Rural Vermont is often (and embarrassingly) a car culture. So walking along the railbed yesterday, it was a pleasure to walk from one village to another — a great big expedition from Hardwick to East Hardwick, along the river and through the forest.
It was a reminder for me that walking from one world to another is an ancient method, and that slowing down and looking at the sky and the river current are meaningful parts of life, too, especially in good company.
We’re somewhere in October, the days marching along towards the election and winter. Take the time to lift up a curious stone and see what’s beneath — a centipede, a tiny pebble, or the loose and sweet-smelling dirt.
Many people nowadays live in a series of interiors…disconnected from each other. On foot everything stays connected, for while walking one occupies the spaces between those interiors in the same way one occupies those interiors. One lives in the whole world rather than in interiors built up against it.
― Rebecca Solnit
Stony Soil Vermont 
That sounds as though it’s a nice walk. I like the idea of walking from one town to another. Did you walk back, too?
We did! We walked on the rail trail behind Hardwick and East Hardwick, picking it up behind the Hardwick Health Center. I recommend that if you haven’t walked or biked there.
Lovely!
Thank you!
Loved this entry Brett. It made me smile as I thought about all the times I thought I “knew” a neighborhood/place/field/park until I actually jogged/walked in it. Are there cigarette butts-or painted rocks- in the ditch? How is the smell? Do the roadside beer cans increase exponentially Friday night-or Sunday night? How supple is the moss, or splintered the railroad tie? You likely have read it, but if you enjoyed your walk you would enjoy “Walking- One Step at a Time” by Erling Kagge. He is the only person to have walked-yes walked- the 3 Pole Challenge of North Pole, South Pole, and Everest. He even mentions how in 1982 the Japanese gave a name to health boosting walks with trees- “shinrin-yoku”.
Thanks for being a 2020 “virtual” shinrin-yoku via your blog, GT
Always a pleasure to hear from you, GT. Kagge’s book was passed along to me by a friend. The pandemic might encourage us to walk and explore more….