Walking blog: The philosophy of walking

The pure joy of walking. Bedruthan Steps on a low spring tide.

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  on Monday, 07 March 2011 09:52

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What makes a perfect walking day? Weather and landscape? Companions and conversation? For me it is being in the moment but extending that for a whole day where all the factors mentioned interact in mutual benefit seamlessly and continuously.

We had such a day today and as the photos testify we were engulfed within as near a perfect walking experience that one could wish for. And the colours! We all need wow factors on our walks where we can select individual memories to sum up the days activity. But there were so many to select from that these photos do not tell the whole story. When experiences and moments become so embedded in ones memory then it is photos that become ephemeral. Such was the intensity of the experience of today.

We started at Bedruthan Steps from Carnewas Point and as it was a low spring tide we made our way along the beach through Diggory’s Island stack to Pentire Steps ascending by scrambling up to the coast path, visiting Park Head and on to Porth Mear.

There was the inevitable blue sky, aquamarine sea, rockpools and the exquisite patterns of millions of mussels of varying size making their homes on the stacks. With the wildly abstract and irregular white striations of the quartz veins it was as if a painter had run amok with a brush over the dark grey slate in hedonistic pleasure to celebrate the joy of being an observer in this hallowed landscape.

Reverent and thankful all day we explored the caves and the contorted rock pools with surprises of colour and shape around every corner.

Natural joy.