Breakfast in Vallum Barn ...

Waiting for my walking companions to arrive for breakfast, I scribbled some wild phrases in my note book - I glanced around the dining room - 

A Victorian doll's house reminded me of the story by M R James - I avoided looking at the tiny figures arranged inside the bedrooms - 

There were some china heads displayed in a corner cabinet - I rested my stockinged feet upon a smooth oak floor - I could hear the two cocker spaniels barking in the kitchen - I saw horses grazing in a close cropped field -  

Soon my companions joined me - we spoke of future walks we might make - 

The names of these walks evoked within me images of icy becks, pine trees, mountains, waterfalls and seal haunted islands - Saint Cuthbert's Way - The West Highland Way - The Dales Way - Saint Oswald's Way - 

We even talked about the Pilgrim's Way to Santiago de Compostela - 

I pictured the four of us, brown from the sun, walking along a mountain path above the sea - each one us wore a scallop shell - each one of us walked under heaven - 

8.04

July 13 2014

Vallum Barn

Irthington