Day 4. Elberton to Parkend
After yesterdays walk of getting on for 25 miles, much on roads, including walking to the pub in the evening, I find the walking hard but have developed the ability to “get into the zone”. So my approach to coping with the pace has developed from day one and I am aware of “being”, but at times slightly apart from my surroundings.
The bridge crossing is fantastic and is a project in itself. We are already planning to revisit. In some ways it is the most elemental, even sublime of the places we have walked despite being built. I certainly would consider climbing almost any tree we rubbed over climbing this structure despite the foot and hand holds.
We walk through Chepstow and, until we reach the centre, only meet a dozen or so people on foot – most of these waiting for a bus into town. We are passed by hundreds of cars just during this short walk through the residential areas. How far are people driving I wonder. How many could walk instead if only time was on their side? If only they had allowed time. I know that more people drive to work or the shops than walk to them, but by walking into the town as a part of our 22 mile walk today, I really know it, really feel it.
Leaving Chepstow we cross the River Wye and climb into the Forest of Dean and the contrast with the mornings walk across the bridge is immense – I am at once aware of being in a different sort of place, one where forestry dominates, where the pace is so different from the road bridge, where settlements are set in woodlands rather than trees planted in town.
