tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post994439529445505925..comments2023-12-30T17:31:11.883+00:00Comments on The Solitary Walker: The Beginning And End Of The Viking WayThe Solitary Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-68293791577721544422014-04-13T11:46:37.633+01:002014-04-13T11:46:37.633+01:00Thanks, Martin. Just been catching up on your own ...Thanks, Martin. Just been catching up on your own blog and reading about your Pyrenean trip. Lovely pictures!<br /><br />Yes, you're right — we tend to minimise the tedious bits and maximise the nice bits.<br /><br />Thought I might continue over the Humber Bridge on to the Yorkshire Wolds Way or start another local walk, the Robin Hood Way...<br /><br />The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-64606041525405087482014-04-12T18:05:00.159+01:002014-04-12T18:05:00.159+01:00Congratulations on finishing the Viking Way. Some...Congratulations on finishing the Viking Way. Sometimes we have to go through the less inspiring walks, though I usually find afterwards that the little lovely things stay in my mind and I largely forget the rest. <br /><br />What's your next big walk then?Martinhttp://www.martinblack.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-81500364974679331002014-03-31T19:30:07.570+01:002014-03-31T19:30:07.570+01:00Thanks so much Susan. My friend who died was only ...Thanks so much Susan. My friend who died was only 57 — that's 3 years younger than me. It makes you take stock.The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-86461713962901228372014-03-31T18:50:08.064+01:002014-03-31T18:50:08.064+01:00Robert: Crossed wires indeed. Don't know where...Robert: Crossed wires indeed. Don't know where that "George" came from, but can only say the condolences about your colleague were sincere.Susan Scheidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09250142489341777926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-38976194624812298472014-03-31T08:37:04.083+01:002014-03-31T08:37:04.083+01:00Thanks, Dritanje, for your fine comment! Yes, I th...Thanks, Dritanje, for your fine comment! Yes, I think people become cut off from their environment, alienated, less than human in cars. It's as though the world beyond the windscreen is an illusion, moving pictures that flash by and have no substantial reality. So why does it matter if you chick an empty can into the void?<br /><br />Ploughing the straightest furrow competitons! I used to go to these in my home village, where shire horses were involved. They still do this once a year at the village show in the place I live now. The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-34965459310083989122014-03-31T08:30:38.950+01:002014-03-31T08:30:38.950+01:00Yes, I agree, Rubye — apathy, anger and just plain...Yes, I agree, Rubye — apathy, anger and just plain laziness and ignorance.<br /><br />Go back, say, to the time of the native Americans, or the hunter-gatherers, or the early societies, those first farmers who stayed put instead of being nomadic, grew crops, formed settlements — and words like 'litter' and 'pollution' would not have existed: humans lived in relative harmony with nature and had a working, 'ecological' relationship with it. Not that such ideas would have crossed their minds.<br /><br />Cut to the time of the Industrial Revolution, mechanisation, factory farming, conveyor-belt production lines, population growth, the huge expansion of cities — and we can clearly see the causes of the disaffection and alienation in today's world. As you say, 'signs of the times'. All we can do is promote education about biodiversity and eco-matters, about the preservation of the world's uniquely-evolved beauty and natural workability, before it's too late (thank God this is happening now, to some extent). The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-20909453889822911592014-03-31T08:09:37.580+01:002014-03-31T08:09:37.580+01:00Susan — George is fine, as far as I know (if you i...Susan — George is fine, as far as I know (if you ignore the ferrets), and I'm Robert, so I think there's a crossed wire somewhere! Thanks for your kind comment on my writing and pictures.The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-32746454165223352602014-03-31T06:21:52.965+01:002014-03-31T06:21:52.965+01:00This is sad. Things just are not the same anymore....This is sad. Things just are not the same anymore. I used to be able to go to isolated beaches alone but now no longer feel safe doing so. I've started looking at trash as more than what it literally is and more as the product of minds that know no better due to lack of education or as a kind of forget it all attitude due to one form of oppression or another. In other words, signs of the times and evidence of apathy and anger. Mad Maxness. <br /><br />Regardless, I agree that your writing and description of the walk is enlightening in many ways. Rubye Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02511953177053448513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-53483443266593318362014-03-31T03:31:26.152+01:002014-03-31T03:31:26.152+01:00So sorry about your friend George! All the more re...So sorry about your friend George! All the more remarkable that, as others have said, you've written in a clear-eyed, engaging way about the