So we were off on a wet day and the forecast was for a week of rain but no concern, we were on our way.The forest birds were there because no trees were getting chopped so they were our friends. It was a busy route because it is a challenge and this was obvious on the numbers. We soon left the bitumen, but the track was one where we needed to focus our attention: [...]
We return to Spain a little wiser, a little creakier, a grown up Parkinson person (PLWP) — still alive, still walking, but Parkinson is bringing more friends to walk with us. Some tip toe around me so I chant ‘heal first’ and like a Collie dog it obeys. Some stop me all together so I change direction and sing: “ these boots are made for walking……and they agree. I’m starting to lean to the [...]
We were in the foyer when Tom came up to me and said: “do you want to come to a poetry reading”. This was totally unexpected because I was concentrating on the final kilometre goal. I get very excited when I hear the word poetry though. Uncertainly he looked at me, partly I suppose because my medication hadn’t taken hold. More certainly he said: “Would you like to read a poem”. “Yes, I’d love [...]
Raining as we left our little room in Stavenger. In Norway we really didn’t need to deal with the weather let alone a war. A couple of Ukrainians embraced and cried, as one recognised the other after years at war. The Norwegians didn’t seem to mind as two people hugged each other, and the crowd clapped. We left in the glorious rain and I say glorious because when it’s happened we welcomed it eg [...]
We completed the other hills on the western side by sidling up to them with no more than a glance to thank them for diverting large expected rainfall away from Bergen. Mountains can do this I believe, in the form of Orographical rainfall. We slowly turn the big boat around, and through a Sydney Harbour size fjord with small islands creating a guard of honour until we let loose one side and no longer [...]
We started our walk in beautiful Bergen after walking through one of the oldest parts and you could tell it blind folded cause this was their busy fish market opened every day. It was the guiding scent for many a popular place. Across a bridge then near vertically up, it started with stairs. Because of ‘af’ I decided on the more gradual winding road than the stairs, owing to my atrial fibrillation. Then the [...]
We had a birthday party today. Very small but relatively large for those in the know. Recently I have found myself in the right place just when something important happened. This woman (86 today) and her two girls, I would say about in their 50s, settled in for breakfast. I had built a bit of a relationship with them the day before and thus had got through the small talk. They had come to [...]
We met him as we entered our new home for a few nights, Trondheim. It was our last stop but because of paths being closed it was not, so we will spend time discovering the other tracks because we have kilometres to do. We warmed to him straight away as he was interested in similar philosophers, mystics, great thinkers over recent times and us. Names like Schiller, Jung, and Ghandi were not just other [...]
Jack dragged himself out of the potentially deadly marshes dragging his tent behind him. We met him at breakfast just the other day. He is a pilgrim (this can be anyone who thinks they are a pilgrim from a dedicated church goer to a person who loves to travel abroad, that’s us). Now I met him again, he looked 10 years beyond his tender 40 years and he was having breakfast. He was in [...]
We had just completed a fairly long day of 25kms, Corrie was at home looking after her unhealed elbow, sore back and painful toes, a bigger deal than she will let on. As I continued past an athletics field I saw this bent over woman (about our age) walking along using poles. From a non alarming distance I asked her if they were working for her to which she replied “sort of”. After chatting [...]
