It seems so long since I wrote anything about anything here, because actually, ironically, so much has happened.
Setting off down the A11 on July 22nd marked the beginning of a journey, for reflection, recovery, ambition and discovery.
Camping near a lovely old Kentish mill, close to Dover, I met up with dear friends, (friends who have become marker-stones in my life), though my still-slipped-disc begged me for rest. But before the dreamlands called, I greeted my friends guinea pigs who were eating apples and cucumber, and we all shared barbecued chicken, Philippine rice and Tesco beer, (very good!). This proved the last sunshine that I would see for 3 days...as I walked through dear old Dover of my deep memory, below the mesmeric castle and sea views, and thinking, was it really 3 years ago that someone whispered to my ear, 'our Dover'. That memory hangs in me as an ornament, chained like a great weight to warm walls of my internal happiness and sadness.
Then ferry, cloud, drizzle and Calais.
Thereafter, the beautifully smooth clear drive through the north of France and the wet Flanders plain, halting at Europe's largest roadworks 'system' this summer, (for once not the M25!), in Antwerp...I don't think I even reached the Kennedy Tunnel, but some backstreet that leads to Eeklo, filled with kebab shops. I was tempted to eat one, but had to get out of the unknown and onto Eindhoven for lunch.
After a few days of meeting friends, I got to central Germany where I was to rest for two weeks...at this point, I had not seen the sun, in over 318 miles of this years northern European summer!
Sauerland, and the heavenly pine forests proved a great place for healing and dreaming, as my spine had taken a lot of freedom from me this year.
Luckily I was able to walk a local dog, Nikki, every day, and his good looks led to many chance meetings, and happy-chatting. Two dogs meeting often sow human friendships, but why do we only meet the people we want to 'bump into again' so infrequently...however hard we seek them?
One pleasant surprise, slightly surreal though, was staying in my German lodging, and watching German teenagers watching BBC's 'Saddlebottom' from a decade or more ago...but, it was great!
What a mix...ring tone ad's of 'gasolina' followed by Saddlebottom, washed down with GnT.:??:
When the landscape looms it certainly concentrates the mind like nothing else. This I think is very good for us all sometimes. Like a gentle and deep-rooted reminder.