Hugh speaks... Different Journey, Same Direction

Posted by Hugh Hughes (travelling from Cambridge to Liverpool)

Travelling from east to west across Britain today made me think of the journeys other people have made in this direction. The phrase, 'go west young man' sprang to mind. It made me think of cowboy films and the whole western movie genre and the music that went with it. Before I knew it I was in a wagon, pulled by horses, galloping across the Prairies, with some medicine in the back and a gun strapped to my hip. And it made me think of some of the extraordinary stories of people trying to cross the Berlin Wall, to escape a political regime they felt oppressed by. I was driving through Checkpoint Charlie with a false moustache and someone hiding in a false-bottomed boot in the back of the car.

In comparison my journey was calm and peaceful, especially as the M6 Toll helped me by-pass Birmingham and avoid heavy traffic.

This freedom I was experiencing dawned on me. I was not driving into unknown territory, anxious about what I might discover and I was not fleeing a country, leaving loved ones behind, hoping not to be caught and imprisoned. I was driving with an open mind, ready to take in the countryside as it rolled by, able to imagine. I was surrounded by space. The warmth of the sun and the colours the light illuminated were dazzling, the music was cheerful and my voyage became a technicolour dream. Everyone waved at each other from car to car. All travellers had their windows open and listened to the same radio station. The cars found auto-pilot and in our hands-free luxury we could lean back as we sped safely down the motorway, taking in the sunshine, relaxing and tanning ourselves as the cool breeze swept across our bronzing bodies. Life was perfect. Undisturbed and joyful. Moving at a pace, from east to west, under a blue sky without a care in the world.

The amount of lives that are lived, the amount of east to west journeys that are made – each one so different, even if their direction is the same.