Lives of great men will remind us
We can make our lives sublime
And,departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Longfellow
----------------------
I saw a jolly hunter
With a jolly gun
Walking in the country
In the jolly sun.
In the jolly meadow
Sat a jolly hare.
Saw the jolly hunter.
Took jolly care.
Hunter jolly eager-
Sight of jolly prey.
Forgot gun pointing
Wrong jolly way.
Jolly hunter jolly head
Over heels gone.
Jolly old safety catch
Not jolly on.
Bang went the jolly gun.
Hunter jolly dead.
Jolly hare got clean away.
Jolly good, I said.
Charles Causey - (24 August 1917 – 4 November 2003) was a Cornish poet, schoolmaster and writer. His work is noted for its simplicity and directness and for its associations with folklore, especially when linked to his native Cornwall.
What a beautiful country we live in - we're just so lucky!
ReplyDeleteJJ - Yes, but you've got to put on your trail shoes or get on your bike to see it properly. Walking is best because you absorb it all more slowly and throughly. I often wonder about foreign visitors who come and just drive on motorways and A roads and think they have seen our country. The Macmillan Way may not be the best LDP in England but I am so pleased to have seen a large part of our countryside I had not previously visited. After completing the slideshow and running through it I wondered what I had been whinging about in my summary post, but of course the slideshow tends to show all the best bits, and even as you look at the photos of hard going terrain you are not feeling the frustration you do at the time.
ReplyDeleteexcellent and enjoyable
ReplyDeletei think you really have captured the feel of 'the south' at the springtime of the year - almost overwhelmingly lovely, even at times a bit stifling in its prettiness and neatness (except many of the paths, with which I can concur - helps to deter visitors from one's land, you know) - very familiar as good examples of their types, for me viewed mainly from the car, buzzing about on business in those parts but also, and so one would hope, many walks and strolls through hill and vale and village very much like those you traversed.
Living there one takes it all for granted - but I imagine that, on balance, you too prefer the north countree !
I think it must have been a very satisfying walk, and enjoyable overall, with apparently good weather most of the time: a well conceived and executed plan.
gimmer - Thanks for your comment.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct about my preference - the further north the better. I quote from a comment I made while I was in the middle of my walk on a recent post by Afootinthehills (Gibson McGeachie who lives in Scotland, and was complaining about the rain and the cold there).
"...I am toiling away down the country with a sweaty shirt stuck to my back and the sweat running into my eyes and thinking constantly about cool drinks, but your domain is really where my heart is. It was so uplifting to be back up there a few weeks ago"..