Month: June 2020

Out to grass

Day 77 of the End to End in 2019 was another where we were able to use the train to get to the beginning and the end of the walk. Beginning near Kilmarnock station and ending at Stewarton station there was a bit of drizzle to start with, just as we have today in 2020 in Longdendale. The town centre was quiet as it was a Sunday morning and I remember the whimsical statues. During the day, there was ice cream, cake and toasted sandwiches here and there but most of all I remember the orchids.

We were staying at Kilmarnock Travelodge which we had used on our previous trip to Kintyre a few years ago. Set on an island at a roundabout on the Kilmarnock bypass it probably seems an unpromising site for wildlife. But let me assure you otherwise. It was teeming with stuff. My favourites were the orchids and the butterflies and I spent time enjoying those every evening. Too many to count I wandered all over the small oasis and enjoyed myself photographing as many as I could.

I love the native orchids of Britain and I was fortunate on LEJOG to see so many, some species for the first time. But why were there so many here on the edge of the Kilmanock bypass? I asked the receptionist and she told me ‘They’ve given up mowing it’. Simple but true. If you don’t mow then they can grow. I might get that on a t-shirt.

One of the things noticed and reported during the lock down has been the increased sightings of wildlife around the UK. Added to which No Mow May got quite a lot of coverage (this wasn’t a campaign to get a former Prime Minister away from her lawnmower) with photos of meadows and verges across the country. Of course not everyone did it and not everywhere has seen gains for wildlife. For some totally unexplainable reasons vicious work in woodlands to prepare for HS2 has been going ahead unheeded all this time.

We need more green stuff: grass, trees, plants. Not just for ourselves but for the whole web of life that we are part of. Don’t mow. I don’t. The grass and stuff in my own garden gets higher and higher, but I’ve seen more butterflies and insects there this year than any previous year. Like the area at Kilmarnock Travelodge, it’s very small. One day, I hope for an orchid.

From the remembered bible, Isaiah 40:
The grass withers and the flowers fade and God’s word lasts forever.

I wrote this prayer about Orchids earlier this month on the TPT

Just like people, orchids are a global family.
Like so many folk they cling to the margins.
Drying bogs or heavy hoof prints are enough to send them under.
As I admire the purple spikes in this valley,
May I be mindful of the margins of life everywhere,
For orchids and people.
May our intertwined lives flourish and be a sign
Of community beyond species,
Of a kindom without limits.

This and other local prayers can be found at: https://bobjanet.org.uk/PFP/index.html

JAL: 30.06.2020 in Longdendale.

A small place in Scotland

Day 76 of the End to End in 2019 had us arriving at Kilmarnock. There’s a joke I once saw in a Guardian obituary:

Name 3 fish beginning and ending in “K”:
Kwik Save Frozen Haddock
Killer Shark
Kilmarnock, a small place (sic) in Scotland.

Hence the title of today’s blog which is also influenced by the best fish and chip shop in these parts, which we have visited more than once. There was also a notice on the ring road that assured us that Kilmarnock was ‘The most improved place in Scotland’.

In general there was a  lot more Burns today. Everything he’s ever been associated with has a plaque on it somewhere, it seems. The Burns National Memorial is alongside a group of Almshouses and further up the road there’s one of the farms where he used to work.

In 2020 there’s a lot of debate about who should be remembered and how. Burns was only 37 when he died, but had managed to father 12 children with various women. He is said to have held egalitarian views and didn’t take up the job offer as a book keeper on a Jamaican sugar plantation , partly because he couldn’t afford the fare to Jamaica. He is called the National Bard of Scotland and his work covers a wide range of historical and social subjects, as well as promoting the Scots Language. So suitable for a statue then? Seems so, as there are plenty to be seen in different places he lived or visited or worked in.

I think the statue thing is problematic in many ways, not just because we uncover the ‘warts and all’ stories and worse of the people that have been celebrated by our forebears. History is told by the victors as we known. When the victors fall, which they so often do, then the new victors are bound to want to change the signs of oppression to reflect the new reality. Talk of levelling up becomes ridiculous with statues: we’d just have too many. In the past it was money and influence that bought statues. Who decides now? Maybe we should learn to see all these things as temporary: roads, airports, large civic buildings, can all be renamed any time. Or maybe we need to be more creative in the first place and not use the names of people who for whatever reasons are bound to come crashing down at some point. After all, every language has lots of other possibilities: the Rainbow Building, Larch Avenue, Blue Sky Thinking Airport.

