Well it seems like I have almost come to the end of what I can do and it is not even near enough but that is the reality of this sort of venture.
I am the one who has been worrying. Alison keeps telling me all will be well but I cannot see that at the moment as we have damn few places assured along the way (nothing as yet in Northern France, for example.... but we are just going to do our best and trust in the good will of strangers!
Just been speaking to my old friend Roger, who was wishing us all the best and am thinking that I have been so single minded these last few weeks that I have hardly raised my head above the parapet! Well, this evening I make a selection of curries and sit down to a small feast of flavours while trying to relax knowing that tomorrow we will be heading off and that will be that.
As I contemplate the sort of food I will cook I am eager to choose the sort of things that Alison will enjoy as tomorrow is her birthday and it also strikes me that we will be starting this venture on Alison’s birthday (26th March) and basically ending it with mine (25th July).... I am not sure if that has any special significance but it is certainly worth reflecting on.
As I waited in the jewellers on our high street today I was chatting to the man who runs the shop – his son was mending Alison’s gold chain which will carry her little cross all the way to Santiago. The man mistook me for some other customer and began talking about Egypt.
After sorting out that mix up he asked where I was going – was I going on holiday - and I explained that I was going on pilgrimage. He got quite excited after I explained what that was. As a devout Muslim he was fascinated to hear that Christians did such things. “And you pray every day?” he asked. I assured him that I did and he was doubly pleased. He has been on the high street for over thirty years and one of the things that he was now able to do, now that his son was taking up the lion’s share of work, was spend a bit more time praying. He would not retire but he could now find the time to enjoy both God and his wife’s company more! “And that’s what you will be enjoying on your pilgrimage!” he exclaimed.
Which led me to think that the risks are all worth taking for such a rich return!
I am just bad at letting go – letting go of control, letting go of risk aversion, letting go of all the daily responsibilities I try to fulfil with my family (along with letting go of the guilt that I feel because I will not be there for them, etc) and letting go of the worries and so on produced by the uncertainty of the situation plus a lot more....
Tricky little situation, Ian. After tomorrow it will all be in God’s hands.
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Blogs ahoy!
Just a short note to direct you all to the new addition to the fold (see http://walsinghamtovezelay.blogspot.com/)or click on the "from Walsingham to Santiago de Compostela" link in the box to your right....
It will serve as the place where basic route info will be held as its main purpose is to provide you with the route itinerary.
Please note that the mileage is best estimate at time of going to "print" and in some cases we hope it is our worst estimate, too!
There are days of rest built in and these may vary according to circumstances. However, the period in Spain where we seem to be in the same spot for several days is the time when we will be making a short detour from our pilgrimage to attend our middle daughter's (Dominique's)graduation from Durham University!
Also, this is a copy from a copy of a much used and abused spreadsheet which has seen so many changes there may be a strong chance that there is an odd mistake or two in there. I will keep checking and improving as I go along, so please be patient. It will be a reliable guide for all those planning to meet/join/walk with or support us in some other way.
Keep watching this (and other) space(s) and God Bless!!!
It will serve as the place where basic route info will be held as its main purpose is to provide you with the route itinerary.
Please note that the mileage is best estimate at time of going to "print" and in some cases we hope it is our worst estimate, too!
There are days of rest built in and these may vary according to circumstances. However, the period in Spain where we seem to be in the same spot for several days is the time when we will be making a short detour from our pilgrimage to attend our middle daughter's (Dominique's)graduation from Durham University!
Also, this is a copy from a copy of a much used and abused spreadsheet which has seen so many changes there may be a strong chance that there is an odd mistake or two in there. I will keep checking and improving as I go along, so please be patient. It will be a reliable guide for all those planning to meet/join/walk with or support us in some other way.
Keep watching this (and other) space(s) and God Bless!!!
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Building Bridges (well, crossing them)
Yikes, I’ve reworked the route again!
Yes, I have been worrying over the early part of the route in France and trying to find a better solution. I chose the route initially because I was going to use a GR for much of the way. Of course, GRs are designed to lead you through the best bits of the countryside rather than simply get you from A to B efficiently so I began to shave off corners, cut across land to avoid lots of windy bits, etc.
