After pitching up, making and eating my dinner, I kept myself to myself and continued to enjoy the quiet solitude that had been my companion for most of the day and had built up in to a nice sense of quiet contentment. The opportunity to be alone with oneself is one of the luxuries I have come to treasure on my walks, particularly given the madcap, hustle and bustle of modern life. You would think that on long-distance walks you would have plenty of opportunity to be alone but sometimes it can be very busy. When you are walking with a large rucksack on your back it is like an open invitation to people to stop and ask you what you are doing. While we generally love having the conversations some days, particularly on long beach walks or on popular coastal routes, you can be stopped every hundred yards and after the third or the fourth or the ninth such conversation you just want to get back to making miles, walking quietly and being with your thoughts.
When Joanna and I walk together it can be in relaxed and pleasant silence for hours and miles on end. There is no pressure to speak, to fill the space, to send out yet more words to float uselessly on the ether. What do we think about? The meaning of life! One of our more important philosophical insights after thousands of miles together is that it is possible to fall out when you share a two-man tent, but you cannot stay that way for long! There you are the meaning of life. And with that or some other meaningful insight to the front of my mind, it was off to bed to dream of the day and of those still to come.