slowing down . . .

. . . having travelled quite quickly so far . . . with interludes . . . the time and place feel right to slow the pace . . .
. . . planning the journey, considered bringing one book . . . light in weight, small in volume, deep in content . . . Rachel suggested Anam Cara by John O'Donohue and I read her copy . . . perfect for rereading, dipping into for inspiration . . . take it as my gift for the trip, she said . . . Richard and Maggi discovered a spare copy . . . take it as our gift for the trip, they said . . . one book, three gifts . . . in it the author tells a story about travelling too fast . . . we have to pause, allow our spirits to catch up . . . walking pace is perfect to keep things together . . . and, not being so grounded, open also to other opportunities . . .
. . . a gift from Judith and Jean-Paul, a Michelin map of France . . . the balance between planning and intuition is interesting . . . keeping the mountains on my left should ensure eventual arrival at St Jean or Irun . . . the choices now appear to be Camino Frances or Camino de Norte . . . though the foothills of the Pyrenees seem also propitious for Helpx . . . lots of lifestyle projects . . .
Jean-Paul is rather scathing about would-be self-suffiency settlers . . . they head for the hills where the soil is no good . . . subsidise their lives with money earned in wealthier, North European countries . . . push up prices . . . ignore the locals . . . new colonialism he calls it . . . at another level, the impoverishment of Southern Europe . . . Greece, Spain, Portugal . . . the austerity imposed by the European Central Bank . . . all appears also as colonialism . . . how to transform these movements . . . build land redistribution from below . . . simple living, crowdfunding (including all people of good heart and intention) . . . involving locals from the beginning . . . co-operative governance structures . . .
. . . passing signs at the roadside saying, Private Property - Keep Out . . . dreaming of thousands of new signs for the new world: Co-operative Property - Welcome!