The Fellowship of the Coffle

A fortnight ago we jumped out the matrix of our London life in a bit of a rush. Von gave her last massage on the Wednesday. I left my job at Prospectus on the Thursday. Josh and Ellie said goodbye to all their Myatt Garden primary school friends on the Friday. We bought our Mosey-mobile motor home on Saturday. Packed up our house into it on Sunday. Then drove to Hull to start a 250 mile reconciliation walk back to London to bring a symbolic European apology as part of the bicentenary anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. As you can imagine, our little world feels a little turned upside down. But it feels amazing.

Eloise says
Its been tiring. But I have made some new friends. A family that lives in Washington state in America are walking with us and they have 3 brothers and 6 sisters. They are called the Lienau’s. To be honest, I haven’t walked much at all! I’ve been driving in my new friend Christof’s van. I’m being trained to look after him, I have to pray for him, hide my food when he is stressed , most importantly love him!!! He buys the food for our lunch, picks up people when they’re tired, hurt,or just can’t go any more. Oh, and he wrestles with the kids!

Josh says
Hi everyone walked 110 miles already! I’ve only missed on 29 miles! Almost everyone here has cried at least once!! We have seen some beautiful sights. Our Mosey Mobile Motor home has tonnes of secret compartments. Its amazing how we can fit a 5 story house into a 23x8x9 ft motor home!! We are now in Wisbech after 2 weeks of walking and days off on Sunday. We have to walk an average of 13 miles a day! Although we are away from OUR school we are teaching at other schools and everyone loves us!

Our new lifeline name is…THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE COFFLE. Coffle is the word used to describe a group of people in yokes and chains. Everything we do seems like it has some connection to THE LORD OF THE RINGS. David Pott, the leader of the lifeline expedition is just like Gandalf. I look a lot like Frodo, Ellie acts like pippin, Mummy is Arwen and dad is Eomer!!! Our group of 23 people from around the world can make a difference, and a very big one too! We’ve had media following us from the BBC and from Australia, Canada, Japan, USA, and Russia all interested in whether this apology and forgiveness thing can help mend their own historical wounds.

The Winter’s and the Lienau’s (our Washington State friends that live on Camano Island) are now staying at a wonderful little campsite. Michael and Shari (parents) have 3 sons and 6 daughters, Jacob [15], Anna [12], Bibianna [12], Joseph [11], Janey [10], Tatsi [9], Corina [8], Estee [6] and Josh [6]! Bibi, Joe, Tatsi, Corina and Joshua are all adopted from one native American family.

Preparing to jump out of the matrix

Our little family has decided that our time in the big melting pot of London has come to an end. We’re jumping out the seductive matrix of life in the capital that we've loved for 12 years, yet costs too much of our lives and money . We’re running to stand still so we've decided to run all over Europe instead - a whole new adventure for 2007 and beyond.

On February 25th 2007 we will be heading off into the sunset to begin our quest for another way of living in a place and country we have not yet found. This exhilarating quest for a new beginning we are calling the "Poop in Europe Tour", in honour of the one that awoke the desire in us to explore and to live more simply: like him to eat, walk, sleep and poop. The one and only Moses - our 1 year old golden retriever puppy.

I have resigned from my job at Prospectus (the recruitment firm that bought my agency Source 3 years ago). Vonnie is preparing to hand over her yoga classes and acupuncture clients to someone else. Next week we are informing Myatt Garden school that the kids have had enough of schooling in London and will thank all their fabulous teachers for their superb work so far: particularly for instilling in them all the brilliant multicultural values that only London schools can. We really haven’t much of a clue about where we are going yet although we do have a starting point. Hull.

On 25th February we will drive in a motor home to Hull. To start a 200 mile walk to London with the Lifeline Expedition - an amazing charity reconciliation project that's journeyed through 20+ countries since 2000 – helping hundreds of people deal with the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade. This year is significant as it’s the 200th abolition (we never abolished just renamed it) of the slave trade. We joined the expedition to Barbados in 05 and Africa in 06 so are expecting even more from the Hull to London trip in March.

But after that the journey and life is all up for grabs. Probably France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and the Balkans. New Zealand and South America are possibilities too. A faint vision has begun to surface as to what the destination could perhaps look like. An olive grove in a part of Italy no one’s heard about, where we can build our own ‘Last Samurai’ Japanese style living quarters to live in and a village of yurts for people we know to stay in for a while, close to the sea to surf, near mountains to climb, with a few horses to ride, and a whole pack of amazing dogs to walk - a retreat that we need to set up and run until the kids are old enough to make their own journey in life. Then around 2017 Vonnie and I will probably look Eastwards for our next adventure.

So far its all been musings, possibilities, what ifs. In 52 days it gets real. We’re jumping and don’t know where. What a rush. I hope it’s as astonishing, remarkable and awe inspiring as my stomach is already telling me it might just be. Lots to do between now and then, including renting out our house in New Cross, buying a motorhome (didn't think i'd be saying that in my thirties) and most importantly of all, imagining all the possibilities of what lies ahead.

We've set up this blog site to hopefully make it really easy for us to keep in touch on our travels with the people we care about. For Joshua and Eloise in particular to share their experiences, messages and photos with those they are already missing. So watch this space and add your own thoughts to it if you can.