Chapter Three Sample
3. WALKING BLUES
One Saturday morning in July with the sun shining and a warm day in prospect and no rehearsal to go to, I laced up my walking shoes, made a couple of egg and watercress sandwiches, put a walker's map in my bag and drove to the other side of Gloucester where the road meets the Gloucestershire Way. This designated footpath stretches from one side of Gloucestershire to the other, running the gamut of all the different terrains that the county encompasses, including a stretch by the River Severn.
The section I chose to walk that day meanders from the village of Coberley for several miles in an easterly direction until it meets the A436 Andoversford road. This road was my goal and I would then turn back and retrace the route. I reckoned this would fill the rest of my day and I was aiming for a relaxed picnic somewhere along the way. I love walking and hope to do more of it. It helps me to compose a realistic and objective perspective on life, to take stock, to relax and to think. I was impressed many years ago by my discovery of a writer called John Hillaby. John lived close by a village on the North Yorkshire Moors, Rosedale, where I had once owned an old miner's cottage. I never met John but knew through his writings about walking, how it had helped him to deal with major life difficulties, including the death of his wife.
When you walk you enter a world that is close to what I want to achieve through music. It is a world where inner and outer blend into one, where you are aware simultaneously of what is going on under your feet and what is going on in your head. Usually, it's one or the other, either focusing on the daily tasks of living and working, or having to problem-solve, think, or play, which require time for oneself and the inner world. Today, I'm going to walk along the Gloucestershire Way and marry the two together and in the sunshine I wasn't disappointed.
The section of the path that I walk takes me through undulating fields, into woods, alongside farmland, over fences and through gates, with either the earth itself under my feet, or the narrow roads...
One Saturday morning in July with the sun shining and a warm day in prospect and no rehearsal to go to, I laced up my walking shoes, made a couple of egg and watercress sandwiches, put a walker's map in my bag and drove to the other side of Gloucester where the road meets the Gloucestershire Way. This designated footpath stretches from one side of Gloucestershire to the other, running the gamut of all the different terrains that the county encompasses, including a stretch by the River Severn.
The section I chose to walk that day meanders from the village of Coberley for several miles in an easterly direction until it meets the A436 Andoversford road. This road was my goal and I would then turn back and retrace the route. I reckoned this would fill the rest of my day and I was aiming for a relaxed picnic somewhere along the way. I love walking and hope to do more of it. It helps me to compose a realistic and objective perspective on life, to take stock, to relax and to think. I was impressed many years ago by my discovery of a writer called John Hillaby. John lived close by a village on the North Yorkshire Moors, Rosedale, where I had once owned an old miner's cottage. I never met John but knew through his writings about walking, how it had helped him to deal with major life difficulties, including the death of his wife.
When you walk you enter a world that is close to what I want to achieve through music. It is a world where inner and outer blend into one, where you are aware simultaneously of what is going on under your feet and what is going on in your head. Usually, it's one or the other, either focusing on the daily tasks of living and working, or having to problem-solve, think, or play, which require time for oneself and the inner world. Today, I'm going to walk along the Gloucestershire Way and marry the two together and in the sunshine I wasn't disappointed.
The section of the path that I walk takes me through undulating fields, into woods, alongside farmland, over fences and through gates, with either the earth itself under my feet, or the narrow roads...
