incorrect bulletins of any form, technological components or application failures of any kind, any problems to any person’s pc relevant to or ensuing from collaborating in the on line portion of the Sweepstakes, dropped or unavailable network connections, or unsuccessful, incomplete, garbled, or delayed personal computer transmission that could limit a user’s capability to take part in the Sweepstakes whether prompted by laptop or computer, technical, or human error. Sponsor reserves the right to terminate or modify the Sweepstakes or any part of it for any rationale, which include but not limited to, if fraud, misconduct, or a specialized failure destroys the integrity of the Sweepstakes or if a laptop virus, bug, wireless failure, or other technical problem corrupts the administration, stability, or good administration of the Sweepstakes as decided by Sponsor, in its sole discretion. If Sponsor terminates the Sweepstakes, Sponsor will select the winner(s) in a random drawing from among all eligible, non-suspect entries been given as of the termination day, or in this sort of other method as Sponsor, in its sole discretion, deems good and ideal underneath the situation, presented it is in a position to do so. Sponsor will write-up discover of its action on the Sweepstakes website. Sponsor also reserves the ideal, in its sole discretion, to modify these Formal Rules for clarification purposes without having materially impacting the terms and problems of the Sweepstakes. Sponsor reserves the ideal to disqualify any unique from more participation in the Sweepstakes if Sponsor concludes, in its sole discretion, that these kinds of man or woman: (a) has attempted to tamper with the entry procedure or other procedure of the Sweepstakes (b) has failed to comply with or has tried to circumvent these Formal Principles (c) has fully commited fraud or tried to undermine the genuine procedure of the Sweepstakes or (d) has acted towards Sponsor, any Sponsor Affiliate marketers, or any other entrant in an unfair, inequitable, aggravating, threatening, disrupting, or harassing way. If a dispute occurs with regards to compliance with these Formal Principles, Sponsor may perhaps think about, in its sole discretion, information moderately accessible to Sponsor as a result of facts engineering systems in Sponsor’s regulate, but Sponsor will not be obligated to take into consideration any info or other information and facts gathered from any other supply. Any failure by Sponsor to enforce any of these Formal Rules will not constitute a waiver of these kinds of Official Guidelines. If there is a conflict concerning any phrase of the Official Principles and any advertising and marketing or entry supplies employed in relationship with the Sweepstakes, the terms of these Official Policies will govern.

GOVERNING Regulation & JURISDICTION: Except Wherever PROHIBITED, ENTRANTS Agree THAT ALL DISPUTES, Promises AND Brings about OF Action ARISING OUT OF OR Linked WITH THIS SWEEPSTAKES, OR PRIZE AWARDED, WILL BE Fixed Individually Without Vacation resort TO ANY Variety OF Course Motion, AND ALL Claims, JUDGMENTS AND AWARDS WILL BE Constrained TO Actual OUT-OF-POCKET Charges INCURRED BY ENTRANT WITH REGARD TO THIS SWEEPSTAKES, BUT IN NO Occasion ATTORNEYS’ Charges, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES. All concerns and concerns regarding the building, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Guidelines, or the rights and obligations of entrants and Sponsor in link with the Sweepstakes will be ruled by and construed in accordance with the regulations of the Condition of Ohio, without offering effect to any selection of law or conflict of regulation procedures or provisions (irrespective of whether of Ohio or any other jurisdiction) that would trigger the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than Ohio. The point out and federal courts situated in Hamilton County, Ohio will be the unique discussion board for any dispute relating to these Official Guidelines and/or this Sweepstakes. All individuals and winner(s) agree, by their participation in the Sweepstakes, to submit to the personalized jurisdiction of the point out and federal courts in Hamilton County, Ohio and waive the appropriate to contest jurisdiction.

SEVERABILITY: If any provision(s) of these Official Procedures are held to be invalid or unenforceable, all remaining provisions hereof will continue being in full force and result.

