Walking in the Woods

I’ve been musing this week on the healing power of Nature and of walking. Now we are allowed a little further from home in a car, I’ve taken to visiting Wandlebury Country Park. It’s an area of woods and meadows which surround an Iron Age fort, about two or three miles from home. I’ve been there at 6.30 am when I didn’t see another soul and I’ve been there on a Sunday afternoon when it was full of families picnicking.

It’s a healing place. The trees, the grass, the birds. Deer, hares, squirrels.

I’ve taken to walking a simple circuit of 3 or 4 km. With my cancer, I’m certainly not walking fast. But it’s peaceful, prayerful even. Alone, I can go at my own speed. Alone, I can be with the place. And it’s like pouring a calm green balm on my heart.

Over the past two months I’ve had times of deep loneliness. When I am there I am alone but not at all lonely.

One of the things I loved on my Caminos is walking alone. I wasn’t someone who developed a Camino family, though I certainly had friends I would eat with. But I loved this simple alone walking. I’m refinding that. Phil’s Camino is inspiring my Camino. I’m thinking now what alone but not lonely looks like and how do I take it back home. Maybe it’s one of the gifts i this Covid retreat time.

Karen Kelly, Caminoheads England Bureau Chief.