The 17th Day of the End to End walk is also Maundy Thursday. My friend Rosie met us at Mariansleigh for the start of the day’s walk. The village church there was restored after being gutted by fire in 1932. One of the additions was a stained glass window above the altar representing the Last Supper, set there in 1954.
Rosie and I walked together via Bishops Nympton. I’d last seen her 7 years ago when Hannah came through on her End to End and walked a while with Rosie’s daughter Freya. The hedgerows continued to bloom and so did our memories. We stopped for lunch at the Blackcock Inn which wasn’t open. However, the landlady was happy for us to have our picnic on one of the tables outside the pub.
Bob gave Rosie a lift back to Mariansleigh while I walked on. It was a lovely afternoon. More early purple orchids appeared in the hedges and more Butterflies danced from one side of the road to the other.
There was a farm called West Lee which was soon followed by Middle Lee. The option of a footpath to East Lee would give me a full house of all the Lee’s. Always one for a challenge I took to the footpath which was fine until a marshy and muddy boot sucky section by a gate had to be negotiated followed by some cattle, more mud and another gate. But you can’t really do such a walk without the occasional episode of adventure peril.
Bob appeared around the corner of the road and we made the final three quarters of a mile of Bulls Corner together.
We drove back to Rosie’s house to share a meal with her family. Here’s to our next encounter.
Reflection
Where shall we prepare the Passover meal?
It was an upper room, an ordinary place made extraordinary by that night.
Tonight we shared an ordinary meal, the sort any family might have together.
We give thanks for food shared, for bodies energised, for spirits raised.
We give thanks for the ordinary made extraordinary by friendship and love.
We give thanks for memories both old and new; previous meals and occasions shared, the commitment to future sharing.
We give thanks on this night of nights, for its pivotal part in the story of faith.
We give thanks and remember:
This is my body, this is my blood, do this to remember me.
JAL 18.04.2019
Day 17 of the End to End, Mariansleigh to Bulls Corner.