Walking on the Rock (Nfld.)
Cape Spear, Newfoundland
It feels just great being out on the road again. Such freedom! Here I was chanting japa with two good devotional people, Rikin and Jeff. Marg also came to see me, I was flabbergasted to see her. I met her on the Trans Canada Hwy in 2003 with her partner, Ted, who was cycling the country to create awareness for Multiple Sclerosis, as he is an MS patient. Marg was a support driver, and he was cycling, when they met me trekking the highway. It is indeed a small world. It was like warriors of the road reunite.
Jan Peters, a friend for years, also came out for a short trek which began from Cape Spear, North America’s eastern most tip, and wound along Saint Johns’ Water Street, Quidi Vidi Road, Topsail Road, and to the precincts of Mount Pearl. At Quidi Vidi Gut, a unique ocean’s cove, Jan, Marg, Jeff and I, reminisced about India and Thailand. Tourists from all parts of Canada came to that little nook where we took a break admiring magnificent scenery, and then conversed about pilgrimage. The day was unseasonably warm at about 20 degrees Celsius. Jeff, the monk from Halifax, is my newly trained support person, and he’s doing a great job.
NTV, CBC TV, and the Telegram Newspaper, all came out to greet me, to cover the story of the monk who is trying to promote pilgrimage, parikrama or padayatra are the traditional terms in India.
I have been walking with these nasty blisters on my feet. It reminds me of when a dear godsister, Yamuna, described her walking with our guru, Srila Prabhupada: “The morning walks were japa walks, and he walked briskly like a young man of 25. The first day I went I was wearing wooden yogi shoes and my feet bled because Prabhupada was walking on and on very fast.”
There’s always some austerity involved in walking.
29 Km
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