The trip was all about the European countryside, its inhabitants, villages, food, wine, euro style, art, scenery, fields, farms, forests, mountains and waterways. We knew and anticipated this when we started planning our walk and were not disappointed as we made our way. In fact we were amazed each day at the richness of the culture and landscapes.
One of several things we learned that we hadn’t given much thought to before we started out was how the trip would slow us down. With hind sight we think how could we have not anticipated this revelation? After all, I have been on a number of long back packing trips and have noticed how odd it is to drive a car and how fast life is when I returned. And Rhonda did a long trip through Europe when she was 21. But if you walk for four months the impact is astounding.
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| photo by Melanie |
Maintaining the primordial pace of a bullock cart showed us a way and opened up vistas we haven’t seen since childhood. Not only the pace of walking, but our small range of activities contributed to the overall effect. When you spend most of your day watching the path and the surrounding countryside, and looking for way marks and the rest of the day are spent washing, eating and sleeping, the anxieties of modern life fall away like autumn leaves. We found ourselves absorbed by bird song, church bells, wild flowers, and butterflies.
This gift from the trip was especially beneficial to me because of my obsessive nature. My food obsession popped out into the open as I stood before windows of bakeries wondering how I could possibly try everything in the place. And this led my usual dog gulp style of eating to become quite noticeable. So Rhonda got me actually chewing again.
We are both using our new knowledge of slow to guide our way.
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