East Yorkshire, Wolds Way, People

The pathway leads to freedom as it winds away from the cities, from town to town, freedom from the comfort of home, freedom from the everyday grind of work, shops & TV, cycles of consumerism in all of its forms.

As I walked the Wolds Way from season to season amongst the emptiness of people despite being so close to urban centers awaited a pleasant surprise, the experience of space and solitude which connects us to earth, sky, sea & self.

Disproving the concepts of Modern Society in times when travel of great distance by air and land is sold as pre cursor to any worthy adventure and discovery, despite discovery existing just a few miles from home in any region of the world, new experiences and adventure await us all.

On each leg of the journey nearing towns and villages human interaction increases, dog walkers and Sunday strolls yet just one or two miles further into the space between places, isolation peace and tranquility can be found, always in the distance country roads and the hustle and bustle of modern man frantic to produce, work & consume.

The occasional passing of a fellow path user becomes a welcome site in otherwise empty country, the welcoming word of hello or good morning and a knowing smile or passing wave, the view & the day shared for a brief passing moment with one another.

As the culture of Modern Man changes more and more people along the pathway can be seen keeping fit and doing outdoor activities, the landscape of East Yorkshire ideally suited to cycling, jogging and rambling although not all pursue the new trend of super fitness, from the history seeking detectorists in search of Rome and humanities past to solo pilots flying high above the land & perhaps to the most wise & less ambitious the pathway offers a space to relax with a friend or alone in the beauty of the countryside under the far reaching sky with open views, sat under the shade of a tree with a flask of hot tea and a sandwich enjoying the day, basking in time.

As I walked the pathway a witness to human activity of this place in time, attempting not to interupt the flow of free choice found along the way, as I raise my camera in indication of a photo, some stop to pose others continue and smile, some reluctantly refuse.

At the time of taking the first photo, the impulse to take the walk and make the journey the unknown future lay in front of us, all myself included not suspecting the global change to follow so soon after journeys begin. As myself and many others travelled the pathway of the Wolds from 2019 into 2020 from normality into pandemic, plans into uncertainty, life in the balance as it always is and was, a truism to the condition of life just forgotten to the many, lost from the conscious forefront of Modern Mans mind. Due to the unfortunate events of Pandemic the year 2020 stamps itself into Modern History, with promises of vaccine and cure late in the year we all hope for normality, for life to continue and return to stability, the change of pace as the machine stops the suffering not equally shared, the contrast of personal circumstance as many suffer we all rue the virus, yet away from human suffering others are offered the unexpected gift of time, time to live in the moment, time with family & the time to reflect, some relish the task & challenge of lockdown and ironically the experience of the unknown, others suffer in the well of time & uncertainty, lost to the absence of routune, isolated from others & bound to the disproportionate inequality of living conditions compounding the suffering for many as each and everyone experiences a different lockdown, yet most have thoughts of doing things differently next time.

Still the doubt lingers in the back of the mind of one and all, the silent fear that isn’t spoken, shared or discussed, is this the end of days and the time of mankind?

If it is, if it is not, right here in Rural East Yorkshire in 2020 this is how we lived in the free time between production, work, duty & bondage. Living amongst what remains of nature, the true habitat and home of mankind, the calling of humanity, of life itself, to be free, walking and living in natural environments of Earth, body, mind and soul.

My project and experiences but a spec in time, hopefully read and viewed by another somewhere further downstream, if not gone forever lost in a digital memory bank slowly reclaimed by nature plant or sea until the memory exists no more, yet the journey, the walk, the experience, the thought & reflection always happened at that point in time and continues still, a worthy endeavor, truth to pursue for one and all…