12,297 Steps Of Feeling

24,445 Steps: Lounging In The Sunshine

1626 Steps
Lounging in the sunshine

1926 Steps
The call of the open road

3202 Steps

7340 Steps
The sparkle of the water
The hum of the midges

8304 Steps
The soft green silvery shimmer
Seeded heads of grass sway in the breeze
A path once soft mud shin deep
Now dry, hardened ruts
Unkind to the ankles
But far less messy

9294 Steps
Fluffy seeds fly the nest

11780 Steps

  


















12578 Steps
The sound of the sea thunders below
The horizon indefinite in the heat haze

13361 Steps
The comforting aroma of bluebells and grass
I move through the landscape
I merge
Not the detached viewer
But the property of the universe
Part of the hugeness I hear in the voice of the sea
And feel in the textures and colours around me

16814 Steps

24445
Hot and sweaty
Skin stinging from time in the sun
And oh so very happy

One Day......

One day I may be able to write what it is I have to say in a fluid, succinct and eloquent way. Until then the words of others do the job beautifully.......

'Pilgrimage walks a delicate line between spiritual and the material in its emphasis on the story and its setting for spirituality, it is pursued in terms of the most material details- where relics are or the holy water flows. Or perhaps it reconciles the the spiritual and the material for to go on a pilgrimage is to make the body and its actions express the desires and beliefs of the soul. Pilgrimage unites belief with action, thinking with doing and it makes sense that this harmony is achieved when the sacred has material presence and location.'

'When pilgrims begin to walk several things usually begin to happen to their perceptions of the world which continue over the course of their journey: they develop a changing sense of time, a heightening of the senses and a new awareness of their bodies and the landscape......In the experience of walking, each step is a thought. You can't escape yourself.'

'In going on pilgrimage, one has left behind the complications of one's place in the world- family, attachments, rank, duties and become a walker among walkers, for there is no aristocracy among pilgrims save that of achievement and dedication.'

Wanderlust Rebecca Solnit

18,807 Running Strides & Walking Steps Through The Coastal Mist

7903 Strides
It took me 7903 strides of running to realise that I wanted to be walking with my camera. After yesterday's 14 mile run my body was happy to be moving out on the coast again but needed a chance to soak up the landscape at a more leisurely pace.
I stopped and looked at a view which was eclipsed by a thick sea mist. Through the dampness, just visible, were the ragged outlines of the rocks and the changing white line of the tide. It was like standing on the edge of the world, the unknown just out of reach and waiting. It all felt mysterious, dangerous and enticing. This was a moment I wanted to capture.....so I decided to turn back and go home for my camera. The long run would have to wait for another day. Sometimes that voice within that offers advice and guidance should be heeded, I'd left the house feeling like there was something missing.....that something had been my camera.

10484 Steps

13365 Steps
I am the point where I had decided to turn back earlier, the camera now where it should be. The mist is rising and the air warming. The moment I was hoping to capture an hour ago has gone, dried up with the dew drops, carried away on the sea breeze. Part of me wished I'd stopped and savoured the moment a little longer. Even though this one was not bypassed, I wonder how many moments of relevance or inspiration we miss with musings of the greener grass of the future always there in our minds often distracting our attention.  

15253 Steps
From the breezy coast to warm sheltered fields where the long wet grass soaks my legs. My stomach tight with a keen awareness of the likely presence of cattle.

17,477 Running Strides, Sunshine & Daisy Chains

So Far.......

38,136 Steps Taken

Lingering On A Ley Line

16,682 Steps Taken Along A Much Loved Route

7 Hours & 41,364 Steps Of Coastal Walking With My Sketch Book & Pencil

25892 Steps Along The Coast

Overwhelmed

It overwhelms
Too huge
The shoulders too fragile to bear
Too narrow
Insufficient
Capabilities are obscured by the creeping shadows
In them the heaviness of what overflows
Whispers of doubt
Moments of weakness
The usual sturdy scaffold starts to creak
The structure shifts and sways under the strain
It struggles with the pressure
Eventually its equilibrium will be found
The strength rekindled
Until then........

Tuesday 8 May: A Day Of 15893 Steps, Dancing, Flowers And Fun Fairs

Flora Day