Gill has a word for the state of mind you get as a trip draws to a close. She calls it 'endishness'. This is the view out of our living room window this morning.
Here's where we were a week ago - the last photo I took before we headed for the airport, dawn over Malaga, soft pink to the west, golden in the east.
We travel for around five months of the year, usually in three 'installments'. It is difficult to connect our life at home with life on the road. It seems to me we live two separate existences alternating between them. Some people travel long term living in big motorhomes as their only residence. I cannot imagine doing that, it seems to me simply a different version of a settled existence - a gypsy life. I have concluded that what I like is to be slightly unsettled - at home dreaming of new places to go, travelling, but aware I have a home to return to.
There are practical reasons to do with house insurance why it is tricky for us to travel more than 90 days at a time. Actually, for us we think our limit is around 70 - 80 days (maybe Jules Verne thought so too!). As we move towards our limit the will to keep going begins to fade, I need a break. However, a week back, watching the Christmas Panto last night live from Westminster and then this morning's weather forecast, it seems my tolerance for home-life is much shorter than that. We fly back on the 9th January, that is in 27 days time, that seeems about right.
Look at the forecast! Not just the cold and gloom, but the sunrise and sunset times in the bottom right corner - it's like living in Narnia.
Anyway, thoughts about travelling and staying put reminded me of an Auden poem - it seems very prescient to me about where we are right now here in the UK.. The gaitered gamekeeper at the end, I see Rees Mogg in plus-fours, that's a highly disturbing thought.
There is no change of place
Who will endure
Heat of day and winter danger,
Journey from one place to another,
Nor be content to lie
Till evening upon headland over bay,
Between the land and sea
Or smoking wait till hour of food,
Leaning on chained-up gate
At edge of wood?
Metals run,
Burnished or rusty in the sun,
From town to town,
And signals all along are down;
Yet nothing passes
But envelopes between these places,
Snatched at the gate and panting read indoors,
And first spring flowers arriving smashed,
Disaster stammered over wires,
And pity flashed.
For should professional traveller come,
Asked at the fireside he is dumb,
Declining with a secret smile,
And all the while
Conjectures on our maps grow stranger
And threaten danger.
There is no change of place:
No one will ever know
For what conversion brilliant capital is waiting,
What ugly feast may village band be celebrating;
For no one goes
Further than railhead or the ends of piers,
Will neither go nor send his son
Further through foothills than the rotting stack
Where gaitered gamekeeper with dog and gun
Will shout ‘Turn back’.
2 comments:
We have immensely enjoyed reading your blog postings, we started at the beginning and are now 'up-to-date'. Or at least we thought we were but unfortunately we didn't take full notice of the date of the previous post and thought you were still in Malaga, didn't realise you had now flown home. We were long-in-the-tooth, hardened caravanners until our retirement last year. Having taken several 3-week trips into France and Spain whilst still working, we made our first longer-term trip immediately after retiring; 8 weeks in France. We tried to ‘tour’ but we soon realised what I think we already knew, that the caravan just isn’t the right tool for the job. So, we took the plunge and ‘crossed over to the dark side' in September this year and we are now enthusiastically planning our first proper long-term trip into France and Spain in our Motorhome commencing in March next year, we have purchased a one-way tunnel ticket! We have taken much inspiration from your blogs, as well as some extremely handy tips especially regarding good or bad places to stay. We seem to concur with you on most aspects of the types of sites etc that we do or do not like, as well as the sort of things that we enjoy doing when away on travels, so thank you for sharing your thoughts and opinions (and inducing many, many smiles and chuckles along the way), hopefully we can reciprocate when we start our travels in earnest next year. We wish you both a lovely Christmas, and roll-on January 9th, it will fly past! Kind regards, Tim & Jayne Rowe.
Hi Tim, I am really sorry to take so long to reply, we are really terrible at checking the comments for moderation tab. What you say is truly humbling, the blog is really a long note to self, but it is wonderful to learn that it inspires others. What can I say? One danger of getting older is that you resist seeing the world in new way, travelling for longer periods is immersive, not a vacation but a different itinerant life. We have learned so much. I can understand why changing from caravan to motorhome was a wrench, the tribal rivalry between the two sets of enthusiasts is really quite amusing - a kind of Rugby versus Football divide with moho owners playing the role of Millwall hooligans. What sort of van have you bought? When in March are you heading off? Anyway thank you for your kind comments - happy travels! Pete and Gill
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