Meanwhile, I’ll celebrate Kilmarnock, that small, improved place in Scotland, with the excellent fish and chips.

From the remembered bible: There’s a time for everything under heaven:
a time to name places and a time to rename them, a time to put up statues, and a time to take them down, a time to write poetry and a time to tear it up, a time to remember and a time to forget, a time to fight and a time for peace.

Timeless God, we know you’ve seen it all.
Enlarge our small minds to see your expanding vision of equality and justice.
May we seize this time and use it to make a difference in our naming and building, our writing and remembering.

JAL: 29.06.2020 in Longdendale

 

For Auld Lang Syne

Day 75 of the End to End in 2019 was through more Robert Burns country arriving at Mauchline, where there is a small Burns museum, by days end. One of my routes was along the River Ayr way, which was lovely: shady woodland, wild flowers and the odd viaduct.

Forward to 2020 and this mornings service on BBC Radio 4 was from members of the Iona Community. The theme was looking to the future hopefully. You can listen to it here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000kfwv

The words and music were helpful to me: inclusive, inviting , challenging. A helpful balance of encouragement which is not all about Auld Land Syne and what we miss from the past. One of the phrases that stuck with me was about how the Church needs to reassess its understanding of Jesus mission so that rather than continue to squander our resources on redundant buildings we make the building up of real community our priority. It’s an issue I’ve struggled with in many places during my time in ministry. It’s one of the reasons I found chaplaincy liberating: it wasn’t our building.

One of the things Bambi, or the Mobile Chapel of St Scholastica, represents to me, is the need for people of faith to be on the move. Snails take their homes with them, hermit crabs swap theirs from time to time; these are things we also need to be hopeful about.

(photo: not a hermit crab!)

Past times, Auld Lang Syne, in the song, have a peculiar hold over us, perhaps because we’ve already weathered them. The present seems wobbly enough and the future can seem down right terrifying. But I think of the hermit crab, swapping shells and shuffling on.

(photo: the Crab and Winkle Way is in Kent)

From the remembered bible: We will rise up with wings like eagles, run and not be weary, walk on and not faint.

An alternative translation, crustacean version: We will swap shells like hermit crabs, scuttle on and not be weary, walk sideways and not faint.

God of crab and eagle,
you encourage us to scuttle and scamper:
may we copy crustaceans in our bid to move the world
and create the peaceable kindom.

JAL: 28.06.2020 in Longdendale.

Old ways, new ways

Day 74 of the End to End in 2019 was another where we were able to use the rain to get to the start and from the finish meaning we could walk together all day. At one time the railways were a new way of travelling, replacing some of the older ways. In 2020 they have a mixed story: some are just about ticking over, some are more optimistic replacing old with new, even those the lock down and has severely curtailed the use of public transport.

There was plenty of the old to see on Day 74: old church at New Cumnock for example. Also old nostalgia for national poet Robert Burns: we would see plenty more of that over the next few days walking. But there were new signs too: an old coal mining area redeveloped as a nature reserve called  Knochshinnoch Lagoons.

At Cumnock we saw the house and statue of Keir Hardie, Labour Party politician. His name has recently been recycled too.

There’s still a lot of talk about new ways post COVID19 lock down. So far we’ve seen more evidence of the old ways: tons of litter left on beaches and heaps of fly tipping by selfish people. One possible new way might be more litter bins or a reinvention of Keep Britain Tidy, a slogan I remember from my youth. I even saw an online video of The Wombles yesterday, those helpful hairy creatures who used to sort recycling. Now we leave it to people in Turkey to sort out ours.

I was glad to hear quite a few Methodists had called on the Methodist Church to divest from fossil fuels, at their on line version of Methodist Conference. I fully support that (I’m not a Methodist) but I was less clear why the organ in a large Methodist Chapel had been lit up purple. Was it a liturgical thing?

So far the new thing about today is rain, after several very hot days. Last year I used a remembered version of Psalm 19 on Day 74, which is relevant whether in rain or sun:

From the remembered bible, Psalm 19

The sun rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.

‘You cannot change the Laws of Physics’ (Remembered Star Trek)

No, but you can change the world if you manipulate the environment such that the Laws of Physics change the climate.

