Month: July 2020

Keep right on

Day 105 of the End to End in 2019 began at Tain airfield and the first place of interest was the town of Tain. It has been a place of pilgrimage for several centuries and the 1000 mile mark came up in the town. It was also notable for a walk along the A9 which is the main road to John O’Groats, some 80 or so miles away at that point.

I am still walking in 2020 this time on the TPT. It was day 5 in Yorkshire, supposedly going eastwards but in fact mostly going westwards due to the meanderings of the trail on its way to Selby. We stopped short of there at Temple Hirst, saving the rest for another time, and made our way back to Longdendale.

Views over the fields of wheat and barley are dominated by the huge power stations of the area: Drax, Eggborough and Ferrybridge. Other landscapes nearer home are lined with wind turbines. Nearer Hatfield where we were staying stumps of old windmills are signs of previous ways of making things work.

A walk of 40 miles in 5 days, the last of which was very hot, felt very satisfactory. It reminded me pleasantly of the good feelings long distance walking can bring. I look forward to some more, albeit a few weeks from now.

From the remembered bible: The wind blows where it will. 

The blowing wind, useful or dustructive, reminds us of power, that can be used or abused.
As the turbines turn, keeping the lights on and the ventilators pumping, remind us to play our part by the decisions we make, both large and small, growing communities.

JAL 31.07.2020 walking on TPT to Temple Hirst, and then back in Longdendale.

 

 

 

All is quiet

Day 104 of the End to End in 2019 begun with a calm and quiet crossing on the Nigg Ferry. I was the only passenger. I continued onto Nigg Church which houses the Nigg Stone,  a Pictish Cross Slab which depicts the earliest known illustration of the eucharist in Britain. It was a quiet day’s walk to Tain airfield (disused).

Today in 2020 it’s day 4 of our TPT eastwards walk, this time starting from Braithwaite. The first three miles were straight along the New Junction Canal. There were some quiet reflections, lovely plants including wild watercress and some quiet black headed gulls.

Meanwhile Bob was finding it difficult to park at our first proposed point due to an angling competition. He went onto the second, but all this meant I actually walked further than him today. We met at Topham Ferry Lane (ferry no longer available) and made our way through a series of quiet lanes and paths.

We both remarked how quiet the walk was with very little traffic or other extraneous sounds. The flat countryside, mostly used for cereal growing, was doing what it does best: just letting time pass quietly.

From the remembered bible: Be still and know I am God.

As the Swans glide and the plants grow,
As the cereal crops push their way skywards,
As the clouds shuffle across the blue,
So I am glad for a still calm day and the quiet around me.

JAL 30.07.2020 TPT Eastwards, Braithwaite to Shearburn Plantation.

 

Two seats

Day 103 of the End to End in 2019 was a wonderful and most memorable walk across the Black Isle. Last year was a butterfly summer such that warm winds from the south had blown thousands of Painted Lady butterflies to the area. I well remember walking round a corner into a huge cloud of them, more than I could count.

This year, I’ve not yet seen a Painted Lady, but winds have mostly been coming from the west. However, I have seen a lot of other butterflies. Today on our TPT Eastwards trek there were quite a lot. With regularly spaced buddleia along the small Yorkshire lanes there were plenty of Peacock and Red Admiral. But there were even more Large White and a small orange butterfly called Gatekeeper.

The best section of the walk was through Owston wood, a lovely shaded green route. Lunch was at Trumfleet, a village with a very large name stone. But more importantly it had two seats, one in a bus shelter for bad weather. The second, opposite it, in the sun was the one we choose. Trumfleet was a, small village but it had two seats!

It also had a disused railway route unfortunately not used by the TPT. We therefore walked round to Braithwaite by road and finished in the car park by the New Junction Canal.

From the remembered bible, psalm 1. You will be happy is you do not ‘sit in the seat of scoffers’ but stick to God’s ways.

For the comfortable seat,
The lunch to scoff with a friend,
And the way ahead on a sunny day,
Thanks be to God.

