Month: May 2020

Day 45 of the End to End took me to that amazing feat of engineering on the British canal network: the Anderton Boat Lift. It was preceded by a walk through some of the old industrial landscape of England between Winsford and Northwich. The route is now called the Weaver Way following the length of the Weaver Navigational. There were a number of ‘flashes’ along the route: sections of open water alongside the river or canal that are now a haven for wildlife. I saw a swan on her nest, many other water birds and lots of wild flowers.

One year on and I’m still walking beside water in Longdendale where the reservoirs look very blue on a clear day. It’s my first day of using the butterfly counting app that Bob has designed for me. Simpler than the one available from Butterfly Conservation and quicker than making a note on the simple note pad, after a walk of over five sunny miles I’d already clocked 29 sightings of 7 different species. I was very pleased.

As indeed I was a year ago. Day 45 have many of my favourite things including a fish and chip lunch in Northwich. Arriving at the Anderton Boat Lift I was pleased to see it was working. The small cafe proudly announced ‘Ice Cream is Good For You’. Who could disagree with that. Walking LEJOG was no easy feat but there was plenty to sustain me most days.

From the remembered bible
If God cares for grass and sparrows, both of which are hardly worth anything at all, how much more are we cared for who are valued so much.

May we value the world as God does:
grass and sparrows high on our list,
lilies of the field admired and even the small creatures,
accorded their space to flourish.
May we value each other as God does:
first the poor and broken hearted,
and seeking out the ways of the kindom
together strive for peace and justice.

JAL: 20.05.2020 in Longdendale.

 

Day 44 of the End to End in 2019 was also on the Shroppie, or Shropshire Union Canal. It’s quite a long one and has several branches. After the main Shroppie, I passed the end of the Llangollen branch and turned onto the Middelwich branch. The Lllangollen branch is famous for that long vertiginous viaduct you see in all those canal programmes. We walked across that in 2013 and actually visited it again early in March 2020. However, there’s a long section in between Chirk and this junction that we’ve still to join up.

The Middlewich branch did add about a mile and a half to my route but it’s easy walking and you can’t get lost so it get’s my vote every time. We’ve walked on several canal paths both during LEJOG and since and its very congenial. We had a plan to walk to London via some different canals this month but we’ve postponed that for the time being.

From being a major method of hauling industrial goods across the country to more or less derelict, the canal system has been regenerated in many places and lots of other projects are underway. Before Coronavirus, leisure was big business in Britain, hence the large number of people not now working with so much closed for the time being. And of course folks do still live on canal boats, some of whom I met on my journey. It’s not all Sid James humour as we carry on up the canals of Britain, travelling further north.  Tow paths can be a good way of traversing a town or even a city and once you’ve begun there’s plenty of future projects in joining up the ends of routes you’ve already started.

From the remembered bible
Jesus said to them ‘Finish what I have started and remember I’m still with you’.

For those who’s jobs have come to an end,
for those who’s jobs are hanging by a thread,
for those who face uncertainty in where to live,
for those who face emptiness in home and family,
for the daily bread they need and the comfort to mourn,
for the prospect of inheriting you kindom,
for these and all your people,
we pray for new beginnings each day.

JAL: 19.05.2020 in Longdendale.

 

Day 43 of the End to End in 2019 continued along the Shroppie, a route I quite liked. Green and pleasant, it was mostly flat and also quiet. But the best thing was definitely the ice cream honesty fridge I encountered early on this day one year ago. In fact it was so good it has remained firmly lodged in my memory as a LEJOG highlight.

Overall, one of the things to raise most comments about LEJOG was the amount of ice cream I consumed. It is a very delightful substance and fits into most experiences on any day. It’s particularly good when walking as it is refreshing and calming at the same time.

There were often honesty boxes on the route. Mostly cake, but sometimes eggs and jam, there was only one honesty ice cream fridge as I recall. The honesty system is an integral part of walking long distance in the British countryside. Walkers are sustained by tasty treats and all you have to do is put the required small sum into a money box. Simples!