Then we decided that it would be a better idea to strike across country to Chartres instead of Paris partly because the route would be free of a lot of the heavy industrial stuff and partly because the 1946 walk went through Chartres too. That was fine but getting across the Seine early was an issue. I haven’t mentioned it on the blog but that river is a pretty big, meandering old thing with a limited number of crossings. The first two take you across at Honfleur and Tancarville. The Honfleur crossing looked impossible by foot and, although the Google maps people claimed it was possible to walk across the Tancarville one I have not been able to confirm this.
Also, the roads and paths just made it all a bit too difficult and I was beginning to wonder if we would have to get a bus across the bridge.....
After doing that research I have made a simple but very good change to the route which solves a lot of these problems!
We will be going across the Channel over night from Portsmouth to Le Havre, will have breakfast in Le Havre then get a bus to Honfleur where we will start out walk! It pretty much cuts out all of the nasty stuff, keeps us walking in lovely rural spleandour and is a bit more direct, too!
One simple bus ride at the beginning makes all the difference...phew!
Just thought I would let you know.
Yes, I have been worrying over the early part of the route in France and trying to find a better solution. I chose the route initially because I was going to use a GR for much of the way. Of course, GRs are designed to lead you through the best bits of the countryside rather than simply get you from A to B efficiently so I began to shave off corners, cut across land to avoid lots of windy bits, etc.
Then we decided that it would be a better idea to strike across country to Chartres instead of Paris partly because the route would be free of a lot of the heavy industrial stuff and partly because the 1946 walk went through Chartres too. That was fine but getting across the Seine early was an issue. I haven’t mentioned it on the blog but that river is a pretty big, meandering old thing with a limited number of crossings. The first two take you across at Honfleur and Tancarville. The Honfleur crossing looked impossible by foot and, although the Google maps people claimed it was possible to walk across the Tancarville one I have not been able to confirm this.
Also, the roads and paths just made it all a bit too difficult and I was beginning to wonder if we would have to get a bus across the bridge.....
After doing that research I have made a simple but very good change to the route which solves a lot of these problems!
We will be going across the Channel over night from Portsmouth to Le Havre, will have breakfast in Le Havre then get a bus to Honfleur where we will start out walk! It pretty much cuts out all of the nasty stuff, keeps us walking in lovely rural spleandour and is a bit more direct, too!
One simple bus ride at the beginning makes all the difference...phew!
Just thought I would let you know.
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Six Bells a ringing
I was just reflecting on the walk we did the other day.
We stopped at a pub called the Six Bells on the High Street in Brentford. We needed a stop and the Fullers sign seemed to call to us from across the road as we walked along. It was obviously a newly refurbished place and was looking well looked after with a nice smell of food cooking (the food also looked good as people across the bar were served as we waited to get a drink).
Alison was sitting in a comfortable leather arm chair as I wandered up to the bar and an old chap standing by his half pint said hello to me. He asked me if I was local and when I said I wasn’t he grinned and said he had thought so.
We got chatting as I waited and it turned out that he had been coming to the pub on and off for nearly 60 years and had actually worked in the place over a 40 year period – some of it part time and some of it full time. I asked him about what he had done and what the pub had been like and learned how the pub’s lay out had changed over the years, how it had declined and even that it had been a major international darts competition venue in the fifties and sixties. He talkked animatedly about how he had been the cellar manager for a long time here and that it had been a Fullers pub for as long as he had known the place.
He was a spritely 78 years old, keen to have a chat in his local, deaf in one ear, with a lovely sense of humour and he took delight in telling me how the refurbishments had meant that he had been able to walk through the front door to the left of the building for the first time in almost twenty years. He named the couples who had run the pub over the decades and how it had become a dirtier, less respectable place in recent years.
All of this took just a few minutes and when I had been served I said cheers to him and sat down with Alison. About five minutes later he popped across from the bar and gave Alison a boiled sweet saying that it was to help her keep up her energy for the rest of our walk. He chatted briefly to some of the other people in the bar as he finished his drink then he got ready to go, stopping briefly to wish us luck. I stood up and shook his hand and wished him all the best and he took his leave with a happy grin on his face.
