Day 92 of the End to End in 2019 was the last on the WHW. It had been, as expected a demanding route, but awesome. I’d been going slower than most walkers I’d seen but that wasn’t a problem. I’d seen some amazing stuff and even seemed to touch the sky at times.
The last section began in the middle of nowhere, a place where forestry operations had been going on for some time. This had left quite a few stumps in the ground but they did make handy resting places. Eventually I was over the hump and on a forestry track down towards Fort William. I could almost touch Ben Nevis on the other side of the valley, which was itself touching the sky. I could see the track up to the summit of the mountain but I didn’t take the route up that day.
Instead I met Bob and we had an ice cream in the Ben Nevis information centre. There was a short stretch to link up with the Great Glen Way, which was the next section of the route.
Moving onto 2020, the sky has been a theme here for several weeks. First it was rainbows, of which I’ve made a quite a few since the Spring. The sky often lowers itself towards the hills around here or opens itself up to more cosmic distances. Reflections are part of the beauty of the valley. This time last week, waking up in Tameside Hospital, I was glad of the sky, which was pretty much all I could see except for a large chimney. Today it is once again grey, as it has been for several days. Bits of lighter and darker grey come and go and there are also drips. My mum’s favourite hymn was: ‘Glad that I live am I, that the sky is blue.’ It continues ‘After the sun the rain; after the rain the sun; this is the way of life, since the world begun’.
From the remembered bible, psalm 19: Wow! How amazing is the sky, how clearly it shows what God can do: from each dawn announcement to nightfall it is repeated.
You repeat yourself, Cosmic God,
making your love clear everyday.
How gently the sky touches me,
confirming my place in the universe.
How urgent the imperative to respond,
treading carefully on the earth,
enjoying the caress of wind and rain,
embracing the day.
JAL: 16.07.2020 in Longdendale.