Looking back through my bardic journal, I noticed that I had missed out the exercise "Hunting the Wild Awen" from booklet #3. This involves calling down (chanting) Awen prior to a creative project.
(I promise it does say Trans Pennine Trail underneath)
I've been doing this for a week (jointly with my husband, Brian), and so far we've clocked up 12 miles. 488 to go!
There was plenty of sunshine today, so I decided to go for a nice long walk, while listening on YouTube to how other people chant Awen. I had a sneaking suspicion that my way of doing it (with a snappy little tune) wasn't quite the usual way! True enough, it seems that's it's normally very long and drawn out. It sounds extremely similar to the way I've heard in Buddhist music, even though they're chanting different syllables.
My walk took me down what I've been calling "the lane" near my house, but today I went twice the usual distance. I was rewarded with some new sights - lots of ivy covered trees, some interesting graffiti, and a sign proclaiming I had reached the Trans Pennine Trail! I knew it went somewhere near my home, but I didn't realise how close. A few years ago I became quite obsessed with the TPT, and planned to cycle along its full length. I trained for this by cycling furiously on an exercise bike, and lost several stone in the process. Unfortunately my life changed quite a bit around that point, and I could no longer afford the time or the money for the trip.
So it felt wonderful to finally be on the TPT, even just for a short time.
I continued until the path crossed a road, with a gate at the other side that somehow looked familiar.
The trail takes a fork here, while the gate at the other side leads eventually to Woodlands, where I lived a few years ago. A little while later I realised why the gate had looked familiar: I'd been there before, but coming from the other direction! That Doncaster Greenway had run right up to the Roman Rig that had passed by my house in Woodlands. I'd walked for a very long way and then stopped at the gate and gone back - just as I did today, but from the other direction. It felt strangely as though my walk today had brought me face to face with my past self.
The reason I've been walking a fair bit lately is because I've joined a virtual challenge. "The Conqueror" is a site that encourages you to basically pretend you're walking somewhere much more interesting than you really are. And charges you £35 for the privilege 🤣 But I knew I wouldn't be able to resist the motivation of that beautiful shiny medal you get once you've completed your challenge. So I'm signed up to walk (ie pretend I'm walking) 500 miles around the North Coast of Scotland. It starts and ends in Inverness, winding around the North West of Scotland (sadly not my ancestral area near Aberdeen). Here's my race bib:
I had hoped to follow my walk with a creative project, but unfortunately after 2.7 miles, then shopping, then a bath and then cooking tea, my energy was gone. Still, I really enjoyed getting out into nature and listening to the Awen chanting. I can always do something creative tomorrow instead.
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