Being Mr Memory Man I had forgotten his name by the time I had sat down with my pint but he reminded me so much of my dad that I found the whole encounter quite touching. Like my dad he obviously thought that you should be able to say hello to people as you pass them on the street and chat to people when you meet them in pubs and in other public places such as bus stops and Dr’s waiting rooms. The refurbished pub was not quite the sort of place he would have wanted to be but it did not take much for it to be a reasonably pleasant and friendly place despite itself. I hope he keeps on finding other people willing to chat with him on a regular basis.
It also touched a chord in me regarding the things I am writing about on the subject of pilgrimage. He is definitely someone we encountered on the way who enriched the journey for us. He did not reject us because we were strangers/aliens or outsiders. He didn’t reject us because we had backpacks and were going on a relatively long walk. These things made us appear more interesting to him. He was one brief encounter heralding many more; a glimpse of what is to come.
I look forward to meeting so many more new faces and, when we cross the Channel I just hope my French will be up to it!
We stopped at a pub called the Six Bells on the High Street in Brentford. We needed a stop and the Fullers sign seemed to call to us from across the road as we walked along. It was obviously a newly refurbished place and was looking well looked after with a nice smell of food cooking (the food also looked good as people across the bar were served as we waited to get a drink).
Alison was sitting in a comfortable leather arm chair as I wandered up to the bar and an old chap standing by his half pint said hello to me. He asked me if I was local and when I said I wasn’t he grinned and said he had thought so.
We got chatting as I waited and it turned out that he had been coming to the pub on and off for nearly 60 years and had actually worked in the place over a 40 year period – some of it part time and some of it full time. I asked him about what he had done and what the pub had been like and learned how the pub’s lay out had changed over the years, how it had declined and even that it had been a major international darts competition venue in the fifties and sixties. He talkked animatedly about how he had been the cellar manager for a long time here and that it had been a Fullers pub for as long as he had known the place.
He was a spritely 78 years old, keen to have a chat in his local, deaf in one ear, with a lovely sense of humour and he took delight in telling me how the refurbishments had meant that he had been able to walk through the front door to the left of the building for the first time in almost twenty years. He named the couples who had run the pub over the decades and how it had become a dirtier, less respectable place in recent years.
All of this took just a few minutes and when I had been served I said cheers to him and sat down with Alison. About five minutes later he popped across from the bar and gave Alison a boiled sweet saying that it was to help her keep up her energy for the rest of our walk. He chatted briefly to some of the other people in the bar as he finished his drink then he got ready to go, stopping briefly to wish us luck. I stood up and shook his hand and wished him all the best and he took his leave with a happy grin on his face.
Being Mr Memory Man I had forgotten his name by the time I had sat down with my pint but he reminded me so much of my dad that I found the whole encounter quite touching. Like my dad he obviously thought that you should be able to say hello to people as you pass them on the street and chat to people when you meet them in pubs and in other public places such as bus stops and Dr’s waiting rooms. The refurbished pub was not quite the sort of place he would have wanted to be but it did not take much for it to be a reasonably pleasant and friendly place despite itself. I hope he keeps on finding other people willing to chat with him on a regular basis.
It also touched a chord in me regarding the things I am writing about on the subject of pilgrimage. He is definitely someone we encountered on the way who enriched the journey for us. He did not reject us because we were strangers/aliens or outsiders. He didn’t reject us because we had backpacks and were going on a relatively long walk. These things made us appear more interesting to him. He was one brief encounter heralding many more; a glimpse of what is to come.
I look forward to meeting so many more new faces and, when we cross the Channel I just hope my French will be up to it!
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Stepping out
Wow! It has been a while since I was able to sit down and write a blog! Still, I have been very busy.
For example, Monday was the “full test” time for us. We packed our bags again making sure we had everything we were going to take or an equivalent and set out. Our aim was to walk for twenty miles or so and see what happened.
