Walking Commentary
Thoughts and cycling from Manchester to Rome in 2023
6 Mar 2020 – 21:31 GMT – 5°C Light Drizzle – Co. Longford, Ireland
Roads from Dublin to Longford, new to me, took us through many places whose names I didn’t recognise.
“Toponymy is a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds. Toponymy is distinct from, though often confused with etymology, which is the study of the origins of words.”
I found this note among old digital scraps on my phone. Coincidence or what?
[Read more…] about Driving Mapping Naming5 Mar 2020 – noon GMT – 4°C Light Rain – Co. Dublin, Ireland
“A man who does not move with pain, but moves
With thought”
By Wordsworth, word sketching an Old Man Travelling and on a journey that perhaps“led to peace so perfect”.
I think Wordsworth got it right. Walking alone allows me relax, brings me peace, expands my horizons and makes me want to do it again.
Thank you CdF for “Ten Poems about Walking” (Candlestick Press), a great gift to be read before we set out towards Rome.
[Read more…] about Walking in Poetry4 Mar 2020 – noon GMT – 7°C Partly Cloudy – Co. Dublin, Ireland
I started looking for places that we might visit that had been designed by the architect Edwin Lutyens. There are a few candidates, the most likely being war memorials. Thiepval may be possible from Péronne on the Somme itself where we’ll be taking a day off after 34 days on the road.
I was lucky to have had many opportunities to visit and stay in the home of a family friend, a home designed by Edwin Lutyens. Through those experiences, I came to appreciate the benefit of absolute control in design. Architect designed bannisters, door handles and chairs are not just accessories, their presence transcend the generations, preserving the original ideas for a very long time.
[Read more…] about Architecture3 Mar 2020 – noon GMT – 5°C Partly Cloudy – Co. Longford, Ireland
This morning I heard buzzard calls then saw three circling overhead as I chatted with glazers who had arrived to bring improved heat insulation to our home. Earlier, two Grey Herons had passed low over the house while I was discussing electrical earthing problems with a visiting electrician. There’s a plumber coming soon to review a drain pierced during the hunt for a suitable route for an earth rod to contact the granite just a couple of feet below.
The buzzard reminded me of a recent peregrine falcon sighting from our kitchen. A day when the plumber was here wrestling with a 1 inch gas main that needed to be run under the house. No, I’m not associating predators and tradesmen.
[Read more…] about More blog streams of conciousness and reworkings2 Mar 2020 – noon GMT – 3°C Showers Nearby – Co. Longford, Ireland
The notion of long distance walking was already in my head in October 2017 when Chris W contacted me out of the blue. University friends meeting again after forty years of divergent life experiences.
I had long hoped to walk from Rome to Madrid, an idea that seemed reasonable when I found myself in Rome in 2010. I had taken a train one Sunday to Naples and walked from the station to the top of Vesuvius and back. Just 50 km but it got me thinking about the communications and logistics in the eras of the Roman Empire, Anglo-Saxon trade, Viking incursions to name a few.
[Read more…] about Walking to Rome1 Mar 2020 – noon GMT – 3°C Partly Cloudy – Co. Longford, Ireland
It’s March 1st. I’m reading ‘In Praise of Walking‘ by Shane O’Mara. A gift from my wife, I put off reading it until about a month before the next big walk.
In the first few pages he reminded me that French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote “I can only meditate when I am walking. When I stop, I cease to think; my mind only works with my legs”.
Rousseau must have given up walking sometime before 1778, long after he’d famously written on inequality and social contracts. He was a big influencer. French Revolution big. The Terror.
[Read more…] about In Praise of Walking