9) Diaries closed with a moral key

9) Diaries closed with a moral key

But again what do I want to show my children? Okay, that a life without them can be rewarding. Sure I was happy with Chantal. I mean, look at our faces. There we are in the middle of nowhere miles and miles away from any human activity. Tremendous views and not a living soul as far as the eye reaches.

But how can I convey the happiness of walking?

To start with nothing can surpass the peace in the pace of walking. The distance that comes slowly nearer showing more and more details. What appears to be barren slowly sprouts stunted trees, bushes, grassy knolls. What is forbidden from afar becomes habitable  and at last you see signs of life. You see mountain groundhogs, birds and the occasional mountain-goat.

Walking is caressing the earth with your feet. The imperceptible changes in the landscape that prepare you for bigger boulders and steep ravines. The colour of far away mountain-flanks hints at scree and the danger of sprained ankles.

How I can long for these walks still. The days filled with little pains and huge rewards. The lingering fear that a pain hidden in my ankle will make walking impossible. A fear that will be forgotten when later on a nagging pain behind my left knee evolves. Later in the afternoon still a hip-joint from which a sudden jolt disturbs me.

All discomforts of walking surpassed by itching under my cap. But all is forgotten when we find a secluded camping-site and set up our tent. After topping our meal with coffee we fall into the blissful abyss of painless sleep.