The End Of Another Journey...

We had to make a strategic call yesterday, whilst sitting in a square in a small village called Manuel, ( yes there were references made to Faulty Towers if you had wondered ). As we sipped on our Radler Mahou beers and contemplated the weather apps and the information we had just been handed by a local, that it was going to "bucket" down tomorrow. We needed to make a call to abort the Camino Del Cid a day early or trudge through high mountains in torrential rain. As I write this, you can guess which one it was. We were due to camp in a town called Bocairent, perched high on a hillside on the border of Parc Natural de la Sierra de Mariola, a majestically beautiful natural forested wild area. The altitude and weather made the decision, not only the correct one, but also an easy one to reach. Sad as it now is for me, and one day fewer to ride, when I look outside from the warmth of the hotel Agora restaurant bar, I am grateful we have had fantastic weather for 2 weeks and am happy right now to not be getting drenched in the high mountains. Although I am also filled with a sense of a feeling that another chapter and journey has come to an end, I am so cognisant that it has been a magical vivid trip, filled with laughter, great memories and also some hardships. In order for things to be vivid for me, there has to be an element of difficulty, otherwise there is a definite blurring of days, towns and moments, which makes it senseless and somewhat dull. The hardship, the immersion of oneself into the discomfort, allows for the being present, and the acknowledgment that this is in fact, a challenge. At the end, these are the moments, which are crystal clear and the ones one savours most fondly, funny that. The same can be said for the extrication of oneself from ones comfort zone. It is a place of warmth and cushy feeling, and quite honestly, you can keep all that's shit, for a life that is worth its salt, does not and never can happen there. I was reminded about Helen Keller's quote recently, " Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all." Thank you Richard Pitt for that, not so much for the words, but for the recognition that we choose to be the former. It is a path chosen and is much harder to walk, but the rewards are also much higher, fuller and richer. These cannot be found sitting in front of a television or in a mall or in ones CZ. That is your choice to make. I encourage each and everyone, to venture out into the world, out of your comfort zone, even if that is just to do a small thing that is out of the ordinary, just immerse yourself in that discomfort, albeit it small and fleeting. Breathe it in, let it resound and resonate and see if that something can lead to a greater sense of adventure. Start small. One step at a time, but please, for the sake of your own life, try and take a step out the front door. That is the hardest one, from there just let momentum take you. Don't overthink, just do, whatever that may be. Believe me, you will reap reward. There will be fear, trust me, and rightly so, it is an unknown quantity for sure, but tomorrow the sun will still come up (hopefully), and you will be so much more fulfilled than you are watching sport on television. All I am trying to do by writing this is to encourage, persuade and invite people to see the other side of what life can be. Get away from conformity and the boredom of waiting for tomorrow, for the weekend and for December holidays, there is more to life than wanting seconds to wash away. Seconds you will never ever get back, and seconds that take you closer to your last day. Maximize your each and every spare moment given, it is truly a gift and it is fleeting and short. Why waste it with normality and competing with The Joneses... Honestly in the end of the day, they, nor anyone else will remember, but you will, and at night, in the time you have with your conscience and self, when there is nobody to impress, you will wonder why you squandered your time worrying about what others thought of you, instead of making your life great. That, people will remember. Be true to yourself. It will be your epitaph that reads what you did, not what you had. I will certainly never have, " Here lies Billy, founder of 3 corporations and owner of 4 houses and a Bentley. ", but if I am fortunate and lucky, it might attest to a life well lived, a spirit that sought adventure and a man that was fulfilled... Everybody dies, not everybody lives, what will your epitaph read, only you can control that. *Stats of the journey 1058km 12070 m ascent 15 days