Graham’s Statement: Reasons For A Walking Camp;
A Background The inspiration for organising this Walk goes back half my life. In 1983 I took part in A Walk For Life, an 11 week journey through Britain, from Faslane, near Glasgow, to Greenham Common, near Newbury. At a time of mass demonstrations against nuclear weapons, a basic purpose of that walk was to take a ‘peace camp’ on the road, combining protest with community building. It was a transformational experience: to walk as an intentional community through so much of Britain has left me with powerful memories, as well as a desire to offer others a similar experience. In its organisation and structure, that walk has provided the model for the Awakening Albion Walk. Since then, I have had an involvement over the last 15 years with organising Creative Arts Camps in East Anglia. The content of these has varied, but an underlying theme has been that they offer people a gateway into the experience of community in nature. The camps seem to meet a core biological need, to live, if only for a short while, as our ancestors may have done. They serve to restore our sense of belonging in the world, our deep ecology. From reading ‘The Sun And The Serpent’ some years ago, I discovered a personal connection with the Michael/Mary Lines. I learnt that where I was born in South Norfolk is on the Mary Line, whilst the village in North Suffolk where I was conceived and brought up lies on the Michael Line. Much of my childhood (and indeed my adult life) has involved travelling to and fro along those Lines, often on a daily basis. This personal connection was made only stranger by the added synchronicity of my parents’ second names being Michael and Mary. Hence, it has seemed natural to want to make this particular journey. |  |
Lynne’s Statement As a child awestruck by ancient sites,
56 now, 57 on second day of walking.
As always, haunted by the fragile beauty
Of this land and its seasons.
Walking to sanity, to connection
To earth and community.
Walking for perspective, for learning
Walking from my ‘now’ life to an unseen future.
Walking from village to village,
From hill to hill, wood to wood.
Walking, who will I meet? what can I offer?
What can I take back home?
Walking with laughter, for fun, through sadness
Walking with poems, with song
Walking in sun, wind, rain
Beneath sky and cloud
Walking for so many reasons,
Many I have yet to discover. |  |
Carn Les Boel As we walkedthe narrow way
Carn Les Boel some mile or so on,
Round headlands of high crag stones
Gravel srewn path near cliff steep edge
Rounding two great dragon eyes
We drift, quiet into a tucked valley
surmounted by standing stones
Wild daffodils, thrift, bladder campion,
Cliff flowers in early bloom
Nook of warmth and sun.
Caves beneath sheltered seals
White shell sand glistened.
The way was thin, breath holding,
Sea broke on on rocks beneath.
Then down to warm sand,
Turquoise spray, boulders.
Again we move our path,
Waters edge to cliff top,
Stones set beckon us’
Steep track’
Crawl, climb,
To top,
Breath-
Less
Rounding a corner
Sun hit in full splendour
The way, West,- East
Along the line. Mist shrouded mount of Christendom
Overlays your Pagan forbears
Bestride the line
From shore to shore
Michael, Mary and St. George. back to top |    |
