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While browsing the interwebs, I stumbled onto to a post pondering about the lifelong impact a brief encounter can last. The account by Gordon Bonnet about a chance meeting while traveling through a little village near Hadrian's Wall absolutely blew me away.
A couple in their 60s (sexagenarians) "walked home" from Burma to Northern UK. The 6,660+ mile trek took the couple "a little over 3 years."
The waypoints: Myanmar (Burma) > Bangladesh > India > Nepal > Pakistan > Afghanistan > Middle East > Turkey > Greece > Italy > France > UK.
The Story
Have you ever met someone only for 2-3 days but remembered them your whole life?
Gordon Bonnet, works at Writers and Authors
Yes, and it wasn't even two or three days, it was more like twenty minutes.
When I was in my 30s I did a solo hiking trip across England, from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. When I was in a little village near Hadrian's Wall I saw an old lady, maybe 75 years old, walking toward me. She looked like she could have stepped right out of an Agatha Christie novel - pastel dress, sensible shoes, a hat with a bow, even a parasol to keep the sun off.
As she passed me, she gave me a smile and said, "Are you out for a ramble?"
I told her about the hiking trip I was on.
Her smile broadened, and she said, "Oh, lovely! I do so love a nice ramble. You know, my husband was in the foreign service, and when he retired, we walked home from Burma."
I stared at her, thinking I must have misheard her. Or, perhaps, there was a town ten miles away named "Burma." She must have noticed my astonishment, because she continued to explain. "You see, we were stationed in Rangoon, and when he retired, we had nowhere we had to be. So we decided to walk home. We crossed into Bangladesh, and then into India, trekked up into Nepal and across the northern parts of Pakistan. We were fortunate, because having been in the foreign service for decades, we knew people all through the region – they were all former British colonies, of course.
"We did take a light plane across Afghanistan, which was a bit dicey even back then. But we had a lovely time crossing up through the Middle East, then into Turkey. We crossed the Bosporus on a ferry, then went through Greece and into northern Italy, crossed the Alps into France, and when we got to the Channel we took the ferry across that, too. And presto, we were home!"
Presto indeed. I asked her how long it took them.
"Oh, a little over three years, I think.” She laughed. “We weren't really keeping track very well, I'm afraid."
And, as it turned out, she and her husband did all this when they were in their upper 60s. I'll never forget that experience - talking with the little old lady who bested my hiking experience in the sweetest, most understated fashion possible... the little old lady who "walked home from Burma."
Thoughts
Having just turned 50 last month and dealing with health issues, it can seem like adventures like this are for "younger" people who have the freedom from things anchoring them to a place, their fitness & health. I fortunate to have accumulated material things but when I'm feeling down and/or the wanderlust is high, I turn to the picture of my travels, to try to relive, in some way, my own adventures.
That time I stayed late at work to get a release out before deadline is meaningless, even in the moment, really. That time I almost missed the Tau ferry in Stavanger, Norway and my hike to Preikestolen was in jeopardy, is indelibly etched in my mind.
This woman's account reminds me of a family story. My great- aunt and uncle were already in their 60s when I was born. When I heard the story, I'd been a skier and had hiked in Canada for almost two weeks. They lived in a rural town in southern California and had a quiet, retired life. It was hard to imagine them being adventurers.
Sometime when they were in their 30s-50s, they'd set out in the Sierra Nevadas with some mules and horses to explore the back country for a few weeks. (I need to get some clarification on the details to make sure I'm not embellishing. The story is amazing as is.) Wow!
This seemed so badass to me but then again, think of the people that headed out West, and their hardiness and mettle. I regret not having the maturity and introspection to hear the story firsthand. It's humbling and also motivates me to be more adventurous.