Creator God, who gave us humans intelligence, the skills to make decisions and an understanding of cause and effect,
make us mindful of our part in the immensity of creation,
and as old ways give way to new ways,
may we inhabit the earth carefully,
taking decisions that don’t further undermine the poor,
using our intelligence for mutual flourishing.

JAL: 27.06.2020 in Longdendale.

Revisiting history

Day 73 of the End to End in 2019 was one where Bob and I walked together all day, as it was possible to use the train for both the beginning and end of the walk. We were walking through a history of the black stuff: coal.

It was the stuff that made the industrial revolution and powered that empire we hear so much about these days, that destroyed the lungs and lives of so many, either directly or indirectly, and lead to the massive expectations in us all to have the lights on and the standard of living we want at the flick of a finger regardless of the lives of those who pay the price now.

Coal is made of plants that would have been green millions and millions of years ago. Today the old coal heaps around Kirkconnel are going back to green, sculpted for nature and wind power generation. Wild flowers spring up still.  We made our way across these hills towards New Cumnock.

It’s not new. It was formed as a separate parish when it was split off from Cumnock several centuries ago. If anywhere needs new normal in Britain today it’s places like this. There’s a miners memorial in every town and usually a small museum or community centre telling the stories of rise and decline, recalling the lives of ordinary people, the Board of the Co-op and the local school. There were a lot of places up for sale; the garage, an old industrial building and so on. I can’t imagine that lock down 2020 has been kind to places like this.

In 2019 I remembered Psalm 40: it’s not a bad choice in 20202 either.

I waited patiently for God, who turned to me, hearing my cry.
He lifted me out of the horrible pit of mud and mire and set my feet on rock, giving me a firm place to stand,
And putting a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to God.

I’m not known as a patient person, but they do get a lot of mentions in the bible. I doubt lock down has made anyone more patient, especially if recent seaside scenes are anything to go by.

Solid Rock One, Holy High Hill Maker,
you count time in millions of years not just a few weeks.
As we rush onto new normal,
may we give a thought to the old ways, and see them for what they were:
expedient, sometimes exploitative,
destructive of humans and the planet.
I want to praise you from firm ground,
but much of what is around me is barren.
May new life come to deserted places:
where for sale signs dominate may things open up again,
where old industry has stolen lives and land
may new ideas flourish and turn the landscape green.
Make us in to the human beings that will work for the good of others:
let us leave our bad habits for museums to remember,
as we weave the kindom together.

JAL: 26.06.2020 in Longdendale.

 

In the green

Day 72 of the End to End in 2019 was another beautiful green day. Green, the liturgical colour of Ordinary time, is one of my favourite colours (obviously not quite orange) with its many shades and hues. Since Day 1 I’d been walking in the green. It was like a long long ribbon that unrolled across the country as I walked along. Indeed, I made up a song about it that I often used to sing: ‘Unroll the Ribbon of Green’.

When I stood up at fair Land’s End,
a ribbon in my hand,
I gave my heart to God to keep
as I walked through the land:
The ribbon of green, the ribbon of green
unroll the ribbon of green.

I used to make up verses as I went along depending on what I saw that day.

Since returning home, the green ribbon and the many other colours of the landscape have been the inspiration of many of the craft projects I’ve been engrossed in.

(photo: the route of the LEJOG is like a green ribbon)

Walking in 2020 is similar: it’s green all around me. Yesterday on the TPT I was often walking through a shady green tunnel of trees. Thank goodness, because it was very hot. Each little solar panel of leafiness was hard at it through all the sunshine hours.

On a long walk I see few people, not like the photos of Bournemouth beach yesterday. Everywhere there are signs that getting back to normal and new normal are in contradiction. We are too addicted to our consumer lifestyle to give up on holidays abroad and many of the products of an oil based economy at the moment. We want them back as quickly as possible. Much of our economy depends on folks spending money as often and quickly as possible.

On day 72 we visited the Crawick Multiverse, a design by Charles Jencks to reuse some old coal spoil heaps in the Sanquhaar area. It includes some interesting sculpture set in a wide open space. But most of all,  I loved the way nature had made it such a diverse green space. The ribbon of green had unrolled to a green meadow, a pool, a theatre and it was a beautiful sight.

From the remembered bible: Think about grass. It may not seem like much….

That’s the problem: we think that grass isn’t much. Grass and all the other green stuff, we take it for granted, instead of marvelling at each amazing cell.

