As I strode along the well-trodden ridge leading up to Mam Tor, with the early spring sunshine on my face and a gentle breeze at my back, I couldn't help but think of the opening lines to William Blake's most famous poem. After a little over two years of motorhome travel through Europe, Asia and Africa, it felt good to be back 'in England's green and pleasant land'.
Heading for the peaks
You might think that after such an epic journey, there would be little desire to keep moving once we were back on home soil. In fact, it was quite the opposite. No sooner had we been back for a few days, during which time we caught up with family, than the urge to reconnect with familiar places ensured I was on the move again.
At first, I was reluctant to head away without Kim and the children, having been together on our travels for so long, but I soon found myself relishing the opportunity to spend a few days alone. My destination was the Peak District, England's oldest National Park, picked for its abundance of hiking and cycling routes, and my desire to reconnect with the British countryside.
It had been a while since I was last in Castleton, my base for this trip, but I quickly realised that little had changed since my previous visit.
But what had changed was me. The past two years of travel, full of life-changing experiences - which were reported on extensively in Practical Motorhome ensured that we all arrived back in the UK with a different outlook on the world.
That's what travel does: it changes the way we think and the way we see the world around us, while developing a deeper appreciation and empathy for all those who call it home.
Yet despite being a markedly different person from the one who set off on our odyssey back in May 2022, I was reminded that, for all of the beauty we saw in the world, there is something quite enchanting about England's 'pleasant pastures' - especially when the sun is shining.
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