WINNER Record: For the winner name(s), out there right after the near of the Advertising Interval, send a self-resolved, stamped envelope to: Gifts for the Holidays Sweepstakes – Rozet Landscape Design LLC Winner List, 7280 E. Rosewood St., Tucson, AZ 85710. Requests need to be gained by 60 times just after the close of the Advertising Period of time.

SPONSORS: Scripps Media, Inc. d/b/a KGUN-Television, 7280 E. Rosewood St., Tucson, AZ 85710 Rozet Landscape Style LLC, 7707 E 22nd St., Tucson, AZ 85710.

What would the Romans say? A brilliant new ‘art fort’ brightens up Hadrian’s Wall | Northumberland holidays

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen it so busy!” declares my dad as we pull into the car park of Housesteads, which sits along Hadrian’s Wall, one of the best-preserved Roman forts in Britain. He’s right: the car park is rammed and the entrance to the site is unusually crowded. Tourists with backpacks sit on picnic benches eating cake from the cafe, while a dad reads aloud the noticeboards to his small children.

Hadrians map

This buzz is, in part, probably due to it being an exceptionally sunny day during the school holidays. But there’s another factor: Housesteads has a new, temporary art installation, part of a year-long series of events celebrating 1,900 years since building on Hadrian’s Wall began in AD122, under the instruction of the emperor Hadrian.

Designed by artist Morag Myerscough with help from the local community, the artwork – called The Future Belongs to What Was As Much As What Is – consists of a colourful, fortress-like structure made from scaffolding. At about 16 metres wide and 9 metres tall, it’s large enough to be seen from the B-road running parallel to the wall, and reimagines the northern gatehouse of this fort, built directly on top of its remains.

A trip to Housesteads was a family favourite throughout my childhood. Back then, mum and dad would pack my two brothers and me into the car – sometimes with a couple of other chaotic children in tow – and drive us out to one of the forts along the 73-mile wall, stretching from Wallsend to Bowness-on-Solway, once the north-west frontier of the Roman empire, in the hope of providing us with some entertainment.

‘Flashy placards, carrying mostly optimistic phrases’ … Morag Myerscough’s fort.
‘Flashy placards, carrying mostly optimistic phrases’ … Morag Myerscough’s fort. Photograph: Christopher Ison/English Heritage

While Housesteads is often cited as an example of the standard “playing card” plan of a Roman auxiliary fort, its rectangular shape served us with a different – and, in our eyes, far better – purpose. It acted as the perfect perimeter for playing hide and seek. Other forts worth visiting, where I’ve also collected memories to make me smile, include Birdoswald, Chesters and, just down the road, Vindolanda, home to the Vindolanda tablets, some of the oldest handwritten documents in Britain.

Today, my parents and I take the familiar half-mile path to Housesteads, following the natural dip in the land, before a steep ascent to the ticket desk and museum. Just to the south of the fort, near the path leading to its entrance, there are the remains of the vicus, the town where the soldiers’ families lived and worked.

Along the way, Myerscough’s structure bobs in and out of view. Her artwork is arresting, adding a welcome flamboyance to what is often a desolate, grey landscape. The construction also highlights – quite literally, as fluorescent paint coats the exterior – the Romans’ use of colour. For the buildings of ancient Rome were not finished as the gleaming white marble remains we see today, but were brightly painted.

Housesteads is exposed to the elements, so many of my childhood memories consist of being lashed by the wind and rain. Mum would often harness this dire weather as a way of getting us to consider the harsh conditions faced by the Roman army who built the wall from stone and turf, while likely living in leather tents. This bitter climate is evident, too, in the lifespan of Myerscough’s installation: the plan is for it to stay up until the end of October, but only if the weather allows it.

Inside the fort, the installation seems to have injected a garish energy that I’ve not encountered here before. Children play among the remains in the sunshine, tourists take photographs, and a National Trust volunteer carries out a guided tour. Among the site’s highlights are the latrines – some of the finest toilets in Roman Britain; the granary, where the still-visible stone pillars once supported a raised floor to help keep food dry; and the luxurious house of the commanding officer, complete with the remnants of a hypocaust – the Romans’ version of central heating.

