Almost home…

Not many updates lately. I guess I’ve been absorbed in the trip. But, I’m nearly back! About 9 miles to go. Just stopped for a celebration beer. Lots to say, I’ll ramble a bit here…

Unfortunately my camera was stolen in London, I left it in a garden for a couple of hours, which wasn’t wise. I had been thoroughly de-citified after the past weeks, and lost the skills you need in a city, keeping track of where all your stuff is. Well, I’ve been good at that in general, but not including thinking that somebody might take something.

I’d been reading Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” and it has a lovely passage on crime, about seeing everything in the context of our whole society, and how are are part of everything that happens.

It was a good opportunity to put it into practise. Fortunately I only lost a few days worth of photos (and the future ones I never took). And it was covered with insurance. I am still kicking myself though. I pride myself in being careful with my belongings, and the only other thing lost on the trip was a colourful saddle cover that I had found anyway.

There is so much I’d like to share on here, but also I am trying to accept it will only ever be a fragment. All the books, views, places, and thoughts. How can I fit them into this little box?

My mind turns a lot to what happens when I get back to Bath now. I have so many ideas of what I’d like to do from small and immediate, to big and long term. I’ve started trying to see these ideas like passing clouds, or something else that I can watch pass in front of me. Knowing only some of them will come towards me. And that’s OK. Many dreams, but just a few actions.

I’m considering to continue writing a/this blog after I’m back, as it’s really just a space to reflect and share. Not so much was really about the trip anyway. A trip makes a nice space for reflections and I’m thinking how to create spaces of reflection when I’m back in Bath.

I realise having this continuous activity of cycling makes a nice backdrop for my thoughts. Where most of the day is simple repetitive motion, but the gaps in between become rich with thoughts and imagination.N

“Normal” life in the city feels more like an onslaught of activity without this moments to stop. Even in a life like mine which has a lot of time and space, but still not the same kind of reflective moments that I get on a trip.

I think a lot about rhythms, routines, and rituals. The bike trip has many. Day turning into night is frames the whole day. In a house, on the computer, it can be unnoticeable. Warm turning into cold. Exhaustion to rest. Solitude into company. Milestones of hills, countries, rivers, visits. Normal life can kind of just roll into one. We regulate everything to make it the same. The light, the temperature, etc. Everything through the computer.

So, I’m thinking to construct some more intentional rhythms, daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal, annual. Not sure yet exactly what.uol07 (<— a rat just ran across my keyboard and typed that!)

I think it’s time to cycle the last bit now. It’s now all very familiar. I’ve been feeling my world and my mind shrink a little as it gets back to familiarity. Somehow being far away lets my mind get far away too. And that’s great. But that’s also not forever. How to relate these far away big thoughts to my daily life? Let’s find out!