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Out and back - a good long walk in the mud | Day 215 of my 2023 Journal

Cecilie Conrad·Aug 4, 2023

The longest walk we managed to do within the five days we spent with my friend and her sons was around Stocks Reservoir. We all had the feeling we were walking in the Shire. Beauty unfolds all the time, new angles, new hills, new beautiful horizons and small details, flowers and totes, and sheep and cows and birds.

In the bird observatory, we saw an eagle hunting.

We walked on small paths between trees and along wide ones uphill and downhill. It is amazing how wet it all is. In my mind, water will run down and not be on top of hills, but it was just wet everywhere. In a beautiful way. Especially after I just gave up on shoes and walked barefoot through streams, wet grass, mud, on stone, and along paths.

We had a good lunch break halfway and laughed at the sign explaining it was forbidden to swim because cold water can make you exhausted, and as it is also deep, there is a risk of drowning. Being Scandinavians, we know the deep cold lakes in Sweden and found it a bit fun. Especially because on the sign, at the end of the explanation, it said, “So no swimming, sorry.”

 Only in England, there will be added the word sorry, after the explanation of a rule. We laughed a lot.

Later on, another sign gave the real explanation: Underwater machinery that controls the artificial dam can create sudden changes in the water currents, even ones that will pull you down; therefore, don’t swim.

 Makes total sense.

Well. This was fun.

And the walk was long; there was no rain, and we all enjoyed it very much and were very tired when we came back to cook, play games, share favorite youtube videos and laugh some more.



Happy days. With very dirty feet.

Love and light

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Cecilie Conrad

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Hi, I'm Cecilie Conrad. I'm a trained psychologist, mother of four, radical unschooler and full-time traveller. I have lived with unschooling for over a decade and help other families find their own path – whether it is about homeschooling, unschooling, or the bigger question of how you want to live as a family.

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