walk and, in the bargain, offered some lovely photographs despite it all.Susan Scheidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09250142489341777926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-10058392791173236942014-03-30T21:59:52.672+01:002014-03-30T21:59:52.672+01:00Well done for having completed the whole length of...Well done for having completed the whole length of the Viking Way, (and more) in various excursions. I agree that one's mood can colour everything. The past weekend has been very cold here too, and with a constant mist, so the sun has never broken through, as you say, it's like winter. As for rubbish, which I've also noticed accumulating at the side of roads, I've come to the conclusion that when people in cars throw rubbish from the windows they are not aware that they are throwing it into a PLACE because THEY are passing through and so it is not real to them. Nothing for it but to get people out of their cars to get them to SEE what is really there and what will be there long after we have gone. <br />But yes, these are lovely images, and very straight furrows! Apparently there are competitions for who can make the straightest furrows and I think this person would win a prize!dritanjehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16025213970107184429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-4651242446645863992014-03-30T21:25:37.868+01:002014-03-30T21:25:37.868+01:00Jean, if you're interested you may want to tak...Jean, if you're interested you may want to take a look at more words and pix about Lincolnshire and the Viking Way here: http://solitary-walker.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Viking%20WayThe Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-89106700618069587192014-03-30T21:21:09.224+01:002014-03-30T21:21:09.224+01:00Yes, one is hardly aware of all that detritus when...Yes, one is hardly aware of all that detritus when driving, Pat — when one is cocooned and desensitised behind the wheel. It's the walker who sees, records and laments all these thoughtlessly thrown away by-products of our car-based 'civilisation'. The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-87387220527833536612014-03-30T20:43:50.181+01:002014-03-30T20:43:50.181+01:00Yes, I like the Spanish meseta too...
It's k...Yes, I like the Spanish meseta too... <br /><br />It's kind of nice that, although you weren't in the mood to appreciate it, your beautiful photos have made me want to visit this part of the country, which I never have.Jeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08690685768980280402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-64019967935729328712014-03-30T15:17:51.930+01:002014-03-30T15:17:51.930+01:00Don't get me started on rubbish Robert - it li...Don't get me started on rubbish Robert - it litters our lane and every now and then I go out with a bin bag to pick up polystyrene containers which have held curry or something, beer cans, bottles - the list is endless.<br />Love your photographs - brought back manymemories - although the last time I went to Barton it was a bit of a dump I must say.The Weaver of Grasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13947971556343746883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-48099826509991694412014-03-30T14:53:08.795+01:002014-03-30T14:53:08.795+01:00Thanks for the comments about the writing, Ruth an...Thanks for the comments about the writing, Ruth and George. Another thing that happened, which I didn't want to mention in the piece, as it would have made things even bleaker, was that halfway through the walk I got a phone call to say that an old friend and ex-work colleague had died at the age of 57. She'd gone into a diabetic coma and hadn't come out of it. So probably my untypical gloom had a lot to do with this.<br /><br />Jean — I often do like flat and open landscapes (the Spanish meseta, for instance), but this part of Lincolnshire seemed particularly nondescript to me yesterday. Appreciation of landscape depends very much on mood, and I just wasn't in the mood.The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-49149877810148213612014-03-30T14:42:49.567+01:002014-03-30T14:42:49.567+01:00It doesn't sound like one of your most enjoyab...It doesn't sound like one of your most enjoyable walks, but I agree with Ruth that you've written about it engagingly. One of the great joys of walking is that one seldom knows what one will discover. Sometimes we are pleasantly surprised; other times we are sorely disappointed. It's a perfect metaphor for life.Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03959953035812596907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-89823389250361390572014-03-30T13:03:13.214+01:002014-03-30T13:03:13.214+01:00I like this bare landscape very much - makes me fe...I like this bare landscape very much - makes me feel calm and open.Jeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08690685768980280402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-63495670889133618922014-03-30T11:50:05.036+01:002014-03-30T11:50:05.036+01:00It all sounds quite miserable, but you've writ...It all sounds quite miserable, but you've written about it very engagingly. The sheep "littering" the grass look sweet.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.com