Day 109 of the End to End in 2019 started at the Last Wolf Memorial and went to Kildonan Station via Glen Loth. If you’ve followed this blog you’ll know I’ve walked through many valleys and that I also live in one. My favourite book from childhood was about two children who got lost in a valley. Glen Loth was the sort of valley you might have been able to get lost in once.
For now there is one road through it, prone to snow and ice in winter. It rises from the bottom by the sea and keeps going. It’s one of those valleys that I thought I might not get through. As I walked the clouds brushed the tops of the encircling hills and then gradually the table cloth descended from one side or the other but by the time I reached the pass the visibility was improving slightly.
At the top there’s a sign to remind us of the highland clearances, part of a local ‘outdoor museum’ trail that wanders through these places. There were conifer plantations, wrecked a bit by prevailing winds, and heather, scabious and orchids along the road side. I met Bob near the pine woods and we went down to the next valley together.
Kildonan is a small dispersed settlement by the river. The nearby Kildonan Burn witnessed a gold rush in 1869 but today all is quiet. The small chapel was surprisingly open. A display there recalled that the story of Christianity in the valley began when St Ninian came this way in 390AD on his way to Orkney. There is a large cross slab by the farm near the chapel that is probably much older than the current building.
As I mentioned in 2019
I sang, somewhat untunefully, a version of Psalm 100 in the empty church at Kildonan. It was a simple place, well kept, although I wasn’t sure how often it was still used. Communion Table, font and pulpit its simple furnishings, speak of generations of a local community gathered here.
From the remembered bible, psalm 100: Know that God is the Holy One.
Cross-wise one, we see your mark on hills and valleys, stones and places;
mark us as your cross-wise people, knowing vulnerability and love,
witnesses to the timelessness of your Holiness,
Ready to move onto the the next valley at your call to build community,
to sing or fall silent in prayer or praise at the awesome nature of the universe.
JAL: 04.08.2020 in Longdendale.