Some 10 years ago now I had the most incredible experience of visiting Antarctica. It is somewhere I had dreamt of for many years, having been long fascinated by the stories of Shackleton and Scott. So when my husband and I were able to make the trip as part of a much longer journey whilst travelling through South America, it really was a dream come true. Antarctica was breathtaking and beautiful and harsh and unspoilt and all I had dreamt it would be. I can honestly say I have never felt more like an explorer than I did when we took our first steps onto Antarctica. It still felt undiscovered and unexplored ‘Terra Incognita’. I still dream of returning one day.
As you read this I will be in Iceland, making another journey, exploring and seeing, and creating more memories. The joy of travel is something I will never take for granted. To see other lands and cultures, to eat other foods and to hear other languages spoken is a privilege, not a right. This is a somewhat lengthy way of introducing a poem written by the late Helen Dunmore as part of her collection Inside the Wave.
The poem is called ‘Terra Incognita’ and was written when Helen was on her own somewhat precarious journey as she lived with and eventually died from cancer. It is a reminder for me of the fragility of life, but also of the incredibly exciting journey we are all on. Travelling to other places and countries is for me a hugely significant part of that.
INSIDE THE WAVE
And now we come to the unknown land
With its blue coves and inlets where sweet water
Bubbles against the salt. Its sand
Is ready for footprints. Give me your hand
Onto the rock where the seaweed clings
And the red anemone throbs in its crevice
Through swash and backwash. These things
Various as the brain’s comb and the tide’s swing
Or the first touch of untouched terrain
On our footsoles, as the land explores us,
Have become our fortune. Let me explain
Which foods are good to eat, and which poison.
When I return from my travels I will be filling the pages of Changing Pages for the rest of this month with posts both inspired by travel and designed to inspire travel. I hope you will join me on the journey. Until then, have a wonderful week.
• Inside the Wave by Helen Dunmore is published by Bloodaxe (£9.95)
