Month: May 2019

It’s day 45 of the End to End and I’m on my way to the Anderton Boat Lift, north of Northwich. I started south of Winsford where a Road Closed notice was somewhat off putting but I persevered and found out it wasn’t really closed, just some contractors trying to keep out extra traffic.
I joined the Weaver Way at Bottom Flash and stayed on it most of the day. It was a lovely walk in Spring sunshine. There was lots of wildflowers. In little marshy sections and other ‘flashes’ the yellow iris were beginning to flower; in shady spots violets still flower. I saw 4 Herons along the Weaver Navigational and a Swan on her nest.

The waterway weaves its way through Winsford which was once a more industrial town and even had boat building yards. Today I spotted what looked like a ‘dirty British coaster with a salt caked smoke stack’ that didn’t look as if it was going anywhere anytime soon.

At one time the banks of the Weaver from here into Northwich would have been busy with Salt extraction. Now only the Salt Union plant continues working

I met Bob in Northwich town centre and we had a fish and chip lunch before setting off on the final section to the Anderton Boat Lift. This feat of engineering is over 125 years old and has been fully restored so that boats can still make the link between the Weaver Navigational and Trent and Mersey canals.

Urged to eat more ice cream we got some at the visitors centre and ate it while we watched the lift working. 

At the beginning of this walk I couldn’t have imagined how many days I would spend walking along waterways. But the waterways network of England has so far proved very useful for this, and I hope it will continue to do so for a while yet. These green corridors built in the days before motor transport came to dominate our society have been reinvented as havens for wildlife and people.

From Psalm 65
The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.
You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly

In the morning we remembered you with praise. As evening fades we ask that you grant us a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 20.05.2019
Day 45 of the End to End, along the Weaver Way to the Anderton Boat Lift.

Day 44 and I’m getting a bit attached to this canal. It is now my third day on The Shroppie (Bob coined the phrase not me).
We got to Nantwich marina in time for second breakfast. I joined the canal just at the point where the milepost says it is zero miles to Nantwich. However the canal goes on and after a lot of discussion we had decided to stick with it rather than go on a route march across country (which might have been a mile and a half shorter) because you can’t get lost on a canal towpath.
At the junction with the Llangollen canal (or more correctly the Llangollen branch of the Shropshire Union Canal) there was a bit of a backlog of boats waiting to go up the locks due to a water shortage at the bottom.

Bridge 100 was my last on the main branch as I turned right up the Middlewich branch at Barbridge junction. At the lock by the Venetian marina I met Bob who’d just come from the cafe. So we went back and had an ice cream.
I then carried on while Bob moved the car round to the end point for today and started walking back. The sun came out and the warm afternoon encouraged many Butterflies and insects to appear.

Boats passed me or I passed them. There seems to be a bit of a utopian culture operating on these waterways. The names of the boats reflect the aspirations folks have for a calmer, quieter life. Names like Dreamcatcher and Dunslavin or Moor to life. You don’t tend to see boats named Hell Hole or I want my job back or Too slow for comfort.
Some boats provide a thought to ponder: ‘Not all souls that wander are lost’, for example.

Just as the energy of the walking team was flagging a canalside notice announced the availability of more ice cream. It was a short walk through a lovely garden to a small shop in a farm yard. Having got our daily Snugburys we were encouraged to sit in the garden and eat them. Bliss.
Before long the West Coast Main Line came in sight, and it was a not too lengthy path from bridge 23 on the canal to the car on the road into Winsford.

From Psalm 145

God is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and generous in love.

We wonder how slow is slow?

We who speed along (after all twenty minutes a mile is faster than I used to go);
Who can’t even wait for ice cream to melt,
Or see the grass growing,
Who yearn for the slow lane,
As long as it’s not that slow,
We wonder at you God,
Your slow emotions, your limitless love.
As one step gives way to the next,
Keep me in step with you,
Generous Companion.

For tonight, God grant us a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 19.05.2019
Day 44 of the End to End, Nantwich Marina to near Mole House Farm.

