Lady Smith’s Seghill Stumble
Having been effectively avoiding the
sun for some time (as of the end of June 2021), and with that walking too, I
happily broke that seal, and lived a bit of history in the process!
A public footpath, that friends and I used to use, for dogs and other reasons back in the day, was my chosen route.
Apart from some nettle stings, I enjoyed it more than I’d been hoping to! And I will do again. Walk there, that is.
“Ooooh, a walk. Whoopie-do.” You may think. We know of my challenges with regards to said basic activity of controlled falling – walking – in that it is not always one’s friend. If you do not know of the challenges, try out living with multiple sclerosis (MS) for size!
This a happy feeling blog, so I’ll
leave MS to the side for now (much
more about that elsewhere here anyway, and that isn’t sad by the way).
Seghill. The village I grew up
in from the age of umm, err, 8(ish), in the south east of Northumberland for 10
years before leaving the nest for Glasgow University!
During that Seghill time, I of course
grew up a shit-load with umpteen life experiences. As a youngster, with a dog
too, dog walking was obviously an activity that had to be done and a near-by
public footpath was perfect!
Dog exercise, adventuring, alone and with a great friend who had a border collie too what’s not to like (pollen I suppose)?!
So, having done the whole Uni
journey, work journeys and yada yada a return to Seghill after 21 years… I
grasped a wander back to that public footpath.
The slumbering down the first hill,
very mindful of stones on the lumpy path was the initial challenge. Then a(nother)
memory! I had headphones on catching up with Jamie Cullum’s Tuesday night
Jazz Show, something caught my attention so I turned around.
2 motorbikes where heading along the
footpath behind me, gently I may add, and with thanks for my moving to
acknowledge and let past. The memory? Well, back to then I may have had an
interest in such vehicles too! On I went.
Honestly the memories of 30ish years ago are still there and I was being reminded with every ‘step’. Target by target – distance – to parts of the path I recall that I knew are still there; e.g., the turf business. A Seghill long-term business, that I knew where was and still is. An aim.
I managed it! After I’d seen a little
enclosure for horses that was NOT there then. A change. Fair dos. That’d
explain partially anyway, the amount of horse shit on the ground, yet again
back in the day it was used for what it is as a public footpath, that horses
use too. Horse poo-bags?!
Target to target, aim to aim I
continued. Joe and/or Jane Soap may not have same staggering aims. Just as well
I am Roger! With small aims; each completion a reward.
For example, a next target may have
been another 15 meters. That equates to 30+, given that it has to be staggered
back and that it’d (the 2nd 15) feel longer (hence the “+”).
I plodded on. I had some other random
walkers or cyclists, pass me. I was always
mindful for a seat, I spied one potential. A large tree stump! Covered in
bloody nettles! Never mind. That spelled home time anyway.
I loved it! Fresh air, exercise,
memories. Regrets that have left it so long – no, and bona-fide reasons for
that!
Next time the battery feels like a
challenge of that type, I may go from the other side of the footpath (driving
there initially) and go again!
Village life pros and cons!
Fabulous. I know what a sense of peace walking can bring. Great that you completed it and brought to life in this blog.
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