God of cell, leaf and blade,
show us how to think about grass,
to see how each tiny green thing is vital to our shared life,
not expendable and ignorable in our throw away culture.
May we love the green and treasure it,
as the foundation of our life together.

JAL: 25.06.2020 in Longdendale.

Extreme weather

What a difference a year makes! Day 71 of the End to End in 2019 was wet with low cloud and thunder and lightening in the Southern Uplands. One year on in South Yorkshire we had one of our hottest walking days ever.

I described Day 71 of LEJOG as a day of two halves because we waited for the weather to clear a bit in the morning before walking in the afternoon. I took a path alongside the River Nith in the Drumlanrig Estate. It was beautifully shaded woodland and water dripped from leaves and branches.

One year later we decided to try a section of the TPT we hadn’t walked before in South Yorkshire. The Longdendale section just right past our home and that has been one of the things to motivate us to complete the rest of the route. Before Lock Down we’d been west to Southport in various sections over the winter months. Our original plan for the Spring had been a walk to London via the Grand Union Canal, but that’s still one hold. We therefore thought we’d try some further bits of TPT and went east for the first time for three months today.

Starting at Wombwell I began to walk back towards Oxspring, where Bob parked the car and started his half of the route. Bob has actually completed the whole TPT by bike in 2013 as part of one of his sabbaticals.

Today was a very hot day, as I already mentioned. Temperatures of 30 degrees were forecast. We took lots of water of course. One of the things about the hot day was there were a great many butterflies out as well as many wild flowers to enjoy. Hot and tired we made it back to Oxspring in a bit under 5 hours.

Walking is still a great thing to do together. It was a wonderful route, with lots of shade along the line of the old railways. Penistone was a good place to get some ice cream at the end.

(the marks on this bridge of the Nith were left after a tragic accident in the 19th century)

Although I don’t like walking in rain, I’m not that keen on high temperatures either! Last year on LEJOG no day was as hot as today, I’m glad to say. Although we didn’t originally plan to walk the TPT it has proved to be a good option. Today it was not really busy at all and we’ll see what kind of plan we might make for the rest of the summer as we go from West to East if we can.

From the remembered bible, part of Psalm 139
If I flew away beyond the east or lived in the farthest place in the west, you would be there to lead me and help me.

As I walk this repurposed route,
I am grateful for care and support from fellow travellers.
My feet ache after the longest hottest walk in a while
and I  seek a welcome place to rest.
The benches that regularly pop up along the trail are especially welcome.
God grant a quiet night…

JAL: 24.06.2020 on the TPT.

 

 

Where the bee sucks

Day 70 of the End to End in 2019 was another walk through green countryside, often beside the river Nith, this time towards Drumlanrig Castle.

Throughout the walk the roadside verges had been continually changing. From the high hedges of the SW and the towpaths of the Midlands, the green summer verges of foxgloves and nettles were now at their height. Just as hungry caterpillars like nettles, so bees like foxgloves, disappearing inside each trumpet shaped bloom. The tiny hairs inside each flower catch the pollen each bee brings in. Each flower is decorated for maximum bee enticement and every tall spike provides many such opportunities. Where the bee sucks may in the song be inside a cowslip bell but I think of foxgloves.

There were many apiaries on the route, in small groups by streams and in meadows. Eventually a notice explained it all: Honey for sale. When walking LEJOG any distraction is welcome and I’ll stop and buy almost anything transportable. Eggs are the one thing you see lots of signs for which I don’t buy as I’m never very confident about carrying them to my next rendez-vous. But honey should be alright as I could fit a small jar in my pocket.

I walked up to the front door of the neat cottage and rang the bell. The door was opened onto a hall way lined with wooden shelves each one bearing jars of honey. The Honey Seller explained the varieties that change with the seasons and the flowers available. There’s Spring Honey and Summer Honey, also Heather Honey and Clover Honey and  many others. I opted for Summer Honey that reminded me of the days I was walking now. Later, back at our digs for the week, I had some on a croissant. It was divine.

Time for a song…

“Where the bee sucks, there suck I:
In a cowslip’s bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat’s back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, Merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough”.

Later I walked to the cemetery in Keir Mill where Kirkpatrick MacMillan, the inventor of the bicycle was buried. Another surprising day on LEJOG.

From the remembered bible: Psalm 119
Your words taste so sweet; sweeter than honey in my mouth!

