I blinked and blinked again. Walking from my home to London? How would this be possible? Yes it will be possible … but in 100 – 200 million years’ time when continents reconnect with each other, according to a recent news story: http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/australia-on-path-to-join-uk-as-part-of-supercontinent-amasia/story-fnjwl2dr-1227331780435?sv=1e2848859e5b4afa30b76819882202f0&
I reflected that the Derwent River might no longer exist and its beautiful ribbon-like pathway through our landscape might only be remembered in the fault lines of rearranged rocks.
Considering the geological and weather upheavals likely during those intervening years, I imagine the footsteps of human kind will not even be a distant memory. My guess is that the ant and cockroach populations will have mutated strangely and may be the only lively fauna roaming the planet. If water remains on the Earth then possibly some creatures who can survive in highly acid waters may be in the ascendancy in some regions.
It is rather strange to sit here tapping on my computer and to consider that not only do I expect the human race to become extinct, but all the artefacts of mankind will be obliterated over the millennia. Having held a career in the museology industry for much of my professional life, I retain the urge to collect and conserve the artefacts of our histories. Nevertheless, these collections and preservations will probably only be valued for a few more hundreds or thousands of years.
On this basis it seems that walking and discovering what we have around us is a much more worthwhile thing to do – at least at the personal level. In an earlier posting I referred followers to the blogsite of a man who took 11 years to walk around the world. Even if I should set myself a similarly outlandish goal, it won’t be possible now to walk from home to London in my lifetime except by using some water or air based technology to move from land to land. What a small dream this is in relation to the expanse of the history of the universe. But then, humans are not so great when compared to the scale of the universe.
Walking the Derwent River 
An interesting article. A couple of centimetres a year all adds up. 🙂
A career in museology would really have been interesting. Have always had a somewhat interest in history, as I get older I find it more and more important to preserve our past. Thank you for all the work you would have done!
~Carl~
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When I was younger I was associated with the visual arts public galleries, but later on in my career I spread my wings to include historical museums. Now I am more interested in family history – when the weather is inclement. It seems most people need to be 40 plus years before they value historical sites and artefacts – value them sufficiently not to be upset when governments provided supportive funding.
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