‘In walking, just walk. In sitting, just sit. Above all, don’t wobble.’ Yun-men, 9th century Chinese Chan master   There is no doubt any longer. As I ride, the smell of smoke is quite distinct in the air, the result of the recent fires, particularly around Hostens, an area only fifty kilometres east of where …

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‘What cannot be cured, must be endured. Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy My nightly ablutions always involve a walk in my PJs past my fellow campers, bearing wash kit and towel, to a communal concrete building that is generally uninviting. The wash blocks are all the same and all different in a way that …

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engulfing sorrow sly tide on a shallow shore submerge me alone! Considering the cycle path runs pretty straight, south to north, with few branches in other directions to confuse me, I often stop to check the map just for a break. I take the chance to be consciously present in the moment by noting, quite …

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‘Hope is a waking dream.’ Aristotle I was well aware that camping was likely to be challenging after so long sleeping in a double bed with many pillows and a generous duvet. I had thought the ten days with my daughters might act as a kind of boot camp, even allowing for the fact that …

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‘The journey of life is like a man riding a bicycle…if he stops moving…he will fall off.’ William Golding Day Three and my somewhat saddle sore life –despite the padded shorts – is concerned solely with questions of comfort and survival. This is a good thing, I guess. This is why I chose to make …

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‘You only grow when you are alone.                                                        Paul Newman   I’ve wheeled the bike down to the gates of the campsite, panniers fully laden and my fancy trailer …

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‘Life is pain Highness, anyone who tells you different is selling something.’ The Dread Pirate Roberts, from the film, Princess Bride   Life is hard. It always has been. It was hard for Michel de Montaigne, a respected ‘seigneur’, or lord, with his own vineyards and lands producing revenues and every opportunity for a comfortable …

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‘He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.’ Michel de Montaigne The appointment was routine enough. An ancient wisdom tooth had been grumbling and crumbling away at the back of my mouth for some time. At my last check up, I’d been told I’d be better off without it and it was …

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Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home  Matsuo Bashō I am flying to Biarritz in the south of France with my two grown up daughters, where we’ll holiday together for two weeks on a campsite. Then, when they’ve gone, the plan is I will cycle the thousand kilometres home again – …

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