Awash in the Wash

There's nothing like a 10 mile walk in the British summer during our annual vacation to the UK. With unrealistic optimism of the weather staying sunny and getting better as we traversed our way across the Wash, we were soon reminded of the unpredictable climate. But with true British stamina, we didn't let the rain stop play.

Packed with a picnic, we decided that it would be nice to take our two older daughters to do the 'Peter Scott Walk', stopping half way near a little island to sit and admire the view and eat our sandwiches while basking in the sun. (Map here) Sir Peter Scott was the only son of the Antarctic explorer, Robert Scott who died when Peter was only two years old. Sir Peter was knighted for his contribution to the conservation of wild animals and he lived in the lighthouse on the East Bank of the River Nene at Sutton Bridge.

We started out from Sir Peter Scott's lighthouse with great optimism, feeling fresh and excited about what we may discover en route. As we walked along the top of the old sea bank, at the edge of The Wash, with a skip in our step, we were inspired by the landscape that was so flat and open, you could see for miles and miles across the green marshland of the north Fens.

One hour later, the sky started turning grey and we could see dark, heavy rainclouds heading straight for us.  Luckily we were equipped with waterproof coats and hoped that the storm would pass as we trudged our way with wet trainers across the path. Fortunately, the storm did pass and the sun appeared with perfect timing to dry out our wet jeans and trainers. Just as I was getting used to feeling warm and dry again, another rainstorm hit us and this time it lasted longer and was much wetter. While receding into the hood of my waterproof coat like a tortoise hiding in its shell, the journey reminded me of the analogy of running our business (or likened to life in general) where we start off optimistically, with a spring in our step and then walk into unexpected storms, some harder and longer than others.

Two hours into our walk, we were ready for our picnic and with no sign of the weather abating, we stopped opposite a little island (the second of two artificial islands created as part of a 1970's fresh water experiment)  our half way point, as planned. We shivered while eating our sandwiches and even though I was tempted to turn around, we had come so far, we moved on again quickly to gain momentum and warm up. Life too is about moving on.

We experienced two more rainstorms and sunny intervals in between, before we finally made it to the end of our journey. The last two miles seemed to go on forever, moving forward a slow step at a time with aching limbs and what seemed little progress, but we made it with an outcome in mind and it felt good when we reached our destination.  Looking back on our long journey and with blisters to show for it, we had made it from one county Lincolnshire to the county of Norfolk, at West Lynn and the ferry crossing to King's Lynn - what a feat!

In spite of experiencing some uncomfortable patches in our journey, we achieved what we set out to do which is a great feeling of accomplishment. It may have not happened in the way we had imagined it to be, however by walking our way through the rougher patches, it made the whole journey even more worthwhile. As Buddha quite rightly says:-

"If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking."

Keep on walking in the right direction and you'll get there.

Janet