JAL 29.07.2020 TPT east, Bentley to Braithwaite.

 

Flowering lane, wooded trail

Day 102 of the End to End in 2019 was across the Black Isle, a place of flowery lanes and wooded paths.  Moving on to 2020 my second day on the TPT eastwards was also along flowery and wooded paths.

One of the things I enjoy most about long distance walking is the opportunity to enjoy the natural world, especially flowering plants and the insects.

At this time of year many of the plants are showing pink or yellow flowers. On sunny days plenty of butterflies are about.  Today was windy but not wet. The TPT is an excellent route, a path with a good even surface and lovely views of the River Don.

The Boat Inn had closed sometime since Bob walked past in 2013. In its place was a small snack van selling tasty lemon muffins. Leaving the River Don, the last section of the route to Bentley was on a disused railway path. We arrived at Bentley Park in good time. The whole route had taken about the same amount of time as yesterday’s.

From the remembered gospel: Jesus said ‘Look at the Lilies of the field’.
It’s lovely to walk a route lined with flowers, or a path shaded by trees. They make the way pleasant.
May we make the way pleasant for others, offering courtesy and support to fellow travellers, sharing the route, treading gently.

JAL 28.07.2020 Denaby Ings to Bentley via TPT.

Counting Hairs

Day 101 of the End to End in 2019 began with me getting soaked in heavy rain on the Kessock Bridge as I crossed from Inverness to the Black Isle. It was the record for the fastest soaking on the whole LEJOG. I got changed in the lay by after the bridge where Bob was waiting for me.

One year later two things were similar: rain and blue trousers. It rained today on our first day of the TPT east walk which began at Wombwell. I was wearing the blue trousers I usually wear on rainy walking days. There was some rain but not as much as we’d thought and the blue trousers didn’t get too wet.

My hair has got quite long during lockdown, but it was quite long a year ago. Getting wet hair on a windy day means it blows about a lot. But hey, even these hairs have all been numbered, so wet hair is just a minor matter on the head front. I saw some of my favourite stripy caterpillars early on, and I noticed even they had head hairs.

There were lots of great wildflowers, much as I remember from the Black Isle last year. It was good to be walking again. We’ve opted for a Travelodge in South Yorkshire for a few nights this week to do this section of the TPT.

From the remembered gospel: Jesus said ‘God has even counted the hairs on your head’.

Hair counter, you astonish me:
Each creature has its own head hairs,
Even plants have hairy parts.
On another day walking,
Even though wet and windy,
My heart begins to sing again
Of the Way through the green.

JAL 27.07.2020 TPT East, Wombwell to Denaby Ings.

100 days walking!

Day 100 of the End to End in 2019 was the 100th day of the LEJOG. It was awesome then and it still is looking back a year: I had walked for 100 days. On day 100 of LEJOG I completed the Great Glen Way and walked into Inverness. It wasn’t our first visit to the city but I was the first of the three of us to complete the Great Glenn Way in Inverness (Bob and Hannah had taken different routes from Drumnadrochit).

The finish line of the Great Glen Way was underwhelming when you consider how long it was and the energy expended and the weather walked through. There were other things to see in Inverness, like the small islands in the River Ness which are like a floating botanical gardens. There’s also a memorial to Edith Cavell beside the river, next to the War Memorial.

Of course I’ve walked more than 100 days but getting to three figures was a milestone, so to speak. There were a mixed bag of routes to the end to come but the end was almost in sight. Different anxieties are introduced. Having come this far, I didn’t want to not make it to the end. But I knew there were still a lot of challenging sections to come.

From the remembered bible from psalm 100: Let’s go to God’s place! Happy and joyful, let’s skip along like a flock of sheep and rejoice!

Remembering and rejoicing, skipping along,
I rejoice with you, Shepherding One.
The way ahead still has anxiety inducing turns,
but we’re together on this route and that feels good.

JAL: 26.07.2020 In Longdendale.

The cafe at the end of the universe

There’s really only one subject for Day 99 of the End to End in 2019 and that’s the cafe at the end of the universe. After a lovely, but hot, walk along the Great Glen Way, through some forested bits strewn with large orange fungi called Birch Boletos, I eventually came to it.

