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!