On day 111 of the End to End in 2019 I walked across part of the Flow Country. I had chosen this route on purpose so as to take in this precious habitat which has global importance. It is made of blanket bog and it should be wet and soggy. Drying out is one of the things you don’t want for blanket bog country. Neither do you want industrial scale destruction. Conservation for the area has become very important and the RSPB are amongst those organisations involved in this. The Flow Country is an important habitat for native and migratory birds.
If you don’t want to walk 111 days to get there, Forsinard Station is on the Far North Line. The waiting room houses a lot of information about the Flow.
Walking through an awesome landscape like this is not detracting from by weather. Having said that it did rain. Of course there would be little enough blanket bog without it. I recall that due to the prevailing wind one leg got wetter than the other.
Bob had been planning ahead and found a little cafe on the way into Forsinard. Guarded by a zealous sheep, the small menu was more than adequate to our needs and we tried some of almost all of it while we dried out. This latter idea proved somewhat pointless as the rain was set in for the day. Thunder broke overhead and we opted for a slice of chocolate cake.
Dodging between rain drops we made it to Forsinard station and from there I walked another mile down the road before my soggy bottom (and the rest of me) meant I threw in the towel and called it a day, if rather a wet one.
From the remembered bible, psalm 29: God’s voice is heard over the sea.
Here in this linking landscape: bog to bog bean, sun to sundew, curlew to clouds,
I am reminded of the connected cosmos and the Crucial Creator.
Here the lamb guards the door to the feast and the trains (mostly) run on time.
May we humans be as planet wise as the Lamb,
And mindful of the wet blanket that surrounds us,
remember One who embraces the world,
holding us together in harmony.
JAL: 06.08.2020 in Longdendale.