When I was 18 I left England in a hippy bus:
An old ambulance all painted with flowers and suns, on a tour through Europe. It was wonderful; I learned all about maize and turnips, because we camped in fields full of them and stole them to cook for supper.
Reading got me into travel.
At around that time I read my favourite book, Laurie Lee’s When I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning. That was about leaving home and just going travelling. It’s the most magical book of all, and it set tens of thousands of young people off on a Bohemian lifestyle.
I just sort of fancied the idea of skippering a boat.
You’re in London on a grey day and someone asks: do you want to skipper a yacht in Greece? You’d be a fool to say no, really, wouldn’t you?
I wasn’t scared when I said yes, despite having no sailing experience:
It was only later I realised I ought to take it more seriously. It was one of the great decisions I made – learning about a whole new thing, which I really hated. It was wet and cold and boring and dangerous, and I thought: what have I let myself in for? But I met somebody who inspired me – then began to love it.
I definitely feared for my life on my trans-Atlantic voyage:
It was truly terrifying – but it’s good to be terrified sometimes. Normally we live lives of such ease that the slightest bit of discomfort throws us off track. That’s why we’re such a wimpish society: the nanny state takes over and deprives us of so many of the joys of existence in the interests of security. Sometimes you’ve got to get out there on the edge and feel what it’s like to be terrified – it does you good.
I’m the most sociable of people; I love parties.
But I know to put them in their place; I know they’re not the ultimately satisfying times. Being out there on a mountain or on the sea or in the wilds is what satisfies my soul.
I think you’d be crazy to go out on the road without a bit of optimism, wouldn’t you?
It’s certainly got me out of things. I’ve been lucky and never had any bad situations. But you sort of make your own luck; if you carry a mood of optimism around with you, people respond to it.
I turned 58 the other day...
and was wondering what the compensations of old age might be – there’s got to be something, or people wouldn’t hang on that long. I think as you get older you get more interested in, and more moved by, things like birdsong and wildflowers. It’s a pretty nice trade-off, actually. You don’t have to go to discotheques and all that stuff; these things are very much nicer and easier to appreciate.
I haven’t done much today.
I got up – not very early; I’m not an early riser. I’ve never had milking animals – they’re the ones that get you up early; sheep don’t give a stuff when you get out of bed. I fed the chickens, then took the dog for a walk up the hill. Then I picked a load of oranges, squeezed some juice, and since then I’ve been buggering about with the computer. I shall shortly go and pick some broad beans from the vegetable patch to make supper.
A number of Chris Stewart’s books including, Driving over Lemons and Three Ways to Capsize a Boat, are available to buy online
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