Whan thatte Aprille (redux)
Categories: holidays, pilgrimage
Tags: West Highland Way, Southern Upland Way, Hadrian's Wall Path, Iona Community, Iona Abbey
Date: 10 June 2011 20:46:59
[caption id="attachment_831" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Iona Abbey at night"]
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Long time no blog. I'm using our recent pilgrimaging and peregrinations as an excuse; a fairly feeble one now, considering we've been home for nearly three weeks. No Olde Englysshe this time round, either. To wax Chaucerian about over a month's wanderings and accompanying hundreds of photos is beyond me. Suffice it to say that mid-April the beloved and I hopped on a train to Durham, from whence we set out to walk great chunks of Hadrian's Wall path, the Southern Upland and West Highland, and more besides; ending up at Oban after about a 200 miles hike. Well, a little judicious train and taxi linking took place,though only when strictly necessary!
The view in the photo will be familiar to many of you, I guess. After a few days resting on Mull, we wound up the trip by staying at Iona Abbey for a week. This was an experience in itself - worthy of an entire blog; something which many have done before me, and far better than I ever could either, so again, I'll spare you. Well, maybe just a teensiest peek into one of the more 'memorable' (on several counts!) part of the trip.
Still, this was our Big Trip, which we'd planned and dreamed about for nearly three years. During those three years we wondered if we were mad, if we'd bitten off more than we could chew, if we were fit enough to manage it, (those health scares a while back, happily false alarms, gave me an extra impetus to tackle the challenge - "Times winged chariot" and all that), even if we could both cope with being in each others' company 24 hours a day for the best part of a month . After which, to be thrown into a group of total strangers and expected to build community - not easy for two introverts. It's given me a good deal to reflect upon regarding how I interact with others, and relate to the groups and communities I'm part of back home, not all of it comfortable, but neither did I expect it to be.
So, am I changed? Who knows? I've certainly come back with a strange liking for bracing winds, sleeting rain, and and odd urge to muse about reflections on dead sheep. Don't worry - there is a perfectly simple explanation!
Am I glad I went? Yes! Challenges notwithstanding. Seriously, it's one of those experiences, the other one being our years spent living abroad, where the tangibility of any personal change isn't always obvious at the time, but which becomes more evident in the months and years after the event. Whatever comes from our journeying, I'm so proud we managed it.