It had been signposted from some distance away with cheery home made signs announcing the various possible consumable items from the menu. As it got hotter and the cafe got nearer I became more determined to reach it. Eventually I came to the last sign post which indicated a turn off the main path into the woodland. Now anyone who has done any kind of walk knows to beware of signs  like this, after all it could be miles away.

I risked it. I met a couple coming back towards me and asked about the cafe; was it really this way and was it far? They gave the necessary assurances and I continued to an archway,  a rather odd collection of hand made furniture and a lot of chickens. I had arrived at the cafe at the end of the universe.

I sank down on a bench and was soon served by the proprietor: a cold drink and cake were ordered. When they arrived my photo was taken for the Facebook archive and I tucked into the feast. Meanwhile, Bob was coming back in the other direction and was soon enjoying his own cool drink along side me. He later said, he wasn’t sure he was ever going to persuade me to leave.

And that’s the thing about the cafe at the end of the universe, which was actually in their back garden: no one wants to leave, ever.

From the remembered gospel: Jesus said, ‘I’m coming to your house for tea’.
Of all the references to sharing food in the gospel, this one is the most homely.

Welcoming One, how wonderful it is to share food together in any part of the universe.
As the lock down eases, we look forward to the sharing days and the celebrating ways,
remembering, retelling and rejoicing, in the kindom cafe at the end of the universe.

JAL: 25.07.2020 In Longdendale (and sadly not in Canterbury as originally planned).

Gates

Day 98 of the End to End in 2019 continued on the Great Glen Way from Bunloit Pottery to Drumnadrochit. This was the third time we’d used this part of the route in that monster village. Near the beginning there was a lovely honesty stall selling locally printed t-shirts and a bit further on a small honesty shed selling cakes. I love this system and always partake fairly.

There were also a few gates, including one I remembered from Bob’s 2003 walk when Hannah, then aged 9, was walking with him.

There are lots of gates on the LEJOG: some you go through, some you don’t. Some you should go through and you don’t. Some you shouldn’t go through and you do.

Gates come in all shapes and sizes and all materials: wood and metal gates are the most common. Some have latches and catches, some you have to climb over. But, on the whole LEJOG, not one of them had a gate keeper, if you discount the odd patch of nettles or thistles to put you off. Gate keeping is a thing some people do in institutions. They feel obliged to check on those asking admittance, see their up to scratch or likely to behave properly. A sort of semi-benign bouncer system that easily goes off the rails.

Whilst gates may have had the original aim of keeping things in, I think of them as ways through: part of a route to somewhere else. I’m not necessarily stopping long, just passing through. Note that Jesus is not the gatekeeper, but the actual gate. In my remembered bible, the Jesus-gate doesn’t seem to need a gate keeper.

The walking day, after fish and chips in Drumnadrochit, ended 14 miles from Inverness by road. But the route I was taking, there were bound to be more gates.

From the remembered gospel: Jesus said ‘I am the gate…’

In his Rule, St Benedict didn’t have much time for those who ‘pen themselves into their own sheepfold’ or who, just passing through, ‘never settle down’. But then he was trying to encourage the creation of community and he saw these two types of seekers as disruptive. They seemed to do whatever they wanted, either in their own small huddles or by just drifting about. Yet both of these types are common in our time, just as they must have been in his. So, dismiss them or embrace them, that’s the question? I certainly have tendencies of both types myself. If Jesus is the gate, then a real kindom community has nothing to fear from either of these sorts of seekers.

May we kindom seekers, go in by the gate,
welcome others and in openness receive from them.

JAL: 24.07.2020 in Longdendale.

Cake!

Day 97 of the End to End in 2019 continued along the Great Glen Way from Invermoriston beginning with quite a steep uphill section. You might be forgiven for thinking that the Great Glen Way had become a series of rest days after yesterdays unscheduled rest stop for poor weather. Truth was the Great Glen Way was quite demanding, especially coming as it did after the Three Lochs Way and the West Highland Way. There’s no doubt I was tired, so rest days had helped. After all I was not aiming for a record breaking LEJOG.