Honesty is a key part of the British way of life and I don’t just mean for ice cream. We need to be able to trust one another and trust comes through honesty. As I walked in Longdendale today I wondered about honesty in times of virus. A pink tent had been pitched in a local beauty spot. The waste bins were surrounded by empty beer bottles and cans. Someone had been having a party. So did it matter? Where does honesty get us in the situation? How much honesty is required? Will it matter if we aren’t always honest or we’re a bit less honest some days? It seems the mess will have to be cleared up by the landowner, not by those that left it there in the first place.

That’s a lot of questions. Back on LEJOG in 2019, it was a day I met quite a few local people. Would my honesty have mattered that much? What if I’d not paid for the ice cream, or the fare on the boat (it was a charity donation for the RNLI) or the things I’d bought in shops or…..

What if I’d failed to accurately report the number of ice creams I’d had that day? Probably not massive in the scheme of things (but it was 3) so how much honesty do we need to run a country? Quite  lot more than we’re currently getting, I think.

From the remembered gospel:
Jesus said ‘The truth will set you free!’

Telling the truth is a liberating thing. There’s no need to get tied up in developing long and complex cover stories or living with the anxiety of being discovered. True thing that.

God grant a quiet night….

JAL: 18.05.2020 in Longdendale.

 

Day 42 of the End to End in 2019 had me heading towards bridge 69 on the Shroppie (which is a friendly name for the Shropshire Union Canal). It wasn’t a long walk or a busy one. The lanes were lined with wild flowers, different ones now from the early days in the South West, but it was a reasonably easy walk.

One year on and I’ll try to do a local walk in Longdendale today. I think it will be busier outside than it has been for a few weeks. Yesterday I went past the car park at Torrside and it was packed. People had jammed cars into any small space beside the road that they could and were having picnics. I hope they took their rubbish home with them. I understand that people want to get out: after all we’re fortunate to have this country side on our doorstep all the time.

But this is not a time to be physically sociable. We’ve had to think of other ways to keep connected. I saw Dad in his garden yesterday for the first time since March. He’s thinner but his garden is growing well. He says it feels like a prison (bless him) which is  interesting seeing as designing prisons was previously his job. He seemed less confused speaking to me (in his garden) from inside his house than he does sometimes over the phone. I think it must had been a bit easier for him given that he doesn’t hear very well.

Day 42 of LEJOG was a point of significant progress: I was about to step onto the biggest section of canal walking between the Midlands and the Lake District. It feels like we’ve a long way to go this year before we can all go out where we like again. Until then we still need to keep our sociable distance.

From the remembered bible
When his followers met together they agreed that another person should be chosen to join the twelve. They chose Matthias, an ordinary bloke who was well thought of.

Companion Christ, it’s your company that keeps us going.
Ordinary we may be, but you make us extraordinary,
ready to love and serve both the near and distant ones.
We may have far to go: may we work for the liberation of all
as we look forward to greeting each other again.

JAL: 17.05.2020 in Longdendale.

Day 41 of the End to End in 2019 was a day for just walking. In fact many days were like that. I got up at around the usual time and set off in the generally northwards direction (most of the time). I walked for anywhere between about 8 and 12 miles on most days.  I was just walking.

As a result of all this walking, there were a number of different distractions to indulge in along the way. Our favourite is ‘Tree of the Day’. Bob starting doing Tree of the Day on his walk in 2003 and Hannah carried on with it in 2012. Tree of the Day is any tree that takes your fancy that day. Of course some days have more than one tree. If you are going round and round in circles (as I currently am in Longdendale) the same tree might get nominated on more than one day. There were a lot of great trees on LEJOG.

There were also other distractions like small places that sold ice cream or a heap of straw bales that looked like they had been abandoned by a wolf-harassed little pig. All of this and more occurred on Day 41, along with quite a few butterflies and some telegraph poles with dots on the purpose of which we have still not fathomed.

Such observations are the foundation of my walking life. Whenever if walk I count butterflies (if there are any) and note other things; bigger creatures like birds, amphibians and mammals. I’ve not seen that many reptiles (none on LEJOG), and of course I take loads of photos.

