Ooooooh, I like the moniker 'traveloguer' - thanks, Mitchell!
It's so interesting that as a fellow left-hander you prefer to position yourself the other way round, and I completely understand why!
Love this: 'They're walking backwards!' 🤣
I remember being the envy of my female neighbours in my university accommodation when in the first week of term I answered a knock on my study bedroom door to two very tall and absolutely gorgeous young men. 'We're putting a mixed basketball team together and think you'd be perfect!' they told me. I was so astonished that all I could say was 'I don't play basketball....'.
Criteria for the recruitment process had literally been 'tall and female'. My room mates were exasperated with me that the chaps had left as quickly as they'd arrived! 🤣
I got a little confused about your directions for a bit there but thankfully you explained it all and my poor brain sorted itself out!!! A very cool tree! And of course you were walking in the rain. It is Britain after all. Sigh... Another lovely read and some cool recommendations too. Hugs dear Rebecca.
LOL - thanks, Beth! I think I know the part you mean - I've just tweaked a sentence about the path layout. And yup, there's always rain! We didn't really mind it on this occasion, though, because the landscape was so lovely. 😊 Hugs back! 😘
I love that version of wish trees! I've never seen anything like that either! Thanks for doing the research! I have seen trees where in winter people attach ribbons and other adornments, sometimes with food for birds, sometimes with Christmas decorations, and other themes pop up. I always assumed people would make a wish when they put on their offering, and that that was what a wishing tree was. But perhaps I've got it wrong. Anyway, delightful tale and it does sound like a perfect day!
Thanks, Sabrina! I've heard about ribbons on trees, too - I think perhaps in a memorial context, though. I think to hammer a coin into the tree we found would be a pretty big effort, making any related wish rather labour-intensive and requiring a certain amount of premeditation. No spontaneity there, if you've got to go out to the garden shed to find the hammer first! 🤣
Rebecca, this is such an enchanting read, punctuated by your photography. I am a Research Addict so I especially loved the information about why Tracks have runners run counter clockwise. I will read and soak this all in again. Thank you!
Oh Mary, that's so kind! I started looking in to track direction for horse racing (usually anti-clockwise, but sometimes clockwise - and ALWAYS clockwise in the US, I gather) and F1 motor racing - more clockwise than anti-clockwise, with some track layouts including figures of 8, so a bit of both! 🤯🤣
I have zero sense of direction (well, that can't be totally true, but damn near close) and am always amazed that I find my way home. I should write a book called, "Getting Lost."
Ah yes! Why not walking widdershins? It is getting near that time of October after all. And I never considered Friday the 13th unlucky either, and just a few days ago, a black cat stopped to greet me as I crossed its path.
I just love this time of year. Perhaps it being my birth month may have something to do with it?
WIDDERSHINS!!!!! Gail, I LOVE this word - I'd never come across it before! Thank you so much for using it!
Are you sure you were crossing the cat's path rather than the cat crossing yours? Would that, I wonder, make a difference to your fortunes (or indeed the cat's?). 🤔 I'm not superstitious at all, but I do find them interesting - some of the reasons behind them make perfect sense, others less so!
I love autumn, too! And happy birthday month to you!!! 🥳
Thank you! My Birthingday anniversary was Oct first. But I celebrate all month. 🎂
I had seen this particular cat on my walks a few times, but she mostly ignored me. This time, I chortled to her, and she to me, and we met in the middle. I squatted and petted her and she rubbed up against my hands. She then turned back from whence she came, and I tarried on forward. So I’m not sure that either of us crossed the other’s paths at all. Fortunes or not, it was a lovely moment we shared.
Widdershins—I’d learned that term when I attended my first Samhain ritual celebration many, many years ago. 🧙♀️
Oh yeah? Met a stranger did you? Does Jim know about this? Will read this post properly later. That road sign with the arrows going round in circles has made me feel dizzy 😂
Another invigorating post, Rebecca, with stunning shots, food for thought...and as for adding a new type of misdemeanour to our collective morals... "Is wish fraud a crime?"!😂
This is fabulous. Please tell me you have to drive to these places so my walk-envy is somewhat diminished. Imagine being able to step out your front door to these glorious places? I love the circle history! So interesting. Whenever hubby and I drive to a trail I always prefer a loop. There and back is a disappointment. We had our favorite hike loop in the Berkshires, MA. I remember one day suggesting we walk clockwise just to shake things up. It felt awkward. Now I know why.
