Category Archives: formation

Essay: On Going A Journey

I grant there is one subject on which it is pleasant to talk on a journey, and that is, what one shall have for supper when we get to our inn at night. The open air improves this sort of conversation or friendly altercation, by setting a keener edge on appetite. Every mile of the road heightens the flavour of the viands we expect at the end of it. How fine it is to enter some old town, walled and turreted, just at approach of nightfall, or to come to some straggling village, with the lights streaming through the surrounding gloom; and then, after inquiring for the best entertainment that the place affords, to ‘take one’s ease at one’s inn’!

Essay: Walking Tours

“In the course of a day’s walk, you see, there is much variance in the mood. From the exhilaration of the start, to the happy phlegm of the arrival, the change is certainly great. As the day goes on, the traveller moves from the one extreme towards the other. He becomes more and more incorporated with the material landscape, and the open-air drunkenness grows upon him with great strides, until he posts along the road, and sees everything about him, as in a cheerful dream. The first is certainly brighter, but the second stage is the more peaceful. A man does not make so many articles towards the end, nor does he laugh aloud; but the purely animal pleasures, the sense of physical wellbeing, the delight of every inhalation, of every time the muscles tighten down the thigh, console him for the absence of the others, and bring him to his destination still content.”

Essay: Why I Walk

By Ben Kilbourne, Backpacking Light As part of your formation with the Order of Walkers, there are questions you must pose to gain insight and promote growth. Ponder the age old “Why I walk”?  A simple question but a difficult answer to articulate. There are no wrong answers. It’s a  big sky and your essayContinue reading “Essay: Why I Walk”

Quote: Ralph Waldo Emerson

This quote speaks directly to the sacrament of ad Communionem for the the Order. “There are two companions, with one or other of whom it is desirable to go out on a tramp. One is an artist, that is, who has an eye for beauty. If you use a good and skilful companion, you shallContinue reading “Quote: Ralph Waldo Emerson”

Quote: Stephen Graham, “ The Gentle Art of Tramping”

“On the road the weak and strong points of character are revealed. There are those who complain, making each mile seem like three; there are those who have untapped reserves of cheerfulness, who sing their companions through the tired hours.” Stephen Graham Stephen Graham World Traveller

The Land On Which We Walk

A simple omission on my behalf, a typo, an awareness deficit. We are walking on something. Sometimes it’s crunchy, sometimes sandy, sometimes muddy, sometimes hard and jagged. An unconscious connection is made with each stride. The humble blister is formed on a foot to remind you that you walk on a sacred ancient land andContinue reading “The Land On Which We Walk”

The Wander Society

Do a keyword search on “the wander society” and your first hit will be the book by Kerri Smith. You will then stumble upon an obscure black and white site. At some point you’ll be watching a vimeo video and for the next few days you’ll be processing what the hell it is you stumbledContinue reading “The Wander Society”