I continue these habits in Longdendale. Yesterday my copy of Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty arrived. He has a happy knack of noticing things too and turning his observations into interesting retellings, making the world come alive in a bucket. His concern for the planet and commitment to ecological activism shines out too as he continues to just walk.

It’s the best we can do. Try to do it in an inclusive way: accompanying others, using accessible routes. Just Walk if you can.

From the remembered bible
And the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Applauded by trees everyday,
straight and tall, short and bent,
flourishing in each nook and on every skyline:
may we just walk
and walk justly.

JAL: 16.05.2020 in Longdendale.

 

Day 40 of the End to End in 2019 was the day I left the Severn Way and took the Ironbridge Way. One day I hope to go back and complete the Severn Way into Wales but not this year. The Ironbridge Way was an 8 mile path linking up bits in the Ironbridge area via footpaths and old railway lines and some very steep stairs. It was ideal for me as it was mostly off road and each short section usually included something slightly whimsical. The local heritage railway was closed but we were given permission to eat our picnic at the wooden table.

Ironbridge marks a place where a different way started or at least certainly became a discernible path: one of the cradles of the industrial revolution in Britain. Now in 2020 we are once again at a junction. Having followed through on industrialisation and post industrialisation we’re now onto the possibility of a way beyond that, perhaps post post industrialisation?

Being able to move people and stuff around the world quickly seemed a good idea. We would have to live with some draw backs like the undesirable movements of crime for example, slavery in different ages, human trafficking other forms of exploitation, or would we? Global warming began to build and our cumulative effects on the planet began to get hotter and hotter. There are deniers of all of these things and that will be the hardest thing to counter in post post post industrialism.

Will we be able to discern a different way, disentangle the negatives effects from the positive choices, limit our damaging activities and cool things down? What could our post post post post industrial world look like?

By Day 40 of LEJOG I’d walked what I thought was a third of the days of the total walk (provisionally estimated at 120 days). I’d got used to the Severn Way with its clear signs and gentle contours, its green meadows and paths. Although I knew some of the route ahead from previous walks much of it would be new. The Ironbridge Way was one of the new bits, helping me to bridge a gap to the canal system that would eventually take me into the North of England.

In 2020 I am also bridging gaps, tentatively stepping out, interrogating the prospects. There are those that say the world will be changed by Corona Virus but what sort of change will that be?

From the remembered gospel
Jesus said to them ‘I will always be with you, to the end of time and beyond.’

Timeless One, we cling to the familiar:
even when we disagree with some of the consequences,
we hoard the bits we find comforting and acceptable.
Kindom living is a real challenge and we need you with us
in body, mind and spirit:
may we contribute to the challenge to build communities
of justice and peace, mercy and love,
on earth as in heaven.

JAL 15.05.2020 in Longdendale.
 

 

Day 39 of the End to End in 2019 from Bridgenorth to Ironbridge including the first blog dog. Enter Cilla, a black Labrador associated to the Lay Community of St Benedict. My companions for part of the walk on day 39 were members of LCSB.

The walk started at Bridgenorth which is an interesting town. I particularly enjoyed the short trip on the Bridgenorth Cliff Railway which had very little to do with the walk and everything to do with me collecting different forms of transport from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

The whole walk would have been impossible earlier in 2020 due to severe flooding on this section of the River Severn. Temporary flood barriers were erected and people waited to see if these precarious structures would hold back the surges of water that kept coming down the river.

In 1952 the village of Jackfield on the way to Ironbridge had partially collapsed into the river. In 2020 the pubs and houses were once again threatened. The campsite where were stayed at Ironbridge was also in the news: it nestled in the shadow of the old cooling towers of the now disused Ironbridge power station. These were demolished earlier this year changing the view significantly.

The weather in Derbyshire was ideal for a day’s walking where the emphasis is on the sky. There’s always a lot of dogs on the TPT and in some groups more dogs than people. I’m not a very dog orientated person but I try to be friendly even without a waggy tail. Mostly I was just astonished: the sky was so blue, the foliage was so green, God was so present. It was a fantastic day to be praying with the world.

From the remembered bible
Jesus put out his arms as if to embrace them saying ‘Tell them everything and I’ll always be with you’.