Day 43 of the End to End was highly sociable. It was the second day on The Shroppie (the nick name for the Shropshire Union Canal) and also involved Bob moving Bambo to another campsite, so I was walking on my own for the day, or so I thought.
The whole day had been sponsored by the Everingham family from Leeds, and they were certainly with me in Spirit, with encouraging texts. So was Gwen in Sheffield, who has broken her arm but still manages to send texts.
It was a grey morning at bridge 69 at Adderley. Immediately after the bridge were the first locks of the day, not too surprisingly named the Adderley Locks. I made good single minded progress for a couple of miles. The tree lined banks of the canal made a glorious canopy. Then my first distraction was a little ice cream ‘honesty’ fridge by the canal side. It was very well stocked with local ice cream in various flavours and it seemed churlish not to sample some. So I selected Raspberry sorbet and left my money and took my little tub to a picnic table at the next lock to consume it in the calm and quiet surroundings.

I carried on to Audlem described as ‘an award winning Cheshire village’. It was a hub of activity as a local wedding was causing a ding dong and had managed to block the High Street. I got a sandwich in the Co op. Before getting back on the canal path I was distracted by the Audlem Mill craft shop, the most frustrating aspect of which was the self imposed restrictions on what I could carry with me.

I thought I’d best press on but no sooner had lock 15 come into view than there was another distraction. Audlem has 15 locks, each one making an important contribution to bridging the height between the Shropshire plain and the Cheshire plain. There was a water bus stop at lock 15. Another walker explained it to me: it’s a local voluntary community water bus which runs from the Marina. The staff are all volunteers (he was one but on a day off) and it raises money for the RNLI. It was due in the next couple of minutes.
It seemed only right to give it a try, and so I hopped aboard and we chugged slowly down to the Marina. On the way I heard all about it and how more volunteer crew members were sought (blog readers take note).

At the Marina I was dropped off at the community cafe where I sample the Mango sorbet ice cream before taking the path to rejoin the canal at bridge 80 (Bob later worked out that I’d only missed 0.3 miles and so with calculated errors being what they are we agreed to disregard that).
Concerned I was falling a bit behind my schedule I pressed on. A canal boat caught me up and we had a boat to shore conversation for a while

Me: How fast are you going?
Boat: About as fast as you.

Me: Yes, but how fast is that?
Boat: I don’t know. I don’t have any way of telling.

Me: I thought perhaps there was a speed limit.
Boat: There is. It’s 4 miles an hour but I never go as fast as that.
Then another walker caught me up and we talked for a while as we walked. When we got to his moored canal boat we parted company near Holt Green Lock. It was his first boat trip without his wife who died a year ago this week. He thought he’d find the locks difficult but folks continually offered to help.
I was almost on the final mile or so, just around Nantwich. I admired Telford’s aqueduct and walked under the bridge to the yard of the Nantwich Marina where I’d left the car. It had been a very good walk. Not far along the road to the campsite a giant rabbit in a field announced the Snugglberry ice cream farm. It would have been churlish not to stop for my third ice cream of the day.

For the unexpected encounters:
The refreshment providers,
The craft shop proprietors,
The community volunteers,
The bell ringers and cafe servers,
For the lost, the bereaved and the lonely,
For families on days out,
And for all who offer support and encouragement,

We give thanks.
For today, God grant us a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 18.05.2019
Day 43 of the End to End, Apperley Locks to Nantwich marina on The Shroppie.

Day 42 started damp and drizzly at Camp Cross Roads where it was a two mile walk to The Shroppie, the nickname given to the Shropshire Union Canal. I started at bridge 48 and began walking towards Market Drayton. Bob began further along at bridge 56 and walked towards me.
I like walking along canals. They are quiet traffic free green corridors that usually take a fairly direct route. There are often lots of wildflowers and birds to enjoy: a grey wagtail, some cygnets and ducklings today.
This particular canal was built through several fern lined cuttings and in other places along embankments to maintain the height of the contour. The first locks I saw were at Tyrley where the wharf has been restored.

Bob walked back to me again from the Victoria Wharf and we had a canalside picnic with some tasty items he’d bought in town. That left a few post lunch miles to Adderley bridge number 69. By the end of the walk today my total had increased to over 400 miles.

On the way back we took a brief ride via the Wrekin. Back at the campsite, in the evening light, six fallow deer visited the camp. It had been another lovely day.

