Most
of the time, searching for hedges, low spots in a field, and other
reference points from the map and guide book made our Shakespeare’s Way walk
more interesting and fun. 
We
even thought it was funny when we walked past our B&B in Enstone, the Swan
Lodge, three times before recognizing it.
The Swan likes to keep its sandwich board sign folded up and halfway up
the lane.
But
our walk around Enstone also reminded me of the pleasures that come when you
don’t have to scan the horizon, to search for a style, to decide which faint
path is the right one or to think. It’s nice
to just walk and daydream a bit.
You
can do that when you following the streets in Chipping Norton or the marked
path through the medieval earth works of Old Chalford Village or the trail
bordered by forest between Clevely and the A44.
Without
consistent Internet access, we read unconnected material most of the time. Aside from books and maps about our walk,
Michele had her paperback of Bill Bryson’s Notes
from a Small Island. I assumed that
she was recalling the funny bits when snorting, chortling, and breathing heavily along the trail.
I
had my Kindle with some old downloads including the 25th Anniversary
edition of Steven R. Covey’s Seven Habits
of Highly Effective People. This is what I read at night during our walk on
Shakespeare’s Way, and this is what
infiltrated my thoughts during those map-free stretches of walking during the
day.
The late Mr. Covey’s book pioneered the
concept of four quadrants of time management urging us to focus on what was
important and to think long term.
At
night, reading the book in a darkened room, the ideas made sense and resonated
as they did decades ago when I first read them.
But
during the day, walking along the path through the woods, I kept thinking “when
I get home I’m going to work on my agenda so I spend more time doing stuff that
is Not Urgent and Not Important.”
