For a while now, certainly for the last week, I’ve been in a pretty deep funk, maybe even a little depressed. There’s a lot of negative things happening on many levels. The sense of isolation brought on by CV-19 is a shared pain, the health issues with my father is a very personal bit of confinement. And then, there’s everything in between.
Early on, way back in 2017, as I climbed over the Pyrenees on a blustery Day 1 of my first Camino, I became very aware of how damaging negativity can be. I think we all sort of know that but, we don’t always take control of it, resist it. So, after being pulled back down towards that pit, I am now actively resisting it once again.
To that end, I found a YouTube show called Travels by Narrow Boat, I’ve just finished Season One (there are several seasons, who could have imagined). The show is about a guy who was burned out on life, divorced and maybe a little middle-aged crazy who cashes out and buys a narrow boat on the canals of England.
As with many YouTube shows, it’s not always well done (single camera), there’s no script or plan. It gets better with time or, I got used to it, I don’t know which it is, maybe both.
Kevin Shelley is the Country House Gent (CHG) who produces, writes (?), directs and stars in the show. Season One took him out of his van as he navigates first the purchase of and then his maiden voyage on the Aslan.
From there the show, 10 episodes I believe, takes him through what at first is the monotonous chugging of the 2-cylinder diesel engine as he cruises aimlessly thorough central England and apparently a million locks.
It took me until the third episode to catch on to the simplicity and when I realized the monotony was not that but it was a relief, a calm, where even the constant and ever present chugging of the diesel engine becomes very meditative like the mantra of his journey.
Relevant once again
I then realized that it was very much like the Camino for a Pilgrim. It was an adjustment, a shock to the system and a slowing of pace. Once he’d slowed down, suddenly things that once seemed important were not and pedestrian things like ducks, not knowing what day it was and working the locks became normal and valuable. People became more important and things less so. While the boat is larger than a backpack, his existence in that moment is basic and simple. Kevin discovers mindfulness.
In the final show, the CHG and the Aslan arrive in Chester, near Liverpool. As he travels on that last day, he realizes the joy of arrival, even as he’s been there before but he never saw it from this vantage point. Like walking across Spain where you saw everything in normal time and at eye level, he sees Chester very differently. He also sees his life very differently as well.
Kevin also laments the end of his journey but, as many of us have discovered, sometimes the end of a journey is just in fact, the beginning of the next. Please refer to my post, Vanishing Point. Obviously, he has more journeys as there are several seasons now but, it’s interesting to hear him reflect on the changes he’s experienced and how his journey has colored his view of the world. Most Pilgrims I believe can relate very well to his change and growth.
Oddly, the program has restored some calm in my life. I enjoyed watching the scenery and appreciating his discovery of this new point of view. I also had to laugh that he always seemed to be in the same clothes. On my 2017 Camino, I took 3 t-shirts, but it seems that in most of the pictures that I’m in, I always appear in the same one. I changed shirts everyday but you could not tell by the pictures. Same with the CHG.
The worlds gone mad and we’re all in time-out wearing masks. You’ve got time and if you’re patient, you may enjoy Travels by Narrow Boat too. Or, you may think its total rubbish and wonder why in hell anyone would bother to watch. You’ll never know until you give it a try.