We walked to Kingston from New Malden then followed the Thames Path (northern side from Teddington) to Putney and then on a bit.... We also tried to swap one of our new sleeping bags as we have two right handed ones and want a left handed one so we can zip them up. We had not realised they were right/left until after we bought them. No luck sadly but might be able to sort it out before we go.
I’m afraid that it’s still work in progress to some extent. My feeble feet started to show potential signs of a blister between eighteen and twenty miles – one on the edge of the ball of the right foot ... classic pressure blister. Not sure if I should increase padding (different socks, two layers, etc.) or what. I feel that the arch on my left foot has gradually lowered and that my right foot is taking some of the strain so I will get that checked out at the docs asap. It could just be that my left foot is a bit old and does not move as well as it should... Hmm, difficult but not as bad as it looks, I think.
Alison’s backpack rubs on her hip. We encountered this a bit on the last trial and adjusted (we thought) the bag to address this. A bit more adjusting might solve this, too.
I spent today with string, lots of maps and a note book and have refined the route south from New Malden to Portsmouth. It should be a good walk!
So, we just keep plugging along, trying to prepare as much as possible while dealing with lots of life along the way.
I said to Alison that I have been too busy to even do the usual thinking about Student Cross. By now I am usually checking out the long term weather forecasts and thinking about things to prepare for the coming pilgrimage but my mind is on what follows this. I expected her to agree but it appears she has been doing all that thinking and worrying. Perhaps she is doing mine for me.
My lack of focus on the coming week of Student Cross is also unusual because we are walking a new Leg this year (well new to us; it is in effect one of the oldest Legs). So I have not checked up on the route we will take, Have no idea what the lunch and night stops are like and have not thought about music, etc. The one thing I have thought about is that we will meet two of our daughters during the week as Kettering Leg (our Leg) will meet up with Midland Leg (our daughters’ Leg) in Wisbeck and share the night stop. It will be the first time we have been on a Leg that meets up and spends the night together with another Leg for many years.
It transpires that Alison has thought about and worried about all of the above, which is OK, really. I can’t get to grips with where we will sleep for the first month or so of our walk so am happy to let the Student Cross week lift me up and carry me along (metaphorically speaking, of course). Alison is a person of stronger faith and believes that it will all work out OK in the end – we’ll do what we can and put the rest in God’s hands.
This is why we feel we can walk in solidarity with the homeless and badly housed and can spend our time reflecting on hospitality...
In the mean time, I’ll keep plugging away at things and try to toughen up the soles of my feet!
Peace to you all
For example, Monday was the “full test” time for us. We packed our bags again making sure we had everything we were going to take or an equivalent and set out. Our aim was to walk for twenty miles or so and see what happened.
We walked to Kingston from New Malden then followed the Thames Path (northern side from Teddington) to Putney and then on a bit.... We also tried to swap one of our new sleeping bags as we have two right handed ones and want a left handed one so we can zip them up. We had not realised they were right/left until after we bought them. No luck sadly but might be able to sort it out before we go.
I’m afraid that it’s still work in progress to some extent. My feeble feet started to show potential signs of a blister between eighteen and twenty miles – one on the edge of the ball of the right foot ... classic pressure blister. Not sure if I should increase padding (different socks, two layers, etc.) or what. I feel that the arch on my left foot has gradually lowered and that my right foot is taking some of the strain so I will get that checked out at the docs asap. It could just be that my left foot is a bit old and does not move as well as it should... Hmm, difficult but not as bad as it looks, I think.
Alison’s backpack rubs on her hip. We encountered this a bit on the last trial and adjusted (we thought) the bag to address this. A bit more adjusting might solve this, too.
I spent today with string, lots of maps and a note book and have refined the route south from New Malden to Portsmouth. It should be a good walk!
So, we just keep plugging along, trying to prepare as much as possible while dealing with lots of life along the way.
I said to Alison that I have been too busy to even do the usual thinking about Student Cross. By now I am usually checking out the long term weather forecasts and thinking about things to prepare for the coming pilgrimage but my mind is on what follows this. I expected her to agree but it appears she has been doing all that thinking and worrying. Perhaps she is doing mine for me.