Sycamore Gap, a famous landmark not far from Housesteads Fort.
Sycamore Gap, a famous landmark not far from Housesteads Fort. Photograph: Alamy

Hanging from Myerscough’s installation are flashy placards carrying mostly optimistic phrases – I’m drawn to “floodgates of love”, “family” and “everybody’s welcome” – many painted by communities living near the wall, including quotes from local poet Ellen Moran. From one of its two balconies I look across the sprawling wilderness: the installation reveals views possibly last seen by the soldiers on duty 1,600 years ago, when the fort was abandoned as the Roman empire began to crumble.

The scenery is bleak, but weirdly stunning: soothing swathes of woodland and dry-stone walls – many of them built using stones from Hadrian’s Wall – and the odd sheepfold among the fields. Those wanting to explore it more can also do an 8-mile loop from Housesteads down to Sycamore Gap, a striking tree sitting in a dramatic dip of land, and an attraction in its own right since its appearance in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. From here, the path goes via the prominent remains of Milecastle 39 (or Castle Nick), before looping around to give views across Crag Lough and Whin Sill, an imposing, volcanic formation of layered rock, with Hadrian’s Wall running along the top.

“I know it’s totally out of context, but it’s great isn’t it?” says volunteer guide Steve, as we stand beside the north gate after his tour, watching excited children run in and out of the installation. “Younger generations can go in there and have a look at things, muck about. I think the only sad thing from their point of view is that they’re not allowed to climb the scaffolding and go up to the top!”

Our day ends with an obligatory visit to the cafe near the entrance, where we join those on the picnic benches outside, chatting about what we’ve just seen. Indeed, Myerscough’s artwork has ignited the imaginations of visitors to this fort. While the installation is wonderfully joyous – much needed in these times and in this landscape – it’s also practical, giving a real sense of the scale of the original gatehouse. It’s a colourful reminder of this brutally exposed edge to Rome’s once-vast empire.

Five more events celebrating Hadrian’s Wall’s 1,900th anniversary

Milecastle 39 with Crag Lough Highshield Crags and Hotbanks Crags beyond.
Milecastle 39 with Crag Lough Highshield Crags and Hotbanks Crags beyond. Photograph: Clearview/Alamy

Night Attack at Chesters Roman Fort
A night-time re-enactment of an attack from communities living north of the wall, with actors dressed in Roman army regalia.
27-28 August, english-heritage.org.uk

Catapulta! at Birdoswald Roman Fort
Another re-enactment, this time of Roman soldiers competing in an artillery competition, with the crowd encouraged to cheer on their favourite.
27-29 August

W’all Love the Wall, Tyne Theatre & Opera House
A new comedy sketch show by north-east-based writers’ group Sun of a Gun, in partnership with Tyne Theatre Productions, promising “masonry-related humour” inspired by Hadrian’s Wall.
4 September, eventim.co.uk

Guided walk: Greenlee Lough and Hadrian’s Wall
A free, 11-mile guided walk by Hexham Ramblers, taking in the scenery of Housesteads, Sycamore Gap, Whin Sill and Crag Lough.
25 September, walk detail at Ramblers

Open Day at Ravenglass Roman Fort and Bath House
An open day at this Roman fort in west Cumbria, which has a well-preserved bathhouse, with family-friendly activities, dressing up and Roman board games.
24 September

My Hero Academia Celebrates the Holidays With New Art

My Hero Academia is celebrating the stop of the holiday break time and honoring the start off of the new calendar year with some fresh new artwork! The franchise experienced a enormous year in 2021 as not only did the anime return for a fifth season, but it introduced a third feature movie all-around the environment as very well. This is all while Kohei Horikoshi’s authentic manga series kicked off its closing act as very well, so the franchise has been hitting on various fronts. It is getting ready to have just as significant of a 2022 as well, and celebrated the close of the yr in model. 