Thank you so much! And yes, we very much drove! Here at home we can pretty much walk straight out of the front door onto a public footpath, for which I'm very grateful. On our work trips, though, we're often miles from open country - or access to to it on foot - and have to drive to a car park or a lay-by before we can start exploring in earnest!
You make such a good point about walking a very familiar route the 'wrong way round' - I sometimes do that but it makes me feel really uncomfortable! Funny, isn't it?
I remember one morning in third grade our teacher told us to sit in a different chair. It was like we were thrown off the earths axis. Then she suggested we all sit in a different spot at the dinner table that night. My sisters did not like this assignment. Hehehe.
Gosh, yes - it's so disorientating to be made to move from 'your' place - not just physically but also in terms of confidence. I hate it when classes got mixed up like that - or if the teacher told us to 'pick a partner, and make sure it's someone you haven't done this activity with before'. I guess it helps in a social context, but nooooo, I don't like change.....!
When I saw the photo of the tree with the weird objects, I said that it looked like money. Then when I scrolled down, I was flabbergasted to find out it was. I've never seen anything like that with trees.
Thanks for the sceney.
I'm glad you had no chance of getting lost this time. 😃
LOL - well spotted, Matt! I'd never seen anything like it either - I hadn't realised initially that those round shapes were coins - I thought they were some kind of tiny, tiny fungi!
And yup, I think I need to turn my attention to walking AROUND things exclusively in future. Actually on that score I'm hoping to go on a walking trip around the circumference of an island off the coast perhaps next year - as long as I keep the sea on my right (or left - I need to pick a direction and stick to it for the whole trip!) I might just be okay! 🤣
I would have chosen the right anticlockwise path as well. When I come to a choice like that I take the right. Not sure why.
The money tree is a puzzle, did the tree die from all the money pounded in, or was the money put in it once it was dead? I think you deserved a wish for just finding it!
The tree had been felled, actually - it had a cut end, and the stump was still there. The money must have come afterwards. And what was so lovely was that there was still some life in it - right up in the top (although as it was horizontal, I should say 'right at the far end') there were lots of leaves. It's never going to grow as a tree again, but there is still nourishment getting to those leaves. It was an extraordinary thing to have come across!
I really enjoyed reading this Rebecca! It's made me think about my own walks and runs on circular routes as I never really pay attention as to whether I go clockwise or anti-clockwise. I just go where the mood takes me! Or sometimes, if it's an undulating route, I will check if walking a certain way will make it more steep on the incline or the decline! I also never knew that about the running tracks so I found that fascinating as a running geek 🤓🤓
When I was training for that 5k back in the summer I much, much preferred to run my circular route in one direction rather than the other. If I'm exploring new places - walking or (more rarely) running - then it doesn't really matter. I think I like what I'm used to - so if I'm more familiar with a route one way over the other, I'll always pick that direction!
Yes I totally get that way of thinking!! I was thinking the other day whilst I was out on my run about directions, more so because I'm running in new places all of the time whilst we are travelling and I have this constant fear of getting lost. This results in me constantly checking my phone for directions and that then loses the flow of my run which is frustrating! I sometimes long for this familiar routes xx
Ooooooh, I like the moniker 'traveloguer' - thanks, Mitchell!
It's so interesting that as a fellow left-hander you prefer to position yourself the other way round, and I completely understand why!
Love this: 'They're walking backwards!' 🤣
I remember being the envy of my female neighbours in my university accommodation when in the first week of term I answered a knock on my study bedroom door to two very tall and absolutely gorgeous young men. 'We're putting a mixed basketball team together and think you'd be perfect!' they told me. I was so astonished that all I could say was 'I don't play basketball....'.
Criteria for the recruitment process had literally been 'tall and female'. My room mates were exasperated with me that the chaps had left as quickly as they'd arrived! 🤣
🤣 Two! 😉
Chuckle, chuckle. I can visualise this whole scene so clearly!
I still laugh about it now, Beth! 🤣
I got a little confused about your directions for a bit there but thankfully you explained it all and my poor brain sorted itself out!!! A very cool tree! And of course you were walking in the rain. It is Britain after all. Sigh... Another lovely read and some cool recommendations too. Hugs dear Rebecca.
