Dawn’s Early Light

Despite exhaustion, it was sometime after midnight when I eventually slipped into an unconscious state on my first night under the stars. It had been extremely cold and the ground had been surprisingly uncomfortable given the springy nature of the mossy blanket covering the soil.

These conditions had conspired to interrupt my sleep every hour, on the hour, until I was fully awake at around 4am. Thankfully though, I had been fortunate enough to see out the night free from any disturbance of the human kind. I had gone unnoticed and was keen to keep it that way by making my exit from the woods as efficiently as possible.

I started to pack up my gear and prepare for for hauling it all back down to the roadside. It was at this point that I experienced my first glimpse of the life-enriching aspect of this journey that I had hoped would be apparent. Dawn had just began to break and the hoot of the owl had been replaced by the chirpy chattering of smaller birds. These were the only sounds to break the otherwise silent woodland morning. The density of the conifers meant that light was still minimal at ground level but look up above the treetops and the sky was no longer pitch black but had started to gray and only the brightest of stars still twinkled. Somewhat warmed by the activity of packing up my belongings and despite my eagerness to vacate, I decided to take five minutes, sit myself down, light up a cigarette and allow myself to take in the complete tranquility and awesome beauty of my surroundings at this time of day.

Dog walkers are notoriously early risers and given that this was a weekday and such tasks must be completed before leaving for work, coupled with the volume of four-legged traffic that had traversed the footpaths until late the previous evening, I had predicted that clearing the wood by about 5am would be advisable. However, the small amount of rest I had achieved during the night had done little to offset my exertions of the previous day. In fact, I ached from head to foot and my trek back to the roadside was to prove long and arduous.

Although my suitcase is of the variety that has wheels to allow it to be trailed behind you, it does not perform well on rain-softened mud pathways. I was also laden with a very large holdall, a smaller over-the-shoulder type bag and a plastic carrier bag of the type given away by shopping outlets. It was a struggle to say the least. I adopted a relay type strategy, moving first the suitcase then the holdall followed by the two lighter bags for about 50 metres each at a time before returning for the next.

The relatively short walk which I would estimate to take in the region of 5-10 minutes unencumbered took me approximately 45 minutes but by the time I reached the road I had not encountered a single soul.

I had survived my first night out in the open and it was time to continue my journey north. I was hoping that by tonight I would be somewhere in the vicinity of Newcastle.

Image: Andrew Bourke (Attribution ShareAlike 2.0)