Man of the Mountains

I have yet to meet an unhappy goatherd.

If, in this hectic modern world, you are better suited to a simpler, more nomadic, more physical life, then wandering these hills and valleys with just your dogs and goats for company can be a tough and solitary, but also an uncomplicated and pretty idyllic life. No one would ever consider doing it for just financial gain and the degree of self-reliance and self-contentment required to spend days (and sometimes nights) alone on the mountains with little or no human interaction would make for a fairly intimidating job spec for most people, but the rewards are written on the faces of each and every one of this dying breed I have met in my time spent exploring this beautiful, but changing, landscape. How much longer this life option will remain for those prepared to do it, I don’t know. For now, it is still a privilege to occasionally meet these living vestiges of a simpler time and to share a greeting and a smile as they and their charges wander on through one of the few parts of today’s Europe that is still not, for the most part, fenced and walled and “private”, but for how long more?