My lack of focus on the coming week of Student Cross is also unusual because we are walking a new Leg this year (well new to us; it is in effect one of the oldest Legs). So I have not checked up on the route we will take, Have no idea what the lunch and night stops are like and have not thought about music, etc. The one thing I have thought about is that we will meet two of our daughters during the week as Kettering Leg (our Leg) will meet up with Midland Leg (our daughters’ Leg) in Wisbeck and share the night stop. It will be the first time we have been on a Leg that meets up and spends the night together with another Leg for many years.
It transpires that Alison has thought about and worried about all of the above, which is OK, really. I can’t get to grips with where we will sleep for the first month or so of our walk so am happy to let the Student Cross week lift me up and carry me along (metaphorically speaking, of course). Alison is a person of stronger faith and believes that it will all work out OK in the end – we’ll do what we can and put the rest in God’s hands.
This is why we feel we can walk in solidarity with the homeless and badly housed and can spend our time reflecting on hospitality...
In the mean time, I’ll keep plugging away at things and try to toughen up the soles of my feet!
Peace to you all
Thursday, 4 March 2010
A short interlude
I was going through my files shortly after saving a sponsorship form in one of my foloders and I came across this. I wrote it partly to recall an experience I had as I walked to Walsingham solo during a cold winter week a few years ago. But it is also written with one or two places in France on my mind. I expect that Alison and I will have a few mornings a bit like this one quite soon. So, here's a rough and ready little ditty for you to consider....
Quiet exit at first light
We open the door quietly
and the cool air blows gently across the path
then past us into the dark hall
where the clock loudly ticks below the wooden stairway
Morning is still emerging
from somewhere behind the old church
as we begin our walk.
The earliest birds are choosing their places
utilising centuries of accumulated practice,
and their ecstatic songs reverberate
along the quiet medieval streets.
An occasional car or van
rushes along the road
the beams from their lights
climbing walls and swinging past us
projecting a cool sense of reluctance
as the drivers make their way to work.
Each step we take increases our hunger
and the thought of coffee clings to us like the early mist
so we check the map
to estimate the location
of our possible breakfast
and then we focus on the road ahead.
We reach the path above the river valley
in time to watch the full splendour
of the sun illuminating the bank of mist below
in ridiculously beautiful colours
then we zip up our jackets as we descend
into the dull grey layer of mist
below the morning extravaganza.
Quiet exit at first light
We open the door quietly
and the cool air blows gently across the path
then past us into the dark hall
where the clock loudly ticks below the wooden stairway
Morning is still emerging
from somewhere behind the old church
as we begin our walk.
The earliest birds are choosing their places
utilising centuries of accumulated practice,
and their ecstatic songs reverberate
along the quiet medieval streets.
An occasional car or van
rushes along the road
the beams from their lights
climbing walls and swinging past us
projecting a cool sense of reluctance
as the drivers make their way to work.
Each step we take increases our hunger
and the thought of coffee clings to us like the early mist
so we check the map
to estimate the location
of our possible breakfast
and then we focus on the road ahead.
We reach the path above the river valley
in time to watch the full splendour
of the sun illuminating the bank of mist below
in ridiculously beautiful colours
then we zip up our jackets as we descend
into the dull grey layer of mist
below the morning extravaganza.
Return of the natives
Last night Alison and I went to a meeting in central London on setting up a co-housing project. This is where a group of like minded people get together and buy a large place together (possibly ex-industrial) and either convert it or rebuild with a view to producing a range of homes with a set of community shared facilities. So, we would share gardens and growing facilities, eco-friendly systems such as wind generators and solar panels, etc and some communal gathering, eating and work/creative spaces, etc. There would also be space for a library and some guest suits – Student Cross reunions with parties in the common room would be awesome!!! There would also be good economies of scale with regard to buying in bulk, car shares, etc.. It all sounded very interesting and we will explore it further but couldn’t do more than express our interest as we are not going to be around for a few months!
