So I settled down that night in a football dressing room they provided at the back of the Iorwerth Arms bar in the Welsh village of Bryngwran . My last night on the road for tomorrow night I will be at my destination Holyhead.
I pulled a piece of plywood which was lying behind a row of chairs, pulled a nail out and propped it up on eight chairs to make a bed.
I slept well, in all about eleven hours rising at eleven am when Phil came by with some tea and Weetabix, then Wyn gave me a sausage breakfast roll. Wonderful people.
So I was off and running about noon, twenty four hours to Dublin, I am in great form running with a spring in my step. For some reason U2′s song The Unforgettable Fire has been ringing loudly in my head these last two days.
My thoughts have the music in the background, like its the final scenes in a movie epilogue, I rename the song and sing The Unforgettable Dream
“ Come on take me away
Come on take me home
Home again
” Walk ’til you run
And don’t look back
For here I am
Carnival
The wheels fly and the colors spin ”
Yes I am rolling now, Is it possible I will ever forget this dream. I have often wondered during some of the glorious, most memorable moments of the run that if, God forbid I ever develop such a cruel condition as dementia or Parkinson’s could I possibly ever forget this run in the future, Sadly I think that is to be expected of such a deliberating condition.
I have decided to finish Wales at the South Stack Lighthouse as it’s further west than Holyhead, so on I run around about twenty stunning inlets and small bays,
In a village called Valley stop at a grocery store and a lad there called Rob tells me he is new to running and how much he enjoys it. He tells me he loves Spain so much and wants to run the coast of Spain, I tell him to go for it. I sit down on his stool and drink my coffee while he tells me I am living his dream.
Up the road I check my smart phone, I get a congratulation email from my friend Jean Beliveau from Quebec who walked 77,000km around the world in 11 years. He stayed in my home for a week. One night when we were talking about his world walk I told him he was living my dream,
Now I am thinking of Rob and how things have changed.
This was Jean’s email:
WOW Tony!!!
Luce and I are so happy about what you have done.
I remember when I was in your home in 2006, you said you are doing my dream… YOU did your genuine dream.
Congrats, Jean.
PS. When you will feel the best time, please Skype me.
So on I run, a man tells me it’s too far to run to South Stack. I tell him I am running around the world, same to a woman who offers me a lift. The reply is always the same.
” Good on ya mate” Not really sure if they ever believe me. What would you think if someone answered you like this?
Eventually I made it to the South Stack lighthouse, down 365 steps to the end of Wales, My final foreign footsteps have been cast…
I look out to the Irish sea and see a mountain. On a clear day perhaps Ireland.
And once again my head explodes in a crescendo of familiar rock music
I hear the unmistakable intro with The Edge on keyboards, that goes on and on, the intro is the constant chorus being repeated over and over these last two days.
Eventually Bono comes into my dream he is singing at full volume,
“Stay…
Stay tonight…
” I’m going home,
I’m going home…
” Home tomorrow….
Home…. I’m going home… I’m going home… “
And the music continues…. On it goes to the beat of…
” I’m going home,
I’m going home…
” Home tomorrow….”
So it went on and on I could hear…
Larry banging away on his drums in his distinctive way. While Adam and the Edge thundering away on bass and lead guitars,
I raise my hands, punch the air…. I am at my final foreign shore, ready for home.
” Ready for Home, Ready for Home
My head is spinning as my thoughts coincide to the words and music of…
” Come on take me away
Come on take me away
Come on take me home
Home again
And if the mountain should crumble
Or disappear into the sea
Not a tear, no not I
Stay in this time
Stay tonight in
Ever after, this love in time
And if you save your love
Save it all
Don’t push me too far
Don’t push me too far
Tonight,
Tonight….
Tonight…..
” Your only rivers run cold
These city lights
They shine as silver and gold
Dug from the night
Your eyes as black as coal “
And then I think of tomorrow in Dublin port
I canter back to Holyhead, I dare not miss that ferry!
Words of the Unforgettable Fire courtesy of Adam Clayton and U2
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