This June /July I walked across Albania, Macedonia and Greece to the International’s Walking Encounters Conference to give a paper.
This blog is not about the conference – you can find this info here:
http://icowaf.eetf.uowm.gr
This piece is about stories and images and text. In fact it isn’t really.
My experiences of walking over land that is in constant flux due to arbitrary markings on a map leads me to numerous stories and experiences.
For many people there is a fear of engaging with the land thus. On a big walk such as this, with little mapping and reliance on past skills, hope and a compass my practice was tested as much as my self-knowledge, practical skills, belief and trust.
One cannot really prepare for such an experience. Like all good stories there is a structure although I have to admit I wondered what the structure was. It was during the European heat wave and I was also having to deal with daily temperatures of 39 degrees in the high mountains – over 2400metres. Somedays I just walked because that was all I could do. My search for water was a challenge at times.
People were kind, supportive and interested and in Albania, in small peasant villages I was never asked where I was from. It was always
“Where are you going?”
There was no judgement, just a passing of the day. An understanding, I felt, that we are all ‘passers through’. The land will be here forever – we won’t.