It set us thinking about our return. We know that the effect of being on the road for several months will be very interesting, to say the least. In conversation with friends who have done similar things we have heard about how you return and open your wardrobe, look at the clothes inside and wonder why you have so much – what are you going to do with all this stuff??? It also leaves you feeling like you should be on the go, moving to the next place, etc.
Part of the advice we have received suggests that we should take a couple of days to return home. “Don’t fly,” they say, “take a train, take some time and gradually work your way back into your old life.” I think we may take that advice, too. According to our timetable, we should be entering Santiago around the 20th of July so that would give us time to get home and settled before my birthday which just happens to be on St James’ Day. Of course, as this is a Jubilee year it means that St James’ Day is on a Sunday.
In reality, I expect that the effects of the walk will actually be quite profound and long lasting (hopefully not in a negative way) and that what will happen is that our already apparently simple lives will seem far too complicated and encumbered and we will seek to live more simply and possibly with far less things. Although I cannot believe that I will want to shed any of our books! Rather, I expect to fall upon them with glee having been restricted in that area due to circumstances!
So, thinking about what we will do on our return and considering co-housing projects as a way forward seem like compatible things. Of course, it is something that Alison and I have looked at in a variety of different guises over the years and I have put together a variety of different models for this. It is very gratifying (and scary) to discover that the ideas I have been playing with have been tried and tested and appear to work. The restrictions stemming from the ridiculous price of property in this country and the complete lack of government support for such ideas have put paid to a lot of efforts in the UK but in other countries the idea flourishes and grows. Perhaps if we cannot do it in London we will have to go into Europe and join a project in Paris or Amsterdam.... And perhaps we will still have regular visitors even if we do slip away for a simpler urban life in foreign climes! What Ho ... we haven’t even started the walk yet!
It set us thinking about our return. We know that the effect of being on the road for several months will be very interesting, to say the least. In conversation with friends who have done similar things we have heard about how you return and open your wardrobe, look at the clothes inside and wonder why you have so much – what are you going to do with all this stuff??? It also leaves you feeling like you should be on the go, moving to the next place, etc.
Part of the advice we have received suggests that we should take a couple of days to return home. “Don’t fly,” they say, “take a train, take some time and gradually work your way back into your old life.” I think we may take that advice, too. According to our timetable, we should be entering Santiago around the 20th of July so that would give us time to get home and settled before my birthday which just happens to be on St James’ Day. Of course, as this is a Jubilee year it means that St James’ Day is on a Sunday.
In reality, I expect that the effects of the walk will actually be quite profound and long lasting (hopefully not in a negative way) and that what will happen is that our already apparently simple lives will seem far too complicated and encumbered and we will seek to live more simply and possibly with far less things. Although I cannot believe that I will want to shed any of our books! Rather, I expect to fall upon them with glee having been restricted in that area due to circumstances!
So, thinking about what we will do on our return and considering co-housing projects as a way forward seem like compatible things. Of course, it is something that Alison and I have looked at in a variety of different guises over the years and I have put together a variety of different models for this. It is very gratifying (and scary) to discover that the ideas I have been playing with have been tried and tested and appear to work. The restrictions stemming from the ridiculous price of property in this country and the complete lack of government support for such ideas have put paid to a lot of efforts in the UK but in other countries the idea flourishes and grows. Perhaps if we cannot do it in London we will have to go into Europe and join a project in Paris or Amsterdam.... And perhaps we will still have regular visitors even if we do slip away for a simpler urban life in foreign climes! What Ho ... we haven’t even started the walk yet!
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Testing …testing … one …two …one …two
Time is drawing near and so much to do!
Still, we did carry out a little test of our equipment so far.
We packed our rucksacks with all of our gear (and some substitutes for things yet to get) and took them for a ten-mile walk along the Thames Path from Shepperton to Kingston. I planned the route so that it would be about 10 miles in total and we did it in 3½ hrs including a half hour break for lunch (we started quite late). It gave us the chance to get a feel for what we will be carrying and how the new bags feel. We did some adjustments and played around with the bags to get them just right and I think things will be fine.
