I’m in the beautiful little town of Middleton on Teesdale. I’m in my first hotel of the journey and I have my feet soaking in a salt bath. It was a long old schlep from High Cup Nick yesterday, picking up the river Tees which exhibits some delightful waterfalls along its route. It’s probably been my favourite part of the journey so far.

I was joined by my wife for this bit of the journey, hence the hotel. Although we did camp out one of the nights and full credit to her for pushing way beyond her comfort zone. She wanted to get a better sense of what it was like for me to journey each day. She’s not sure how I do it each day. Niether am I.

She also took a few photos and suggested I add a few more photos in my posts. And that, as much as she loves the ideas I convey in my blogs, I don’t always need to be so serious. Show us a bit more of the journeying Christopher, she says. So here I try.

Up until now

It’s actually been getting better and better the longer I’ve been moving. By that I mean I’m finding more day to day flow, being more gentle with myself, and feeling less anxious about whether I’ll get to places by certain times or not. It’s all part and parcel of journeying I suppose.

Before my wife joined me for a few days, my journey took me up Cross Fell and, after staying in the bothy up there, I had an absolute divine time in the mists of the early morning – sun peeking through from time to time to reveal wonder and delight.

But in all honesty, the journey has been quite a struggle up until then. The weather has not been great and that can be limiting. It’s not so relaxing to appreciate a good spot when its raining or is likely to rain late that day. Got to get on. There has been a lot of head down and just getting through it. Plus England is not like Scotland, where we have more rights with regard to the use of the countryside, and wild camping is trickier when it’s wet and not ‘legal’.

Sometimes, I’ve just had to wait it out in a cafe. Which is great because I’ve met some lovely folk – a vicar on sabbatical walking the Pennine Way, others doing long distance paths such as Lands End to John O’Groats, people just needing to take time out for the day, week, indefinitely, and plenty of curious local folk. In one rainy pit stop I had my breakfast paid for. Thanks George.

All in all, I’m doing okay. It’s been much more difficult than I thought it would be. But it’s never easy when starting out. And it normally doesn’t get easier either. All that happens, hopefully, is we just start to relax and take things less seriously. And then we start to open up…

***Thanks for reading my article. It is part of a journey about home, in which I’m walking from Edinburgh to Croydon. If you’d like to find out more then go here.