“...there ain't no journey what don't change you some.”

David Mitchell said this.

Not THAT David Mitchell, Cambridge University history graduate, actor, comedian - he'd never speak anything but perfectly plummy and grammatical English.

But THIS David Mitchell, author of The Cloud Atlas




I was thinking this, about journeys, when I was out hacking with Alfie this morning. He's a creature of habit, is Alfie, so today, in the spirit of adventure, I decided to go The Other Way round the loop we take when we go out in the mornings.

WELL! You'd think I'd taken him on a trek to Outer Mongolia in bandit season...

There were definitely Scary Things lurking behind every blade of grass. He was very jumpy and on one occasion he dived and spun so violently on the road that he left deep gouges in the tarmac with his hooves and me thankful that I've developed such good balance and stick-onability.

It changed us some! Me in realising that doing the same thing backwards shakes me out of complacency and makes me alive. Alfie? I don't know. I'd better ask him. I sense another guest blog coming up.