A walk in the gale …

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My wife and I took our son to lunch yesterday at one of the more picturesque wineries outside of Mudgee. Clancy is 25 years old, works in the music industry, and doesn’t visit us often. So we figured a lunch was required.

clancy

I’d got dressed yesterday morning in readiness for a walk – brace, stocking, Asolo boots etc – but I never got the time. Phone calls, a leaky tap, a work-related Skype call to LA delayed me – and then it was time for lunch.

So I went to lunch at this upmarket winery restaurant dressed in my walking clobber, including rain jacket. Luckily I did, because suddenly some very bad weather moved in.

Gale force winds, a big temperature drop, and driving rain.

The restaurant was outside on a patio, enclosed by transparent plastic blinds that were whipped into a frenzy by the wind.

Clancy had ordered a pork chop that looked delicious. Jennifer a walnut salad, and me an anchovy and tomato pizza. We drank some of the winery’s beautiful Barbera.

The weather got worse. It seemed like the wind was going to blow the blinds away. The trees outside were whipping from side to side like they were going to uproot.

We finished our meals, the skies outside darkened even further as the storms kicked up another notch, I said my goodbyes to my wife and son, and walked out.

I began to walk the 8kms home in the gale.

As I walked along the beautiful country lane leading away from the winery back into town, it began to sleet. It was freezing. And the winds unleashed their full ferocity.

I bent my head to keep out the horizontal rain. I put my hands in my pockets to keep them warm.

Some time later Jennifer pulled up alongside me in the car and asked if I wanted to hop in. I smiled and shook my head. Once I set my intention I’m hard to deflect. She drove off and I kept walking. Soon I found my rhythm and began to warm up.

Above me, the clouds swirled.
Around me, the wind roared.
Inside me, I only heard music.

It has to go down as one of the most glorious walks I’ve ever done.

(I wasn’t able to take any photos, because I didn’t want to get my iPhone wet, but here is a shot from one of my Mudgee walks when it wasn’t raining…)

Mudgee mountain

 

13 thoughts on “A walk in the gale …”

  1. I am grateful to be able to call you my mate, but by jove, you are nuts. But I love you anyway, and guess all your other believers do as well.

    Your mate, Steve

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  3. Bill
    As I was reading …. driving rain… sleet …. gale force winds, I kept waiting for you to say “Then I woke up – it was all just a dream”! Ha!

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  4. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO STEVE 🙂
    and Bill, yesterday I went for a walk along Manly Beach when the storm you must have been in started in the heavens above us!! It was one of those amazing doomsday skies, with the contrast of the blue sea and sky out to the east and the black as spades skies building up incredible formations above our heads. The surf was almost non-existent and consequently no boards out, but amazingly quite a few swimmers; go figure! I went to visit a friend to wait out the storm I presumed would start, but it disappeared, going north at a rate of knots, so we were saved the rains, but did get lashed by the winds. I just LOVE winter in Sydney, with the wonderful contrasts in weather we get! 🙂

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    • Hi Britta – yes there were big storm warnings for Sydney yesterday as I recall. Being on the beach during a storm is so amazing, isn’t it? So beautiful, seeing the light on the waves and the sand rippled with raindrops. I just love it. It must have been incredible yesterday…

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  5. You may well be bonkers, but I don’t think your walk in the storm was evidence of it! I find it interesting how one’s view of transportation changes. Where once I would never have thought to walk home, now I consider it a reasonable thing to do.
    – Clare

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  6. Hi Clare – I’m with you on that! We walk the Camino then don’t walk anywhere else when we get home. That doesn’t make much sense does it!! 🙂

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