THE MAGIC OF WALKING

The magic of walking has awakened some deep part of my humanity. I feel connected to people throughout history who have put one foot in front of the other and travelled miles and miles. Nomads and gypsies, beduins and shepherds, the dispossessed and the refugees are among the multitude of reasons for walking along way.  Nicole who is here with her young family, walks with her nine month old tied to her, and today commented how wonderful the act of just walking is and how much her baby loves the rhythm of it. "Normal life has so much stopping and starting, feels so scattered compared to this lovely rhythm. " 

• We wake early in the cold hour when the first birds have heralded the morning and we pack up our camps then make our way to the fire place for porridge and tea.  After a brief circle, we hit the road and walk seven kilometres before stopping for a short break. Then another seven kilometres,  another morning tea and then five kilometres to lunch.  Then we sprawl under bushes in whatever shade we can find and eat some lunch. Often we have ten more kilometres to walk to camp, which we break up with a rest in the middle. That is a basic rhythm that carries us between twenty five and thirty kilometres.

S from my Motorola ATRy™