From Psalm 42

As the deer pants for water, so I long for you, God: I am thirsty for the living One. 

On the waterways, as the scenery slips by,
Where the waterfowl nurture their young,
So you restore me.
I am made new by each step;
Each sight refreshes me;
I am remade by the Maker through the beauty of creation.

God, grant now a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 17.05.2019. Day 42 of the End to End from Camp Cross Roads to bridge 69  on the Shropshire Union Canal 

(Sorry for lack of photos due to poor signal)

From Psalm 19:

How clearly the sky reveals God’s glory!
How plainly it shows what God has done!
Each day announces it to the following day; each night repeats it to the next.
No speech or words are used, no sound is heard;
Yet their message is conveyed to all the world and is heard to the ends of the earth.

Day 41 of the End to End began where yesterday’s walk finished: Leegomery Methodist Church near the end of the Ironbridge Way. I started there again around 10am as has become our usual pattern. There are now 80 days left to get to John O’Groats (although I think someone did once go round the world in that time, they weren’t walking). This morning Bob read me the news of someone who is trying to break the LEJOG running record. I’m just walking.
Today was a day of joining up one route with another: from the Ironbridge Way I’m heading for the Shropshire Union Canal (although I won’t get there until tomorrow).
Everyday is different and each has its own encounters and wonderful things. Here are some from today.
Tree of the Day:
It was Bob who introduced this idea when he walked End to End sixteen years ago. Today there were lots of trees that would have made an excellent Tree of the Day. Most were Oaks, which with beeches are my joint favourite trees. Some were individual trees but there were also some lovely stretches of woodland. Here’s a sample of some of the contenders.

 (above is the Horse Chestnut Lane and below one oddly shaped tree)

Trees in the Chetwynd and Pulestone area

Creatures great and small:
Orange-tip Butterflies were back, my favourite butterfly. I didn’t see any yesterday and they do have a relatively short flying season so I was glad to see several today. But creature of the day was the male cuckoo or in this case cuckoos. Today was the day we heard the greatest number of cuckoos calling in one day. During the course of the walk I heard at least four.
Venue of the Day:
There were two joint winners today. The first was the Kynnersley Barrow, a small roadside Barrow and shed near Kynnersley Lane, which sold excellent ice cream. I carried one several hundred yards for Bob without it loosing its integrity. Kynnersley Lane was a good place to eat ice cream as it is lined with horse chestnut trees currently in flower.
The other joint winner in the venue category was St Peter’s Church, Edgmond, a lovely Parish church with Norman origins. We ate our picnic in the churchyard, and later met Anne, the church warden inside. There are some notable fittings: the Norman font and the new millennium window were the two I particularly admired. The church has a great reputation for music and is currently looking for an organist and music director, blog readers please note.

Kynnersley Barrow and Edgmond font

Oddest thing of the day: Was certainly the two telegraph poles with these drawing pins on them. Why do these poles have these patterns?

The walk continued via Chetwynd and Pulestone Common where there were lots of beautiful trees. It ended at Camp Cross Roads on a Roman Road: an example of just one of the things the Romans did for us. I then made a brief visit to Buildwas Abbey, the ruins of a Cistercian foundation. And all of this happened on another day walking.

God grant us a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 16.05.2019
Day 41 of the End to End from Leegomery Methodist Church to Camp Cross Roads

Thirteen days after joining the Severn Way on Day 27, today I left it at Ironbridge on Day 40. The Severn Way goes on to the source of the river in the Welsh Mountains. We’re not going that way on this journey but we hope to return in the future and complete the Severn Way.

Meanwhile I needed to go north from Ironbridge and for that purpose I chose the Ironbridge Way, an 8 mile path which goes from Ironbridge to Leegomery. The LDWA website describes it as including ‘open spaces, old railway lines, newly created paths and a lost village’ although I’m not sure I found that (https://www.ldwa.org.uk/ldp/members/show_path.php?path_name=Ironbridge+Way).
It sounded ideal although the initial path up from the Ironbridge was via some very step steps.

These lead to St Luke’s church, a very welcoming place with free cold drinks and gingerbread people biscuits.