Of course, we are taking what is generally regarded as two day-sacks rather than full rucksacks. The bags weigh less than a kilo each and Alison’s is a 25 litre while mine is a 35 litre sack. This means that the tight restrictions we want to have in terms of weight and numbers of things are enforced by the limitations of our bags. It was a bit scary to see (what I already knew would be the case) that my boots take up more than a quarter of the space in the bag when I have to carry them!
Such severe restrictions are important as we will be walking between 15 and 20 miles a day and will be carrying everything with us. Weight can cause pain and blisters folks! So, well distributed and properly fitted bags are vital as are the right footwear, etc.
We will do a longer trial (around the 20 mile mark) in about a week’s time and see how that works out. Of course, we have already revised our packing techniques to make things better on the next trial.
In keeping with the theme of the tests we will walk along the Thames path again, this time from Kingston towards central London. River walks are excellent for all sorts of reasons but for our trials they provide us with a number of advantages. As well as being close to us, they also provide us with a good flexibility. So, for example, we can walk to Putney and beyond from Kingston and have a wide range of places where we can stop and rest, find a good pub to have a drink or food in and there are several tube and railway stations dotted along the way if we decide we need to stop the walk at any given point.
Added bonuses include the delights of walking through parts of London that people do not seem to spend time going to or through. It seems that river (and canal) paths through urban spaces are only used by the occasional cyclist and sporadic dog walkers. You can meet one or two other “walkers” on the paths but they are mainly the exception rather than the rule. So you can enjoy excellent views, unusual encounters with familiar landmarks and lots of urban/social/natural history in relative peace while walking through fairly busy urban locations! Alison and I like urban walking just as much as rural rambles as we enjoy looking at the build environment and the juxtaposition between urban and rural aspects of the landscape. Other people’s houses and gardens can surprise and fascinate, too!
Going for a walk also helps us focus on the thing in hand. We will be centring our lives on this very thing for a few months and so it is good that we actually enjoy doing it. No doubt there will be times when this will be a chore but like most chores, once you get going with them you soon fall into a rhythm and it becomes less bothersome.
I am writing about what makes a pilgrimage a pilgrimage at the moment and so you will have noticed that I have been touching on the theme of what’s the difference between a walking holiday and a pilgrimage (that sounds like one of those jokes, doesn’t it … all suggestions for a punch line are welcome – just thought of one – one you go some where to do some walking and the other you walk to go somewhere – sorry, not that good). Anyway, one of the things I have concluded is that it may be a natural thing to experience pilgrimage i.e. pilgrimage is a natural human experience. The intention may be to simply have a good time walking from A to B but the process becomes unintentionally life changing in some way.
I was listening to an interview with the woman who led an all woman team to the South Pole recently. She described the process of going on expedition as being quite profoundly spiritual for most of the people. She said that this was mainly because they had to walk in single file and could not communicate with each other during the periods of walking. So the first week was spent thinking about what they hadn’t done at home, what they wanted to do and other practical day to day things. The second week was spent thinking about their lives; their mistakes and failures, successes and problems, their relationships and decisions, etc.. After that, they were left with the bigger questions – why are we here, what does my life mean, where should we go from here, what’s most important to me now, etc.?
OK, so that was an intense version of a “walking holiday” and they were all going for specific, idealistic reasons, so that idealism was already there. But the experience of making that shared physical journey was part of the formula and, even when you are travelling without that enforced solitude you still go through that process of working from the daily and mundane to the more profound as you get deeper into your journey. I suspect that if you are already walking with a faith-based or spiritual focus, the things you do/say and think may help you move towards the profound more quickly, too.
All I have to do now is finish my writing, get lots of other little things written, sort out night stops for all the places not yet sorted, clear up and clean out the house so we can leave it in good order and a few other million things….. Argh! I think I will be focusing a lot on the mundane for a while yet!
Still, we did carry out a little test of our equipment so far.
