“Happy is the man who finds a walking companion who knows how to keep silence and when to talk, who is in unison not only with yourself but with all the vibrant chords of nature around” FriendshipSilenceWalking Author:Grant, Will
“It is not everyone you will take with you on a hill walk, but to have one like-minded, who will not interfere with your exercise of free will and choice in thought and action, is a joy indeed. It is better that two people should so understand each other that the choice of each day may be exercised without offence, and even without too much talking” FriendshipSilenceWalking Author:Grant, Will
“The experienced walker and nature lover will in most cases and in certain moods prefer to walk alone; he revels in the joy of it, he is self-contained, and all his adventures and experiences combine to make him independent of all company, because he is aware of a voice in the silence … To him the voice of the wild are soothing nepenthe, and the wind among the trees and the music of the corrie burn are his inspiration and delight. We shall often find him to be of a serious philosophical nature, and yet in love with life and the beauty of the world. He loves company, and knows the value of social intercourse; but he also loves his own companionship, and the fruits of solitude” NatureSilenceWalkingSolitude Author:Grant, Will
“The true walker may not ask much from his pastime; but he is often surprise at the richness of the gifts which he receives. What he desires when he starts upon his walk he seldom contemplates, yet the heart yearns for a renewal of some experience, although he would not think of giving it utterance. It is with the open mind and heart that he sets out to receive whatever phantasies may come his way, hoping at the back of his mind, it may be, that some measure at least of the fuller revelation of the wonderful and mysterious in nature may come within the power of his assimilation, and lured on in the hope that answers may come to his questionings, in the spirit of the wind upon the hill-tops and in the solitude of sequestered vales; and returning with the wealth of a quiet mind and a peaceful heart, and a certain assurance that holds within it sufficient longing to send him forth again when the time arrives” NatureWalkingSolitudeRenewal Author:Grant, Will
“Hill-walkers are adventurers all, they know not when they set out what the results of the day's walk will be; yet it is a strange experience, is it not, that such bountiful gifts and refreshing fruits may come to him, -- that he may attain to this mood of tranquil meditation, out of which arise intermittent musings, half-conscious soliloquies, and a sort of feast of mental orderliness -- a frame of mind in which decisions are made without effort, and truth comes without argument? Every such adventure that is contained in this simple and primitive pastime, so near to mother earth, attracts not only the walker who would claim no other qualifications than that he loves to tramp the old highways and the hills, but philosophers and poets and men great in simplicity.” WalkingThought Author:Grant, Will
“But simply to possess the power like a bird to fly from one peak to another would not bring to us additional or higher experience. No height was ever gained that was worth the gaining without toil and effort, and if the walker were presented by the good fairy with a pair of wings, I think he would … refuse them. He would prefer to walk or climb to the mountain top, to experience all the physical pleasure of well-being, and obtain a true equipoise of mind and spirit to register the varied emotions which through the sense of vision are transmitted to the sense of feeling.” SpiritualityWalkingMountainHeightHill Author:Grant, Will