Moments Of Connectedness

Written in Graz, Austria, am 29.11.2008

Here I stood. In the middle of the bridge "Pont Morand" in the centre of Lyon. Next to me the city hall, above the St. Just Cathedral and further in the back "the cigar", the famous skyscraper in quarter of Part-Dieu. I had it really made! After five years I had come back to the place, where I had written my diploma thesis. This time on foot. Totally 1950 kilometers (1220 miles). Leant on my pole I looked down to the river Rhône below me. I thought about the past weeks, the past months, the countless little moments I had experienced, the good and the bad of them. It went out well. A profound feeling of joy came up to me, and I laughed. I smiled out into the city, surrounded by the busy traffic of the city centre. I was simply thankful.

I had chosen Lyon as my destination, as the finish of a wonderful hike through summer and autumn. I will now interrupt the tour and return to Austria to earn a bit of money over the winter months for the next season. But also to draw breath, to think about the happened, the encounters and the inspirations and about the changes they had triggered in my mind. In spring, when the nature awakes from winter pause, I will set off again from Lyon and continue the adventure into the west...

But first, let me report from the past weeks, in which I was allowed to hike all across Switzerland through a wonderful landscape of lakes and mountains. Gregor and I had earlier interrupted our hikes to visit our friends of the outdoor shop "Walch for Moving People" in Bludenz, Austria and to do a slide show together. There, we spent a fantastic evening together, and with all the inspiring backwind of the special people who had come, I returned to the Lake Zurich. From Rapperswil I went south to the "Lake Vierwaldstädtersee", over the "Brünig Pass" to the lakes around Interlaken, later into French-speaking Switzerland over Fribourg to Lausanne and Geneva. Sometimes I felt pure rapture, as I walked through the rapidly changing landscapes: Summits and creeks, water and wind, light and shadow. I can definitely recommend it to you! The boarder to France I had crossed without noticing it, and I found myself on the "Grand Route 65", the big hiking trail, which I followed to the valley of the river Rhône. There I turned westwards, and reached Lyons after passing the atmospheric medieval towns of Molestel and Cremieu.

A good friend asked me recently, if there weren´t any negative experiences to report. If the cold autumn weather hadn´t made it hard? Well, if there were some negative things (mostly not really negative anymore after a while), then the last period of five weeks was the first to encounter troubles for body and mind. The cold weather: There were two nights I was freezing in my tent, but they were exceptions. After spending the days always outdoor the body adapts perfectly to the environment. This feature of the organism is apparently almost forgotten, but interesting in view of the fact, that a today´s urban human spends 90% of his lifetime in closed rooms and a quarter of the world´s energy output is used for thermal comfort. That´s when I start to sing loudly: "I am walking in sunshine, yeah yeah…”.

Health is during a long hike a precondition, but also becomes a consequence because of the balanced lifestyle and the movement of body and soul. I had planned to listen carefully to my body, to respect its signals and to stop when it would be necessary. Time should not be the constraint of our hike. That is why I had sent home most of my medical stuff already after a week (too heavy also). After more then two months of perfect health, I woke up one morning having a cold. Ignoring my previous intention I continued to walk a couple of days until I finally got it. Then it was serious enough and I had to break for five days to recover. It was interesting to see, how hard it was to respect the body´s signals in time. Obviously, I am still a bit the product of our society, where achievement is the highest principle and where illness is only a loss of productivity. Each year we create more wealth, but are less healthy. Is that progress? We should think about that! Apart from that, I experienced three days having diarrhea, after I had drank out of a well, whose water quality was similar to the one of a puddle in a public highway toilet. But I beware you of the details! :-)

An interesting experience occurred to me, as I got into French-speaking Switzerland. I had only hiked in German-speaking areas before, so I felt like a stranger at the beginning. I had arrived Saturday evening in Fribourg, and I couldn´t contact any of Gregors friends there. So I spent the evening alone, while the city prepared for going out. As I cooked my dinner on a park bench, I really felt lonely, just like somebody, who lives on the street. So I went into one of the pups in the oldtown and my mood got better, and later in the evening I set up the tent right next to the tower "Tour rouge" in the center. No nuts no glory, you know. :-)

Already the next evening the wonder happened. A soccer field near "Romont" offered an excellent camping spot. Water, table and benches included. The change to winter time had made the day short, and I prepared the lentil stew already in the dark. Soon I jumped into the sleeping back. I was reading, when I suddenly heard steps. A bit scared, I shouted a "Bonsoir" out of the tent and opened it. "Bonsoir", somebody replied and I looked into the spot of a headlamp. No, it was not the groundkeeper, but Pascal, another hiker! He had "coincidently" chosen the same night camp. Pascal had come on foot from Cologne, Germany and I was the first hiker, he had met in the two month (in mid October there are not so many walkers out there). Our happiness was amazing and we celebrated our encounter with fruit rice. The following two days, which we walked together to Lausanne, were big fun and the feeling of loneliness disappeared completely. We told each other our experiences and celebrated the bad weather with beer in the evening. With our encounter the magic of the way had come back boldly!

I have already reported about the trust, which I could rediscover in the last months: trust in the inner voice, in other people and that everything will be alright again tomorrow. When we are able to develop that trust, then all feelings of insecurity disappear and the full scope of our actions returns. A fantastic feeling of freedom and self responsibility enables us again to forge our destiny. During my hike the original serenity has returned, now my life got really "easy" again. Ulrich Grober writes in his book "About hiking": "Serenity is the key to a new art of living. Its basic sense lies in the word "let". Letting things, thus letting behind, letting loose, letting in peace, letting untouched, letting happen - this is an opposing design to the lifestyle of the accelerated modernity. Life does not consist of acting permanently. Serenity is the refusal of making and keeping everything and everybody, ourselves included, anytime "available". (..) Like every art and every element of the art of living, serenity needs to be cultivated. Hiking does not only contribute to the physical strength and to the focusing of our senses. Among all methods of cultivating serenity, the upright walk seems to be the easiest". Well spoken!!

Again I have met countless people along the way: Angela, who lives in the camping van and soon will have saved the money to spend the rest of her life on a sailing boat on the Mediterranean; Nir and Mor, the Israeli couple, who had crossed the Alps on foot; Fredo, the cool farmer in Switzerland (girls welcome) with the best self-made yoghurt shakes; Carl, the UN consulter for refugee education; Andres, the gay prostitute from Barcelona; Liliane, Natalie and their spring of happiness in Lausanne; or Georges and Bruno from Molestel, France, who couldn´t be more different but are the best friends though. They all have shown me, how different people and their vision of a good life can be. But nevertheless, the joy of giving, sharing and being common has united us strongly. Although we had never met before, we encountered each other in friendship as humans, that we are. These were moments of connectedness.

Scooping energy from those moments I am looking forward happily to the upcoming winter. After being on the road I enjoy being back at home intensely to meet you, to exchange the experiences and to form new ideas for the future. See you soon, all the best meanwhile!

Take it easy, yours
Reinhold.

Some Impressions