Unlike Ann Sayer, member of the Long Distance Walkers Association, who’s obituary I read yesterday. She still holds the record for the fastest Land’s End to John O’Groats walk by a woman. Completed in 1980 it took her 13 days, 17 hours and 42 minutes. She walked 830 miles (a lot by road) and averaged nearly 60 miles a day (which is over 3 times what Bob and Hannah each did on their LEJOGs and over 6 times my average). She died in April 2020 aged 83.  I salute her and anyone who walks the End to End.

I’m amazed how much of it I can still remember, even quite small details. Last night when I wasn’t sleeping, I ran my memory fast forward over the route from the Great Glen to the end. It was wonderful. On day 97 Bob, who had come with me on the first morning section, and I arrived at the Stone Cave. This is one of those places where all three of us have visited, and it definitely appeals to the hermit in me, although it is rather small.

Much more of course, do I remember the cake.  Day 97 ended at the Bunloit Pottery which serves fantastic cake (although I seem to have failed to photograph it which is surprising). It’s OK to pray for cake, especially on an End to End.

From the remembered gospel: Jesus said: ‘When you pray do it like this…’

High Holy One of Heaven, named as Father by your Son,
May the uniting of earth with heaven begin now and never end,
as we weave together your kindom.
May the bread we receive today be justly gathered and shared:
forgive us when we fail at this,
as we forgive those who fail us.
May we not be tempted to water down this commitment,
else we fall into less wholesome ways.

JAL: 23.07.2020 in Longdendale.

Avoidance

Day 96 of the End to End in 2019 resumed on the Great Glen Way after a break on 20th July for our wedding anniversary. We had spent a pleasant day touring round the Highlands, stopping for views and bagpipers. Yesterday was equally our anniversary, this time 29 years instead of 28, although we spent a quiet day in Longdendale, a different valley.

On LEJOG there were things I would try to avoid: steep routes of long duration, walking along major roads and bad weather. None of these things could be avoided completely of course, and one or two had already crept into this narrative. But an amber weather warning seemed worth avoiding so we decided to combine to reasonable short days into one long day and not walk through the storm.

The first section to Fort Augusts was along the Caledonian Canal and ended with fish and chips for an early lunch or late 11s. We were now getting into Monster country, where every item you can think of, and some you can’t, either resembles a Loch Ness monster, is emblazoned with the Loch New Monster or just named after it. Of course this is all in the name of local economics and seems to work well enough. I do wonder how that Nessie themed world is faring in 2020.

The afternoon section of the walk to Invermoriston included two things I try to avoid: a steep uphill start and a section on the road just before the end. Like I said, they cannot always be avoided. I ended the day by St Columba’s Well at Invermoriston. Legend has it that St Columba defeated the Loch Ness Monster. Seems to have worked: I’ve not seen it all day.

As an adult there are things I avoid: the depiction of violence, especially sexual violence, on film for example. There are plenty of conflicts I have walked away from, to avoid a conflict I didn’t think I would win. I have retired to a quiet corner of Derbyshire and as yet, what with COVID19 have yet to re-engage with the local situation very much.

We all have things we avoid. Changing our minds is something we might sometimes find difficult, if the decision has been profoundly linked to our identity in the first place. It’s like altering a part of ourselves. That’s why a lot of the words about ‘turning to Christ’ are about making a new identity. But we do change, over time, as we age, as we face new situations and challenges, as we lose some relationships and make new ones.  It’s probably something we can’t avoid.

Be a bright flame before me, O God
a guiding star above me.
Be a smooth path below me,
a kindly shepherd behind me
today, tonight, and for ever.
(St Columba’s Prayer)

Path smoother, as I make my way with you,
fearing the worst yet yearning to step into the future,
please be my Flame-Star-Shepherd One,
whatever the monsters which lurk in the unknown.

JAL: 21.07.2020 in Longdendale.