Distance: 14.8 miles (58 miles total).
Time: 6 hrs 54 mins.
Wildlife: Pheasant, grouse, rabbit and heron.
Barnaby's Song of the Day: Praise to the Holiest.
Today started with a very long climb out of Hawick. The weather this morning was an extreme improvement on the weather yesterday. Today was one of the most important parts of the walk when we reached its highest point and sang 'Praise to the Holiest' with our hands above our heads. We were re-starting a tradition that Daddy and Godfather Paul started thirteen years ago. It felt like I was following in stories that I've heard about and making stories of my own.
As we've been walking along I've noticed lots of footprints in the mud and the grass beneath my feet, but we've never seen any other walkers, so that's confused me a lot. It feels like because of how fresh the footprints look, that we should be seeing people. So I have come to the conclusion that the footsteps that we see ahead of us are Grandad enjoying the walk along with us, and I'm sure that he's been watching us the whole, entire way.
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Daddy's Postscript:
Barnaby was quieter today. He's grown noticeably quieter day by day. And day by day I can see him stopping and noticing the world around him and enjoying its beauty. His mind is the busiest of busy places, and always has been, but on this walk it feels like its been slowing down, finding space.
I shared this theory with B as we walked along. He insisted that he'd only been quieter because he'd spent more time with his drinking tube in his mouth. I tried to counter that no, he'd had the drinking tube in his mouth from the very start of the walk and so really it was that he was slowing down a bit. "It's my mind!" he replied.
Indeed it is.
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