Prayer on a clear day from the Transpennine Trail

Risen one,
I hear your call to go beyond blue sky thinking.
The prickle in my sock holds me down.
You hold out your arms.
I risk it, step off and onwards.
The footsteps do not end here:
This is blue sky being.

JAL 14.05.2020 in Longdendale

Day 38 of the End to End in 2019 began with a bee alert. The day before, we had seen a bee swarm at Highley Station and avoided it. The swarm had been moved by a bee keeper and when we returned by train to set off walking to Bridgenorth the situation looked much calmer. However, there we still a small number of recalcitrant bees on the loose and one decided to sting Bob on the head. After deploying anti-bee medication and a sit down for 20 minutes all seemed well and we were able to set off.

The bee was, after all, only doing what it thought it should: defending its colony. That the colony had moved on must have been a bit disorientating. Bees of this sort are a communal bunch and co-operative (there are of course solitary bees). Being co-operative even while social distancing is the challenge for 2020 as is being alert.

Walking LEJOG requires one to be alert. Anything can happen any day. On a train day, trains may not run to time, on a path a walker may be diverted, a river may run high, a bridge may be blocked, a bull may be having a mid morning snack as you cross the farmyard, the ice cream shop may have sold out. Over 117 days and 1110 miles it would be odd if some unexpected challenging circumstances didn’t arise. Even so there’s no real definition of being alert on a walk like LEJOG anymore than there is in ordinary life.

Better to be co-operative; connected by shared concerns and thinking of each other, building each other up into one body.  This is the prayer I wrote for day 38 last year:

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.

From the remembered bible
Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: ‘A body has many parts and you are like that. Each one brings their own contribution to the body; all are valued.’

Body-wise God, you confirm that each one has a part to play.
May we hone our skills of co operation as we live with uncertainty,
knowing we can be easily derailed into self-centred living.
Help us to play our part in the body:
Give us the buzz that comes from creating you kindom.

JAL: 13.05.2020 in Longdendale.

Day 37 of the End to End in 2019, I was still walking on the Severn Way somewhere in the middle of Britain. In fact most of this section was through the middle bit. It did however, mark  a new development for the walk: the train/walk combo. Mostly Bob drove the wheeled transport and I walked, which did get a bit more complicated on days when we swapped campsites. But in this section we were alongside the Severn Valley Railway and were able to use that to help us to and from the walk for a few days. Later on LEJOG we would do the walk/train combo again on other lines.

There were a couple of other adventurous moments: Nicky and Hilary, colleagues from school, met us on the Severn Way and we walked to Highley station together. It’s great to have walk companions, especially unexpected ones. Arriving at Highley station we walked into a bee swarm, which is highly alarming with two bee allergic people in the group.

Meanwhile in 2020, Bob and I were wondering if the LEJOG seemed to go quicker if you were remembering it rather than walking it. Not an easy idea to test or even draw a graph about. At the moment I am, like so many, in the middle of a situation not of my choosing, in a country run by a government not of my choosing. I’m easily defined as middle class: another middle. But other things put me in different groups: I’m retired so I can’t be furloughed, a home owner so I can’t be evicted. This doesn’t mean I have no vulnerabilities but I probably have fewer than some folks.

Middle or not, I do have strong opinions. I’m particularly angry about the lack of respect or value our society places on people with disabilities, something which is especially noticeable in this Pandemic. I’d be interested to know if any one who has supported the ways the response to the virus in England is currently managed has had a conversion experience as the result of the death of a family member from COVID19?

Each day I look at the information about those who have died and lament that we seem content to let numbers stand alone, without any names. Whilst war metaphors are common, even war time practices were more humane, recording public lists of the names of those who had died. Where will we build our Menin Gate or our Thiepval Memorial?

All along the route of LEJOG, each village and town had its own war memorial. Sometimes a name appeared on more than one memorial as different communities mourned the same person for whatever reason. A year ago, I used the song ‘You’ll never walk alone’ in my daily reflection. It reminded me how long was the struggle for justice for the 96 and how the active period of mourning for them is not over. ‘Their names liveth for ever more’ it commonly says in the war grave cemeteries I have visited. May it always be so.