For the holiday break year, primary series creator Kohei Horikoshi honored the occasion with a exclusive Winter season getaway sketch that sees Ochaco Uraraka, Shoto Todoroki and more satisfying the Santa Claus obligations. For the commence of the new yr (which will be a Tiger year, in accordance to the Chinese Zodiac), the formal Twitter account for My Hero Academia produced a particular visible showcasing Fat Gum and his group of younger heroes all sporting tiger makeovers to rejoice the start out of 2022. You can check out the new artwork down below: 

2022 is presently shaping up to be rather the 12 months for My Hero Academia. The sixth time of the anime will be using on the Paranormal Liberation Front War of Kohei Horikoshi’s initial manga series. Premiering in October as aspect of the Slide 2022 anime schedule, it is really only a single of the quite a few returning anime enthusiasts are searching ahead to examining out up coming yr. The manga will be heading into unknown territory as effectively as the Last Act of the sequence continues with each and every new chapter and setting up the closing battles in general. 

Horikoshi experienced formerly declared that if his ideas for the Closing Act move along as scheduled, then the manga really should stop inside a year’s time. This means that 2022 is going to be important for the manga sequence, and we could stop up viewing it all occur to an close by this time next yr. Each individual chapter would seem like the collection is going to conclude even more and more, so followers will want to test it out to see what arrives following. 

What do you imagine? How did you like My Hero Academia more than the program of 2021? What are you hoping to see from the anime or manga upcoming yr? Allow us know all of your thoughts about it in the responses! You can even arrive at out to me straight about all factors animated and other neat stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!

Estonia in winter: into the wilds by canoe and ‘bog shoe’ | Estonia holidays

Ahead, the jellied earth sways. As I approach a natural pool at the edge of a wide, wild expanse in central Estonia, the bog feels untrustworthy, if not quite menacing. This far into the Soomaa national park, the ground is so unsure of itself that even trees have given up. My guide, Aivar Ruukel, tells me that it’s not the same animals – wolves and bears are among the creatures that patrol these lands, hoping to find a meal trapped in the mire.

Soomaa map

Elsewhere in this wilderness there are elk and raccoon dogs. Recently, wolverines from the north have been spotted, too. “People have been seeing golden jackals,” says Aivar, “and normally they are in Turkey.” The reason for this extraordinary menagerie is, perhaps inevitably, linked to Estonia’s low human population. Despite being slightly larger than the Netherlands, Estonia has about 7.5{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} of its population, making it one of the most sparsely populated nations in Europe. In Soomaa, it’s easy to believe these stats.

The north of the country – Tallinn and the Baltic Sea coast – was a lot busier, but even in Pärnu, a thriving coastal spa town with a yawning beach and colourful wooden houses, things already felt as though they were thinning out. While in summer it booms with domestic tourism, in autumn and winter it’s sleepy. But I was seeking more isolation still, and so I found myself with Aivar.

His company, Soomaa, specialises in tours of the national park after which it is named. He offers night safaris and multi-day adventures, but I’ve signed up for a day trip, which starts with a paddle along the Navasti river on the edge of the park in a canoe painstakingly fashioned by Aivar from a local aspen. Graceless ducks splash-land nearby as we paddle upriver, while tiny fish leap from the water, desperately trying to escape murderous pike below. From the high reeds on the riverbank, an inscrutable grass snake looks on.

canoe in flooded forest
‘Aqua glade’ may be a nicer word than ‘bog’.

Before venturing into the park, we tuck into lunch at Aivar’s home – a lavish spread of fruits and vegetables grown on the property. While we eat, Aivar describes the problems of hunting, the pressure development is putting on the national park and, more than anything, the glory and goodness of the peat bogs that cover a lot of Soomaa. These, he insists, are primordial, magical places, where flora and fauna have adapted to create something special – and visiting in the colder months adds another dimension to the mystery.