We packed our rucksacks with all of our gear (and some substitutes for things yet to get) and took them for a ten-mile walk along the Thames Path from Shepperton to Kingston. I planned the route so that it would be about 10 miles in total and we did it in 3½ hrs including a half hour break for lunch (we started quite late). It gave us the chance to get a feel for what we will be carrying and how the new bags feel. We did some adjustments and played around with the bags to get them just right and I think things will be fine.
Of course, we are taking what is generally regarded as two day-sacks rather than full rucksacks. The bags weigh less than a kilo each and Alison’s is a 25 litre while mine is a 35 litre sack. This means that the tight restrictions we want to have in terms of weight and numbers of things are enforced by the limitations of our bags. It was a bit scary to see (what I already knew would be the case) that my boots take up more than a quarter of the space in the bag when I have to carry them!
Such severe restrictions are important as we will be walking between 15 and 20 miles a day and will be carrying everything with us. Weight can cause pain and blisters folks! So, well distributed and properly fitted bags are vital as are the right footwear, etc.
We will do a longer trial (around the 20 mile mark) in about a week’s time and see how that works out. Of course, we have already revised our packing techniques to make things better on the next trial.
In keeping with the theme of the tests we will walk along the Thames path again, this time from Kingston towards central London. River walks are excellent for all sorts of reasons but for our trials they provide us with a number of advantages. As well as being close to us, they also provide us with a good flexibility. So, for example, we can walk to Putney and beyond from Kingston and have a wide range of places where we can stop and rest, find a good pub to have a drink or food in and there are several tube and railway stations dotted along the way if we decide we need to stop the walk at any given point.
Added bonuses include the delights of walking through parts of London that people do not seem to spend time going to or through. It seems that river (and canal) paths through urban spaces are only used by the occasional cyclist and sporadic dog walkers. You can meet one or two other “walkers” on the paths but they are mainly the exception rather than the rule. So you can enjoy excellent views, unusual encounters with familiar landmarks and lots of urban/social/natural history in relative peace while walking through fairly busy urban locations! Alison and I like urban walking just as much as rural rambles as we enjoy looking at the build environment and the juxtaposition between urban and rural aspects of the landscape. Other people’s houses and gardens can surprise and fascinate, too!
Going for a walk also helps us focus on the thing in hand. We will be centring our lives on this very thing for a few months and so it is good that we actually enjoy doing it. No doubt there will be times when this will be a chore but like most chores, once you get going with them you soon fall into a rhythm and it becomes less bothersome.
I am writing about what makes a pilgrimage a pilgrimage at the moment and so you will have noticed that I have been touching on the theme of what’s the difference between a walking holiday and a pilgrimage (that sounds like one of those jokes, doesn’t it … all suggestions for a punch line are welcome – just thought of one – one you go some where to do some walking and the other you walk to go somewhere – sorry, not that good). Anyway, one of the things I have concluded is that it may be a natural thing to experience pilgrimage i.e. pilgrimage is a natural human experience. The intention may be to simply have a good time walking from A to B but the process becomes unintentionally life changing in some way.
I was listening to an interview with the woman who led an all woman team to the South Pole recently. She described the process of going on expedition as being quite profoundly spiritual for most of the people. She said that this was mainly because they had to walk in single file and could not communicate with each other during the periods of walking. So the first week was spent thinking about what they hadn’t done at home, what they wanted to do and other practical day to day things. The second week was spent thinking about their lives; their mistakes and failures, successes and problems, their relationships and decisions, etc.. After that, they were left with the bigger questions – why are we here, what does my life mean, where should we go from here, what’s most important to me now, etc.?
OK, so that was an intense version of a “walking holiday” and they were all going for specific, idealistic reasons, so that idealism was already there. But the experience of making that shared physical journey was part of the formula and, even when you are travelling without that enforced solitude you still go through that process of working from the daily and mundane to the more profound as you get deeper into your journey. I suspect that if you are already walking with a faith-based or spiritual focus, the things you do/say and think may help you move towards the profound more quickly, too.
All I have to do now is finish my writing, get lots of other little things written, sort out night stops for all the places not yet sorted, clear up and clean out the house so we can leave it in good order and a few other million things….. Argh! I think I will be focusing a lot on the mundane for a while yet!
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