I've read more than my fair share of books about walking journeys, about people who've walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain, the Pacific Crest Trail in America, the Pennine Way in England, about some guy who took his fridge walking around Ireland - yes, really!* Doing a long walking trail is not really in the cards for me right now, but I do love to walk. So, in planning my summer earlier, when I realized that all my kids would be at camp on the same week, I decided I would create my own walking experience, what I am dubbing "El camino a casa" - the walk to home. I determined that I would walk from my own home where I currently live to the home where I grew up, where my parents still live. That is what I did yesterday.
I intended to wake up at the crack of dawn so I could do most of my walking in the cool of the day, but instead, my husband's alarm woke me at 6:45 AM. The sun was already well in the sky, but I grabbed my backpack, well, actually my son's backpack that I borrowed without asking (since he wasn't around to ask), and headed out. Here is the story of my 15 mile walk.
My current home that I share with my husband and three kids where I started from at 7:20.
This photo is taken from the point where I usually stop and head back home on my daily walk, about 1 mile from our red brick house here.
My in-laws live about 3 miles from our home. This is close to where I once picked Saskatoon berries with my mother-in-law and where I decided it was not worth my while to engage in such activity anymore. Margaret had about 4 full pails of berries picked in the two hours we were out there and I was still struggling to fill my first. Since then I have just bought saskatoons at the u-picks around here!
One of my favorite flowers is now in bloom - brown-eyed Susans. They always make me think of my grandma.
This is about 4 miles from home. I have just climbed the hill and am looking back on the edge of what used to be the basin of ancient Lake Agassiz.
Walking up into the hills and the trees felt like coming home. The sounds of birds and insects and leaves rustling, the pungent woodsy smell of the forest, the coolness of the shade and the play of light in the trees - this I love.
Around mile 5, an hour and a half after I started out, I sat down to rest and write in my journal.
Proof that this was once the beach of an ancient lake - sand, and lots of it. The holes in the sand are birds nests - I'm not sure what kind of bird it is.
It was the perfect summer day - clear blue sky, white puffy clouds, lush green of the grass and trees and yellow canola and sunshine. I was grateful for a gentle summer breeze.
Another of my favorite flowers - wild roses. This was close to mile 10 where I again sat down to rest and write. I had imagined initially that I would do a lot of thinking and processing while I was walking, but what I found was that my mind was full just absorbing my surroundings - the sights, the smells, the sounds. I didn't have time for anything else. And that was such a blessing; it was almost like compulsory and blissful mindfulness.
I didn't encounter much traffic while I was walking except for about two or three miles before I reached the old Rosehill one-room country school-house. There I had manure-hauling trucks passing me every few minutes which was less than pleasant for a number of reasons. So I was glad when I reached the school, just past where the trucks were turning off. When my siblings and I were younger, we would ride our bikes the 3 miles to this school in the summer for DVBS. Those were great memories.
Almost there! This is my favorite tree at the "end" of the lane. When I was a kid, it would serve as a store or a school or some other important destination in my imaginary adventures.
I arrived at my parent's home 5 hours after I started out. Evidently I walked 3 miles per hour. You walk differently when you're in it for the long haul, I found. Some slower and steadier. I was glad I had such a wonderful destination and I knew the route and could easily gauge my progress. I loved it. I loved walking. I loved arriving. I was happy someone fed me lunch and drove me home.
*Walking books I've read:
What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim by Jane Christmas (Camino de Santiago)
Walking Home: A Poet's Journey by Simon Armitage (Pennine Way)
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed (Pacific Crest Trail)
Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks
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