Soomaa roughly translates to “mireland” or “land of bogs”, neither of which sound particularly elegant, even if they are technically accurate. It conjures images of the flatulent stepping stones in Labyrinth’s “Bog of Eternal Stench”, and the word bog is still regularly used in my Scottish home town to mean toilet. Perhaps “water meadow” or “aqua glade” is easier on the ears, I suggest.

“You’ll see when we get there,” says Aivar confidently. “It’s a very beautiful place, very quiet. A wild place, but also delicate.” There has been a lot of talk of nature healing or “rewilding” over the past couple of years, but in this ecosystem, growth and regrowth happen very slowly. “Peat grows just one millimetre a year,” says Aivar.

Cutting or burning peat releases carbon, and the park ensures that the peat contained within it won’t be harvested; mercifully, Estonians tend not to use it as a fuel source these days. Aivar has other concerns about land management, but he’s not about to give me a grim lecture, so we head off to explore.

Aivar with canoes by the Navasti River.
Aivar with canoes by the Navasti River. Photograph: Jamie Lafferty

I follow him through some dark woods while he drops a trail of bog-related facts, like Hansel or Gretel. They’re not uninteresting, but it’s quite hard to focus on statistics about which percentage of Estonia is designated as wetlands – it’s 20{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} – when the undergrowth is so astonishingly fungal. I’ve never seen quite so many mushrooms as on the damp forest floors of Soomaa.

Beyond the trees, the sodden plains ahead mostly comprise sphagnum or peat moss, which looks fairly solid but has the consistency of jelly. In the depths of winter this all freezes then dramatically thaws when it is joined by spring rains to create a “fifth season”. As the riverbanks burst, open bogs turn into lakes, and this is the time of year Aivar gets most use out of his canoes.

Now, though, to avoid sinking into the squidgy ground, we strap on cumbersome red plastic ‘bog shoes’ (basically snowshoes). “A couple of times people have gone into the bog and got pulled out,” says Aivar. “In 15 years, we’ve lost two shoes. Maybe three. Perhaps one day archaeologists will find them and be very confused.” He adds that these boots were first found to be effective on the land by goose-hunters, cranberry foragers “and maybe guys visiting girlfriends on the other side of the bog”.

Aivar in his red plastic ‘bog shoes’.
Aivar in his red plastic ‘bog shoes’. Photograph: Jamie Lafferty

High acidity and water retention mean that boglands aren’t good hosts for trees. A loose forest of aspen, birch and spruce stops abruptly, looking out across the expanse like protesters at a disciplined rally. While mushrooms dominate darker parts of the woods, towards the edge berries come to the fore: blue-, bil-, cloud-, cow-, cran- and even crow-, but no rasp-. Almost all these berries can be used for jams, says Aivar, eating whichever late-season stragglers he finds on low-lying branches.

We head out across the open bogs. As well as being eerily beautiful, the place is also notably silent. Once we get going, however, there’s no ignoring that it’s a great landscape for onomatopoeia: slurp, squidge, slop and, more than anything, squelch. A few established wooden walkways snake across the land, but wearing the shoes and going off-piste is so much more fun, even if I have the approximate gait and grace of a drunkard.

After half an hour or so, we stop at a large natural pool. Like many people, Aivar has become a convert to wild swimming over the past year, and he’d like to give it a try here. I meekly suggest that I don’t have any swimming shorts with me, but my guide is already disrobing, telling me he has towels and not to worry.

As I begin to strip off, trying to ignore the upsetting whiteness of my thighs, he comments: “They say doing this gives you an extra year of life.” Then, as magnificently naked as the day he was born 54 years ago, he adds “I’m actually 172,” and disappears into the cold, coppery water. For a second, I consider running away, but this wild playground is far from civilisation – and my bog shoes are no use for sprinting.

The trip was arranged by Visit Estonia. Aivar runs various day and multi-day tours in Soomaa national park. Guided bogshoeing trips cost €80 per person for a group of two at soomaa.com. While tours of the national park are available all year, there is no walking on the bogs from 23 April to 24 June each year in order to protect nesting birds. For more information see soomaa.com