The way was on the whole very well marked with its distinguishing letters, IBW. It curved up through the old town and then became a green ribbon that linked together various housing areas, nature reserves, playing fields and the old railway line of the Telford Steam Railway.

Bob met me there and we had a picnic lunch. It was another hot day. The second part of the walk was through both new and old housing areas each with its own character. There were schools and local shops. The Sikh Gurdwara at Hadley was a first for this End to End.

Day 40 marked a third of the days to be walked and it ended today near Leegomery Methodist Church. As it was very hot we took the car back to a pub I’d passed earlier, the Grazing Cow, and enjoyed a long cool drink and sat down for a rest.

Come to me all you who labour…

We come to you, Jesus,
Living Way and true guide;
Giving thanks for the satisfaction of daily progress,
The beauty of the trees and plants lining the path,
For places to rest and the refreshment
That 40 days of walking has been.
We come to you, seeking the full life you promise:

For today, grant us a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 15.05.2019
Day 40 of the End to End, Ironbridge to Leegomery Methodist Church, marking one third of the days to be walked altogether.

Today we had to move the campervan, Bambo, as well as do a walk that involved meeting up with three men and a dog. This is the first dog of the blog and is called Cilla. More about this later!
After leaving the car in a car park near the Ironbridge we went back to Bridgenorth for me to start walking. There were plenty of potential distractions in Bridgenorth. I tried out the Cliff Railway because it’s good to have unusual firms of transport on the End to End. It is the steepest and shortest in Britain at a 1 in 1.8 gradient. There are great views from the top.

I was soon back on the Severn Way negotiating the golf course before joining the Sustrans route 45 which was my main route to Ironbridge. It actually runs alongside the Severn Way but because it is a disused railway line it is flatter, wider and has a smoother walking surface. It is now named the Mercian Way and I have used sections of it before including yesterday. It is a continuation of the Severn Valley line we’d travelled on but this part is disused. Some signs of the railway still exist in cuttings and a station.

It was a beautiful green shaded route and I was glad I’d chosen it. Just in time for lunch my walking companions appeared around a bend and we stopped for a picnic.

Chris, Alain and Eric are members of the Lay Community of St Benedict and I have often met them in Wolverhampton for regional meetings. As Wolverhampton didn’t seem that far away I invited them to join in today and they happily accepted along with Cilla, blog dog number 1.

As we sat on a stile eating our sandwiches Bob came by so now with a full compliment of walkers and full tummies we set off for Ironbridge.
On the way into Ironbridge we visited St Mary’s church Jackfield where we read about how a large section of the village had fallen into the River Severn in 1952 after a significant landslip.

Arriving at the iron bridge itself we crossed over for some refreshments on the north side of the river to mark the end of a hot but companionable days walking.

Nunc dimitiss

Holy God, now let your weary servants go in peace.
Your promise to see the hope and love you have prepared for us has been kept.
It is wonderful indeed.
Like a light: glorious in every way to those who embrace your kindom.
Glory, Glory, Glory
Creator, Son and Spirit,
Amen, Amen, Amen.

JAL 14.05.2019
Day 39 of the End to End, Bridgenorth to Ironbridge on the Mercian Way

Day 38 was our second of two days with the Severn Valley Railway. We parked at Bewdley station and sampled the bacon sandwiches before leaving on the first train north of the day.
We got off at Highley station, the point we’d reached yesterday, ready to start walking to Bridgenorth. Unfortunately, although the bee swarm on the footbridge was cleared yesterday, a few renegade bees were still flying around. One of them stung Bob on the head as we walked to the engine shed. Fortunately swift action meant no adverse reaction and after 20 minutes monitoring to see he was OK, we were able to set off anyway.

Trains came and went as we plodded up the Severn Way. Hampton Lode station provided a picnic spot, and then around the corner The Unicorn, a riverside pub for a cold drink. There were some large hot, sunny fields to walk round and some cooling copses in between.

At one stage we swapped the Severn Way for Sustrans route 45 on a lineside track. A helpful way marker informed me that I’m now only 88 miles from Chester.

