Mon Sept 1 / 08It seems to be unavoidable but every walking marathon which I've started is met by rain. Perhaps it's because I begin at a coastal city. Belfast is no exception, and, besides it is in Ireland. My personal consolation to the dark sky, blue and grey, is that here is the colour of God.
Along with the official start at the City Hall were reporters from the Irish News and the Daily Mail. They were determined to capture the bottoms of my feet for the photography. Before any real media came out enthusiasts in cars honked their happy horns.
My support team for the two week stretch is composed of two very sweet monks. Ananta Nitai from the UK and Premarnava from Belfast. Truly I could not have better company as they walk with me or watch out for me from their mini-caravan. Also accompanying us for three days is Tim McEvitt from Dublin assisting in promotion. He is also sweet. With Ananta we walked the streets in the area of former political uprising in the seventies and eighties. We passed by a memorial for the ten IRA members who died on hunger strike. Bobby Sands was a notable figure at the time of Protestant / Catholic conflict. In some respects those men left a strong gesture of inspiration by their determination. In Belfast's suburb, Dunmurry, a smart looking older home is now a converted temple where I spoke about the wonders of walking for upliftment.
Ananta amazed me when on several occasions he entered a shop, said we were travelling monks, and received donations for our needs on this two-week mission of walking from Belfast in Northern Ireland to Cork in the Republic of Ireland.
37 km
No comments:
Post a Comment