LOL - thanks, Beth! I think I know the part you mean - I've just tweaked a sentence about the path layout. And yup, there's always rain! We didn't really mind it on this occasion, though, because the landscape was so lovely. 😊 Hugs back! 😘
I love that version of wish trees! I've never seen anything like that either! Thanks for doing the research! I have seen trees where in winter people attach ribbons and other adornments, sometimes with food for birds, sometimes with Christmas decorations, and other themes pop up. I always assumed people would make a wish when they put on their offering, and that that was what a wishing tree was. But perhaps I've got it wrong. Anyway, delightful tale and it does sound like a perfect day!
Thanks, Sabrina! I've heard about ribbons on trees, too - I think perhaps in a memorial context, though. I think to hammer a coin into the tree we found would be a pretty big effort, making any related wish rather labour-intensive and requiring a certain amount of premeditation. No spontaneity there, if you've got to go out to the garden shed to find the hammer first! 🤣
Rebecca, this is such an enchanting read, punctuated by your photography. I am a Research Addict so I especially loved the information about why Tracks have runners run counter clockwise. I will read and soak this all in again. Thank you!
Oh Mary, that's so kind! I started looking in to track direction for horse racing (usually anti-clockwise, but sometimes clockwise - and ALWAYS clockwise in the US, I gather) and F1 motor racing - more clockwise than anti-clockwise, with some track layouts including figures of 8, so a bit of both! 🤯🤣
I have zero sense of direction (well, that can't be totally true, but damn near close) and am always amazed that I find my way home. I should write a book called, "Getting Lost."
We're clearly birds of a feather, Mary! 🧭🤣🗺️
I can barely find my way out of a paper bag. And I have actually missed the turn for my street loads of times lol
I'm exactly the same, Julie! 🤣
Ah yes! Why not walking widdershins? It is getting near that time of October after all. And I never considered Friday the 13th unlucky either, and just a few days ago, a black cat stopped to greet me as I crossed its path.
I just love this time of year. Perhaps it being my birth month may have something to do with it?
And that coin tree!! Love it! ❤️
WIDDERSHINS!!!!! Gail, I LOVE this word - I'd never come across it before! Thank you so much for using it!
Are you sure you were crossing the cat's path rather than the cat crossing yours? Would that, I wonder, make a difference to your fortunes (or indeed the cat's?). 🤔 I'm not superstitious at all, but I do find them interesting - some of the reasons behind them make perfect sense, others less so!
I love autumn, too! And happy birthday month to you!!! 🥳
Thank you! My Birthingday anniversary was Oct first. But I celebrate all month. 🎂
I had seen this particular cat on my walks a few times, but she mostly ignored me. This time, I chortled to her, and she to me, and we met in the middle. I squatted and petted her and she rubbed up against my hands. She then turned back from whence she came, and I tarried on forward. So I’m not sure that either of us crossed the other’s paths at all. Fortunes or not, it was a lovely moment we shared.
Widdershins—I’d learned that term when I attended my first Samhain ritual celebration many, many years ago. 🧙♀️
What a lovely moment with the cat! And hurrah for a whole month of birthdaying -that's brilliant! 😊
Oh yeah? Met a stranger did you? Does Jim know about this? Will read this post properly later. That road sign with the arrows going round in circles has made me feel dizzy 😂
Yup, he knows. Turns out HE meets internet strangers, too.... 😉
Apologies for the dizziness. At least you're reeling clockwise! 🤣
Very true.😂
🤣
I love that tree! I’ve never heard of such a thing. It’s enchanting.
It took us a while to work out what it was - we'd never seen or heard of anything like it!
Another invigorating post, Rebecca, with stunning shots, food for thought...and as for adding a new type of misdemeanour to our collective morals... "Is wish fraud a crime?"!😂
You're so kind, Mya - thank you!
And LOL - I'm almost certain that 'wish fraud' isn't listed in the statute books, but maybe it should be...? 🤔
Heavenly!
Although the very start of your hike sounded like the beginning of some of ours with possibly a little friction about direction or what to bring🤣
I loved these photos and the history lesson about running counter clockwise! Brilliant.
(Side note, I now think of you every single time I squish my teabag on the side of my mug! So you are getting a Canadian shot of 💕 every day!)
