Day 59 of the End to End in 2019 spanned two millenia at least and included a visit to Tebay services on the M6 on foot. A notice on a gate in the Howgill fells prohibited my access to an excavation of a site to feature on ‘Digging for Britain’. People have been using this communications corridor for a long time. Now the M6 and West Coast Main Line tried to out run each other on the other side of the valley, whilst I walked along the quieter back road.
Tebay is our favourite services on the British motorway system and we’ve been here many times before. Hannah was the first member of the family to walk in on her LEJOG in 2012. I was taking something of a similar route so we stopped off too and got some ice cream, of course.
There were also two poorly marked bridleways before the end of the day, one of which took me back to the line of the old Roman Road. Fast forward to 2020 and for the majority the demand for access to all areas is usually granted: you can get in and out most of the time. Lock down made a difference keeping us all inside until rules started to be broken, regulations lifted and once again some were left behind in the access race. That this should also have happened in the House of Parliament was, to say the least, ironic.
I’m sure if I’d worked during the lock down I’d have a very different view of the pandemic. But as the advice was for only essential travel, I didn’t. I continued to walk as much as I could but I saw far fewer people and I was only too aware of the quieter roads and skies. I made use of local delivery services for some provisions and I missed some of the small local shops in the village high street being open. But I never had to wear full PPE to sweat out a long shift day after day.
Just as when walking LEJOG, a sort of routine has developed. This time walking is alternated with writing, gardening, sewing and cooking. Praying weaves in and out of these activities much as it used to, but with different concerns at the forefront. That’s one area to which we all have continued access.
From the remembered bible: Jesus said ‘When you pray, try doing it like this…’
Prayer Teacher, alert and ready for the zoom equivalent of daily devotions,
I thank you, for the time, the space and the tranquillity
that this small space gives me.
Street Dancer, alongside the kneeling and those kneeled upon,
there in the tear gas and hail of rubber bullets:
may we pray here in solidarity and love with the most vulnerable.
May the Holy Spirit weave between us all,
including the socially distanced ones and the isolated ones,
and unite us, in the quest for universal access to justice.
JAL: 04.06.2020 in Longdendale.