Journeying for days
Is fun
On the move, on tour
Never one day the same
A different town each night
A different bed to rest our head
Travelling on foot across the South Downs
We set off on a Wednesday morning, padding through a Winchester precinct and immediately stopping for coffee!
A theme of the journeying
From coffee stop to eatery to a place to sleep we went on foot
As the author Steven Wright says
‘Everywhere is within walking distance if you have time’
And apart from the sun going down!…We had all the time in the world – to walk and run all day long.
We had set off from Winchester to make our way all the way to Eastbourne, a town I loved and lived in for twelve years long
When I first arrived there I felt I had come home, and that perhaps I would never leave
But leave I did, to travel the world for another six years as a digital nomad, carrying all I owned in one bag
And soon I knew the planet to be my home
Because home is within
The moment my home
Thich Naht Hanh the Vietnamese monk suggests that to be here now – to experience presence – all we must do is breathe in ‘I have arrived’ and on the out breath ‘I am home’ and to continue this way every step while we journey.
In life
Or along the South Downs Way
By experiencing the present moment – staying in the step – the physical effort is forgotten; in fact it isn’t really of any relevance at all
As the miles go by, they disappeared behind us like living in a waking dream
Beauteous land all around, sweeping hills and vistas of delight. Trees, magnificent, standing tall and plenty. Fields sweeping away and meeting the vast expanse of sky.
People appeared and disappeared as they do in any dream
Old friends so dear were there and then gone.
And on we went
Day after day
Experiencing truly what it is to stay in each step
And let the next take care of itself.
At times the rain came down, at others sunshine bright – and then wind so strong to whip us up and off our feet…
The seven sisters offered themselves to us, to be with, on up and down
And still the mantra remained the same
I have arrived
I am home