We made it to Bridgenorth station in good time for our chosen train back to Bewdley.
Heritage is now a well worn and much loved industry. It may be Monday but there were plenty of passengers. Volunteers are encouraged and many excellent cakes are baked and eaten.

Co operation is crucial to community,

From the local to the global on our planet.

Co operation runs a railway, a campsite or a pub:

Bees also know a lot about co operation.

As day turns to night and evening comes on,

May we be refreshed and ready for the co operative activities of tomorrow.

God grant us a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 13.05.2019
Day 38 of the End to End from Highley station to Bridgenorth station in the Severn Valley 

I’m an armchair football fan. I’ve only ever attended one match and that was because I got given free tickets. I pick up bits of football news and so I know some stuff but my involvement is really minimal.
Walking isn’t like that. You either are walking, or you’re not. You may be interested in walking or like watching other people walk or read books about walking but only by walking along can you claim to be doing a walk.
I’ve now been doing the walk for 37 days which is astonishing. Most days, Bob does walk with me for a short distance but a walk supporter has a lot to do, like shopping and stuff, so we rarely get to walk together. The Severn Valley Railway presented an opportunity to change this. Today, Day 37 of the walk, I would not walk alone, for the most part.

I started at Stourport on Severn Canal Basin and Bob met me on my way to Bewdley. The Severn slipped gently by and the path was trouble free except for a small detour round a building site. We picked up some picnic items in Bewdley and rejoined the Severn Way which runs fairly close to the Severn Valley Railway all the way to Highley which was our end point today.
A few trains chuffed by and the path was a good one. The wild garlic gave the route a particular aroma and we stopped at Upper Arley for tea and cakes.

Friends of mine from Wakefield, Nicky and Hilary, had texted to say they would park at Highley and walk towards us. Sure enough we soon spotted them lurking behind a tree. 

We walked together for a couple of miles back to Highley station. On arrival there was some excitement over a swarm of bees on the footbridge across the line. This was a potentially dodgy position with two bee allergic members of our group. A bee man came and took them away (the bees, not Bob and Nicky).

All too soon our train to Bewdley was pulling into the station and we were waving to them and wishing them both a safe return to Wakefield through the train window. Bob looked up the end of season football results on his phone. And one young man asked us how Wolves had got on. As for me, well it’s obvious really, on today of all days, ‘You’ll never walk alone’ even though I’m a Spurs supporter.

Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart…

God grant us companions for the journey, a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 12.05.2019
Day 37 of the End to End, Stourport on Severn to Highley station.

My River runs to thee… My River wait reply
(Emily Dickinson)

Today was another walk along the Severn Way. No rain and the sun coming through the trees made patterns on the path, which was on the whole dry. The river itself was running at least a foot higher than usual after the recent rain, I was informed by one riverside resident.
I started at Grimley Church with Bob. This section had been a trying one for Hannah 7 years ago. Muddy with poorly marked paths and misdirections it was one of the ‘there be dragons’ sections of the Severn Way. Bob’s phone app would help us to get round any recurrence of that problem, we hoped. Having negotiated that section we were glad to see that a community cafe had opened in the intervening years and was serving delicious breakfast sandwiches.

Next door was the office of Faith at Work in Worcestershire, the local workplace chaplaincy. It’s good to know there is still such a multidimensional chaplaincy in this area.

I called into St Martin’s Church Holt before getting to Holt Bridge and crossing over to the path on the other bank of the river. The Spring is not yet over but Summer is coming on and so the bluebells are nearly finished here whilst the wild garlic is at its pongy-ist best. There are still lambs in some fields and in another a groups of Shetland ponies. But it is mostly green: every possible green.

I met a few people walking in the other direction and eventually one of those was Bob. We stopped at Lincomb Lock for a picnic and from there the stroll into Stourport on Severn was easy enough. The town is well know for its locks and basins of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal built at the end of the 18th century.

As the river glides by there are many signs of its earlier activity:
The debris caught in roots and branches,
The rock cliffs and muddy paths,
The locks of the canal builders still working today.
Walking through the green,
I pray for the people who draw life from the river, for both work and leisure;
God, grant us a quiet night and a peaceful end.
JAL 11.05.2019
Day 36 of the End to End, Grimley Church to Stourport on Severn.