I have always enjoyed a good walk. I’m no great adventurer, but as far back as I can remember, with all of the people closest to me, there have been walks; walks in the park as a child, walks with a new puppy, urban walks, holiday walks in the countryside, fell walks, mountain hikes, walks to the pub and back. Along winding footpaths through woodland in the dappled summer sunshine, making crisp footprints across snowy fields in the wintertime, or in the sand on the beach; autumnal walks with the wind bringing the leaves to life, and spring walks serenaded by birdsong along trails of scented hawthorn.
More recently there have been walks in Madeira, where we have a holiday home, and it was whilst walking here that the seed was sown; a reason for writing, to create a record of my current transition into a sort of retirement. I say 'a sort of retirement' because although I am no longer young, neither am I ready for the slowing down that age inevitably brings and I feel that writing about my thoughts will help me to make sense of this and help me to create a new direction, pace and purpose moving forward.
This is not the first time I have put my thoughts down on paper. I have always enjoyed writing about my walks, 'rambling' in more than one sense of the word, so why not give my writing an audience and purpose? To describe the places I visit in order to entertain, entice, inform or even warn others of what may be ahead should they choose to take my lead and 'ramble'.
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