From my remembered bible
God says ‘Your name is written on the palm of my hand’.
Jesus said ‘Look at my hands’.

Name writer, Wound bearer, Hand holder,
these and many other names I call you, God of all.
As close to me as the blood in my veins,
I am moved by your wounds:
I am honoured to see my written name.
May our acknowledgement of shared vulnerability,
bind us together, hold us closer than breathing.
Help us to leave behind the ableism that separates us
and embrace the kindom way of mutual accountability.
And for those who mourn:
we shall remember name after name after name,
in your beloved name.
Amen.

JAL: 12.05.2020 in Longdendale.

Day 36 of the End to End in 2019 started at Grimley and continued along the Severn Way. There was a small Parish church at Grimley and one at Holt; they will both be closed now. But after my second breakfast, it was a small notice on the door of what looked like a refurbished stable block that caught my eye: ‘Faith at Work Worcester’ it read. It was the office for the workplace chaplaincy of the Diocese of Worcester. It was good to know that workplace chaplaincy still existed in these parts.

That it still exists in 2020 looks essential as we move on from being pilgrims to prophets. Of course the two are not unconnected. Pilgrims may walk but so too may prophets. Whilst many definitions of being prophetic seem to concentrate on having a view of the future my understanding is firmly linked to the here and now. Being prophetic is being willing to live and speak against the grain, especially against the thrust of power as it marginalises some people and leaves others more vulnerable. Prophecy is about setting the scales straight so that we call attention to and set right what is at the root of inequality. That the meaning has changed to some sort of vague notion concerning future utopias is itself concerning but maybe just another sign to confirm what a church leader once told me: ‘There’s no room for prophets in the churches’. ‘Ah, so they’ll be dead churches then’ was and is my reply.

When Elijah, that most prophetic of prophets, called out Ahab and Jezebel, he was not concerned primarily for the future (note that I am of course using my remembered bible here) but for all the abuse of power in the royal court at the time and its consequences. He found himself under attack from their supporters (you can think of many modern equivalents I’m sure) and ran away. Well, who wouldn’t. God reconfirmed the prophet’s calling on an exposed rock ledge outside a cave in the wilderness.

What God required of Elijah at that point was to confront the abuse of power; to go back and put the ruling class to rights. Of course all of this does depend on what sort of bible you are remembering, to paraphrase Desmond Tutu. That name alone, amongst all contemporary prophets, should give you a clue to the bible I remember.

I first read his speech before the Eloff Commission when I visited South Africa in 1984. In the subsequent decade it was liberation theology that made the most sense to me and in 1994 we were in South Africa as the first democratic elections were held. Religion and politics, well to me they are like pilgrims and prophets: the same stuff.

Last night I read some words by an Anglican asking ‘Where was the prophetic voice of the church’. I looked up some things. It is there, standing alongside those who need food banks and the like, but at the moment the church in its many forms is mostly concerned for the pastoral, and far too concerned with whether churches are doing the right kind of zooming or not or whether we’d like to enter a logo colouring competition. Of course pastoral concerns are also prophetic. If there is a predisposition to ignore the most vulnerable and leave them to die in care homes then it is prophetic to be along side them. But we also need some contemporary Elijah’s. We are not called to be sycophants and flatter government ministers. We are called to request clarity and equity. And the most pressing question: ‘Who will go for me?’

From the remembered gospel
Jesus said ‘Don’t worry about what you will say. The words will be there from the Word and will get right to the heart of the matter’.

Although it can be disconcerting to hear the small voice,
easy to ignore as a whisper of a breeze in leaves,
simple to say we are occupied elsewhere,
less trouble to keep our heads down and claim it’s not our issue,
ultimately we cannot ignore that we are the ones God calls.

Word of Life, equip your knock-kneed, tongue-tied prophets:
from rock ledges to the corridors of power,
take us to the places where you words must be liberated,
unleash your kindom of equality through us.

JAL: 11.05.2020 in Longdendale.
(As I’ve mentioned before, kindom is a word I use instead of kingdom, as it has a more gender neutral meaning and yes, these things are important)