Awww, thanks, Donna! LOL re 'friction'! 🤣😉
Yay to squished teabags! It's the only way, in my opinion! 🙌
Oh!! So kind of you to mention my doodlebugs!!! I'm delighted to hear you enjoyed them!! Thank you so much for sharing them with your readers!!!! 💚💚
✏️😘🪲
This is fabulous. Please tell me you have to drive to these places so my walk-envy is somewhat diminished. Imagine being able to step out your front door to these glorious places? I love the circle history! So interesting. Whenever hubby and I drive to a trail I always prefer a loop. There and back is a disappointment. We had our favorite hike loop in the Berkshires, MA. I remember one day suggesting we walk clockwise just to shake things up. It felt awkward. Now I know why.
Thank you so much! And yes, we very much drove! Here at home we can pretty much walk straight out of the front door onto a public footpath, for which I'm very grateful. On our work trips, though, we're often miles from open country - or access to to it on foot - and have to drive to a car park or a lay-by before we can start exploring in earnest!
You make such a good point about walking a very familiar route the 'wrong way round' - I sometimes do that but it makes me feel really uncomfortable! Funny, isn't it?
I remember one morning in third grade our teacher told us to sit in a different chair. It was like we were thrown off the earths axis. Then she suggested we all sit in a different spot at the dinner table that night. My sisters did not like this assignment. Hehehe.
Gosh, yes - it's so disorientating to be made to move from 'your' place - not just physically but also in terms of confidence. I hate it when classes got mixed up like that - or if the teacher told us to 'pick a partner, and make sure it's someone you haven't done this activity with before'. I guess it helps in a social context, but nooooo, I don't like change.....!
Loved this, Rebecca! The photos, history, walk and wishing tree descriptions—all of it.
That's so kind of you, Julie - thank you. 😊
When I saw the photo of the tree with the weird objects, I said that it looked like money. Then when I scrolled down, I was flabbergasted to find out it was. I've never seen anything like that with trees.
Thanks for the sceney.
I'm glad you had no chance of getting lost this time. 😃
LOL - well spotted, Matt! I'd never seen anything like it either - I hadn't realised initially that those round shapes were coins - I thought they were some kind of tiny, tiny fungi!
And yup, I think I need to turn my attention to walking AROUND things exclusively in future. Actually on that score I'm hoping to go on a walking trip around the circumference of an island off the coast perhaps next year - as long as I keep the sea on my right (or left - I need to pick a direction and stick to it for the whole trip!) I might just be okay! 🤣
I love this post!!!!!
I would have chosen the right anticlockwise path as well. When I come to a choice like that I take the right. Not sure why.
The money tree is a puzzle, did the tree die from all the money pounded in, or was the money put in it once it was dead? I think you deserved a wish for just finding it!
Awww, thanks so much, Julie!
The tree had been felled, actually - it had a cut end, and the stump was still there. The money must have come afterwards. And what was so lovely was that there was still some life in it - right up in the top (although as it was horizontal, I should say 'right at the far end') there were lots of leaves. It's never going to grow as a tree again, but there is still nourishment getting to those leaves. It was an extraordinary thing to have come across!
I really enjoyed reading this Rebecca! It's made me think about my own walks and runs on circular routes as I never really pay attention as to whether I go clockwise or anti-clockwise. I just go where the mood takes me! Or sometimes, if it's an undulating route, I will check if walking a certain way will make it more steep on the incline or the decline! I also never knew that about the running tracks so I found that fascinating as a running geek 🤓🤓
Thank you for a fabulous read!!
I'm so glad you enjoyed the read, Lyndsay!
When I was training for that 5k back in the summer I much, much preferred to run my circular route in one direction rather than the other. If I'm exploring new places - walking or (more rarely) running - then it doesn't really matter. I think I like what I'm used to - so if I'm more familiar with a route one way over the other, I'll always pick that direction!
Yes I totally get that way of thinking!! I was thinking the other day whilst I was out on my run about directions, more so because I'm running in new places all of the time whilst we are travelling and I have this constant fear of getting lost. This results in me constantly checking my phone for directions and that then loses the flow of my run which is frustrating! I sometimes long for this familiar routes xx
A “feel thing”...may all our treks through life be unintentional and unplanned.
What perfect words, Amie - here's to unplanned unintentionality! 🙌