I watch the bees so busy and buzy,
each one a little ball of energy,
intent on its own contribution to the communal task.
The result is such sweetness.
May we remember the bees,
and focus on bringing forth sweetness we can all share.

JAL: 23.06.2020 in Longdendale.

Labyrinth

Day 69 of the End to End in 2019 started again at Greenbogue farm, east of Dumfries. We’d had a day off yesterday for a side trip to Whithorn, a place linked with St Ninian and the rise of Christianity in Northern Britain. It’s a fascinating place and includes some lovely examples of stone crosses.

Today was a quiet walking day, except for a mass of hungry caterpillars by the road side. The Hungry Caterpillar is still my favourite book.

Our lunch break was at the Red Chapel at Dalswinton. This church in kit form was erected for the estate workers and still makes a joyful splash in the forest. It was one of several small ‘tin chapels’ (as they were called) that we saw on LEJOG. Most were green, but this one was red.

Nearby was the Dalswinton Journey Garden, an installation well worth a visit and very restful. It includes a stone labyrinth you can ‘walk’ with your fingers. I’ve made many labyrinths: from scarves in the school chapel, from sand and pebbles on the beach at Lindisfarne, and I’ve visited quite a few both indoors and out. This quote on the stone at Dalswinton is still worth thinking about in 2020:

Look where you have been,
View where you are at,
Seek where you want to be

Today I started up Bambi, the Mobile Chapel of St Scholastica, again after several weeks. I’m really hoping for a trip somewhere in the next couple of months. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Keeping safe and moving about maybe quite a challenge.

The labyrinth is both inward leading and outward seeking, as you walk first in one direction and then another. It’s a good thought for a balanced life: inward leading, outward seeking.

From the remembered bible: May I walk in God’s ways.

Like the caterpillars on their journey of transformation,
may we too be changed:
seeking you, speaking of you,
walking with you, talking with you,
filled with you, stilled by you.
May we keep balanced and tread gently on the earth.

JAL: 22.06.2020 in Longdendale.

I could spend a busy morning

Day 68 of the End to End in 2019 was not busy. It began at Ruthwell Station, a village that no longer has a station. It continued via Mousewald and the Drummuir Ice Cream Farm, to Collin, where we got some stamps in the village hall posing as a Post Office, and finished further up the road at Greenbogue Farm. It was one of those quiet days of showers and flowers which connect other days to make up a whole LEJOG.

Meanwhile at John O’Groats Mel Nicholls was claiming a new world record in her Hand Cycle Britain challenge. Someone else somewhere was busy.

Being busy is a thing I think differently about these days. Since 2018, busy has meant different things. I’ve plenty to do, which qualifies as busy but I’m not anywhere near as busy as in previous parts of my life. I’m busy enough, not bored or fed up but I’m not chasing my tail or leaving things undone. I wonder how busy came about and why it’s so much a mark of our society?

On days like day 68 my remembered Winnie the Pooh is just as important as my remembered bible. This well loved story by AA Milne was part of my childhood and something I passed onto my daughter during hers. In fact I was still doing remembered Winnie the Pooh as a School Chaplain where I used to dress as my alter ego, Tigger.

One of my favourite hums from Winnie the Pooh is ‘I could spend a busy morning seeing Eyore/And I could spend a busy morning not seeing Eyore’. Well I’m sure you get the idea. Rabbit, who was often busy and had a lot of friends and relations, was another I used to dress as from time to time. But Rabbit was not all that popular with the other creatures in the forest for always organising them. On the whole there’s only so much organising we can stand. Busy is fine but pushy is not so admired as a leadership characteristic.

What sort of leadership do you admire? There’s humble and shambles, chaotic and rigid, and about as many more as you like to name. I’m not advocating busy for busy sake but dithering rarely cuts it and avoidance is not admired. Competent gets my vote. That and being willing to admit to any mistakes: it’s a mistake to pretend otherwise.

From the remembered bible: Jesus took the form of a servant and was humble, even leading to his death on the cross.
Jesus said: ‘I am the true and living way.

My decision to continue to follow the humble servant One is not a cop out.
I choose the Jesus Way today for honesty, integrity and truthfulness.
I admit I’m not always spot on in my choices of behaviour,
but facing up to mistakes and having another crack at it are important life options to me:
not busy for busy sake, but focused on the kindom.

JAL: 20.06.2020