And wildness, at its basic and unreconstructed finest, becomes ever more attractive every time that voice of sanity echoes around my head.
All tagged beach
And wildness, at its basic and unreconstructed finest, becomes ever more attractive every time that voice of sanity echoes around my head.
How satisfying to sometimes take a step back from life.
Even if just for a moment
I didn't want to push things too much. I was reminded that only a few months before I was using a walking stick and could barely get out of the house.
There is peace and solitude in wildness. Skies, grey and inpenetrable, and wind fierce enough to leave even the strongest of us staggering for a moment.
We visited somewhere rather wonderful just the other day. Somewhere spectacular and beautiful, a place that we both loved.
A place that I decided to write a few words about here.
But also a place that I do not want to share.
Actually, the day had already started in spectacular fashion when, hearing a whole lot of noise outside, we looked out of the window and saw wave after wave of geese flying overhead. There were thousands, all honking in the way that geese do, flying across the dull and damp sky.
The morning was lovely, blue skies and mild for mid October. We passed the uninteresting hours travelling away from the South East listening to the radio and finding random things to discuss. Who would have guessed that almost every other car on the M40 through Oxfordshire would have been a black Range Rover?
And I smile knowingly and allow them a glimpse, no more, into a world that I know they will love and want to know more about. Everyone does, that's the thing. Every time, that story, it's always a winner.
Because whilst this stage may not have quite been the best, it was also not quite the last. But on both counts it was pretty close and that’s good enough for me right now.
But we picked things up again in a way that could very well be described as simple. A little like one of our earlier stages, we decided to do a short walk to make it easier to get back on track.
A strange title for a walk along the coast, I can hear you thinking. And yes, you would be right.
And what I am trying to explain here, in a very long winded way, is that, after all of the planning for our walk, and despite my best efforts, we ended up with a little bit left over.
For every day that blows us away with its staggering and breathtaking beauty and challenging hill climbs there will inevitably be something a little more normal, and flatter, to follow.
And, as is often the way with a beginning like this, once she had actually been seen, well, she just seemed to stay seen.
Unexpectedly, if I am being honest, as the grey and overcast weather had seemed set for the season. But blue skies appeared and so did the people. It was that kind of day.
Perhaps only those with a heightened sense of time would venture out in such conditions, to walk the shifting, crunching shingle and to hold a defiant face up to the weather.
I like those the best. Where we just do something on the spur of the moment and live with the consequences, whatever they may be.
There is something about being around water that is clearly beneficial to so many of us. It is almost as if we sub-consciously give ourselves permission to relax and breathe again when we find ourselves beside a sandy beach, lake or river.
We talk about composition and narrative. The use of subtleties and vagaries, encouraging depth and intrigue.