The end of my 9 week pilgrimage…

The final 3 days of walking the Old Way (Southampton to Canterbury) there and back again.
To reach Southampton Colwell by the last light of the old year…
#camino #oldway #pilgrimage #pilgrim #walk #journey #england

[@FrancisBarton]

Incredible, Will. Very moving as always.
Amazed you kept going through the extremely cold and wet weather recently. And got back to Southampton by the end of the solstice. Thank you for keeping the Old Way open and sharing your ups and downs. Have a merry Christmas.

[@richardstoppard3738]

Thank you Will ! Have a great Christmas with your family

[@kerrypennings4814]

How wonderful and huzzah! This is s fascinating way and one I feel very compelled to walk. Thank you so much and wonderful holidays! Peace on Earth and love.

[@woodhoney3957]

Thank you for sharing !

[@IndiaBlueMusic]

so moving Will, thank you

[@theflautingharper]

A blessed solstice and a very happy Christmas to you. A pilgrimage well walked and sung ...😊🎄🎄🎄 Ah the ferry... ...to the Old Way and meet you on the path. 😊

[@saliadee2564]

All my life, I always thought England was a real place. But after watching this video, I know for sure that it's too beautiful to be true.

[@WillWalking]

You can find grot, all too easily. But this pilgrimage route I have plotted to offer maximum holy, minimum road. It's a truly beautiful path. Come and try it!

[@saliadee2564]

@@WillWalking I would love to try it, but I'll never get there. It's funny, I live in NSW which is so named because parts of it look a lot like Britain. But it doesn't, really. It has it's own beauty, and tonnes of it. But it lacks that (to my eyes) other-worldly softness. I've seen it in art of England, but I didn't realise it was also a reality, grot or no. I hope a lot of people enjoy it in the manner that you do.

[@WillWalking]

@@saliadee2564 thank you for this comment from afar. I think I know what you mean about the softness of this land. You can lie down anywhere, without fear of being eaten or stung. There’s a kindness to her. She seems to love her little humans.

[@saliadee2564]

@@WillWalking Yes that's very true, somehow I can see it in an almost instinctive way - the kindness and softness of a land with no deadly crawlies! And also it's the quality of the light somehow. We also have softness in Aus, but to my mind it's never without an edge. The landscape generally has a brightness and a starkness. And always a tang of danger, to varying degrees. Which can be quite nice. But there are qualities which I just can't describe. I've been receptive to them without really being aware of them, not telling the difference between what an artist creates or simply portrays. I expect things to be heightened in art and film, I expect there to be embellishment and unreality. Which is why I find it so surprising to find this essence to be very real, and cropping up so strongly in a few unassuming, unmanipulated moments of you trudging through a wood. My family left Britain generations ago, and yet I seem to be getting tugged at by some kind of ancestral thread. It's quite an intriguing thing. Thank you for opening this up to me.

[@saliadee2564]

@@WillWalking This mad Aus woman hasn't finished quite yet! I won't explain all the ins and outs of my complex relationship with art, save to say that too often I detect manipulation and almost compulsion in how it is intended to arrest people, and I find I have the urge to resist it. Not all, of course (just a lot!)
But I didn't want to leave you with the impression that I don't consider what you do to be art. I see your composition, your editing, your performance. But it is all as clear and refreshing as the springs that you encounter on your pilgrimages. Please carry on :)