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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.

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 78th Day of the End to End in 2019 was a walk through parts of Ayrshire. In fact I walked through parts of North, South and East Ayrshire according to the road signs. I also saw great views of West Ayrshire, which is basically the sea. Later we went to Largs and saw it close up.

The other great thing to emerge from day 78 was my plan for a personal ice cream delivery service called Deliverice. Here’s what I wrote about it a year ago:

Imagine, a cyclist with a portable freezer powered by wind or solar or even pedal power,  a range of flavours from a local source, following a Lejogger on her route. Readily available ice-cream supplies would be very welcome in those parts of the country where the ice cream sellers are not so common. I’d call it ‘Deliverice’!

Fairtrade Cornettos, delivered to me! This could ring out across the country.

What with lock down, one thing and another, I’ve not actually progressed this idea yet, but the franchise is still available if there’s any budding entrepreneurs out there who might be interested. Not so much Dragon’s Den as Dragon’s Ice Cream Parlour.

It’s just what we need to kick start the economy post COVID19. We can use local milk and local flavours, with everything powered by renewable energy. It would be an ethical business using fair trade ingredients but also paying fair wages and run as a co-operative. As well as supplying people walking the LEJOG there could be local versions for walkers on the TPT, C2C and so forth. There could be ice cream canal boats too and maybe horse boxes that had been converted to selling ice cream.

What we need in 2020 is more ethical, green, fairtrade and co-operative businesses. I have absolutely no experience in such matters but I know what I don’t like. I’d like it to be much easier to find such businesses so as to be able to choose to use such services where possible. One sandwich shop can look very much like another so could we have a way of recognising those which have made the effort to do things fairly. This goes for businesses of any size.  Instead of ‘You’re fired’ or ‘I’m out’ what about a programme in which backers advise how to set up and run such enterprises for community benefit. I can’t be the only one who is turned off by the shouty show-offs.

As for flavours, well fairtrade chocolate obviously and buckthorn is growing on me, but so is salted caramel.

From the remembered bible: Jesus said: ‘You are the salt of the earth’.

May we live salty, Encouraging One:
May we spice up community life with our co-operation in action;
May we have a real thirst for trade justice;
May we go green in everything we make and bake;
When the heat is on, may we be the coolest collective.

JAL: 01.07.2020 in Longdendale.

Day 77 of the End to End in 2019 was another where we were able to use the train to get to the beginning and the end of the walk. Beginning near Kilmarnock station and ending at Stewarton station there was a bit of drizzle to start with, just as we have today in 2020 in Longdendale. The town centre was quiet as it was a Sunday morning and I remember the whimsical statues. During the day, there was ice cream, cake and toasted sandwiches here and there but most of all I remember the orchids.

We were staying at Kilmarnock Travelodge which we had used on our previous trip to Kintyre a few years ago. Set on an island at a roundabout on the Kilmarnock bypass it probably seems an unpromising site for wildlife. But let me assure you otherwise. It was teeming with stuff. My favourites were the orchids and the butterflies and I spent time enjoying those every evening. Too many to count I wandered all over the small oasis and enjoyed myself photographing as many as I could.

I love the native orchids of Britain and I was fortunate on LEJOG to see so many, some species for the first time. But why were there so many here on the edge of the Kilmanock bypass? I asked the receptionist and she told me ‘They’ve given up mowing it’. Simple but true. If you don’t mow then they can grow. I might get that on a t-shirt.

One of the things noticed and reported during the lock down has been the increased sightings of wildlife around the UK. Added to which No Mow May got quite a lot of coverage (this wasn’t a campaign to get a former Prime Minister away from her lawnmower) with photos of meadows and verges across the country. Of course not everyone did it and not everywhere has seen gains for wildlife. For some totally unexplainable reasons vicious work in woodlands to prepare for HS2 has been going ahead unheeded all this time.

We need more green stuff: grass, trees, plants. Not just for ourselves but for the whole web of life that we are part of. Don’t mow. I don’t. The grass and stuff in my own garden gets higher and higher, but I’ve seen more butterflies and insects there this year than any previous year. Like the area at Kilmarnock Travelodge, it’s very small. One day, I hope for an orchid.

From the remembered bible, Isaiah 40:
The grass withers and the flowers fade and God’s word lasts forever.

I wrote this prayer about Orchids earlier this month on the TPT

Just like people, orchids are a global family.
Like so many folk they cling to the margins.
Drying bogs or heavy hoof prints are enough to send them under.
As I admire the purple spikes in this valley,
May I be mindful of the margins of life everywhere,
For orchids and people.
May our intertwined lives flourish and be a sign
Of community beyond species,
Of a kindom without limits.

This and other local prayers can be found at: https://bobjanet.org.uk/PFP/index.html

JAL: 30.06.2020 in Longdendale.

This is the inscription on the Penlee memorial that remembers those who died when the entire crew of the RNLI life boat, Solomon Browne, was lost on 19th December 1981. Unless personally touched by such a tragedy it’s the kind of event that is almost impossible to imagine.

That is until COVID-19. Suddenly their epitaph makes sense.

In 2007 this country was devastated by an epidemic of Foot and Mouth disease that severely curtailed rural life. Great heaps of animal carcasses were burnt. The countryside was closed. It was some years after Bob’s End to End in 2003 but we recognised that he couldn’t have done the walk had such a thing happened then.

COVID-19 has closed more than just the countryside and I would not have been able to do the End to End this year had I planned to start yesterday.

As it is, a year ago, I was on day 2 of my 117 days walk. I joined the SW Coast Path before Mousehole and met up with my friend Sue in Newlyn. The weather, another frequent End to Ender’s conversation topic, came and went across wide Mount’s Bay. I was drenched by the time I arrived on her doorstep. Steaming in her sitting room we talked as I dried out. I walked onto Newlyn for fish and chips. One friend remarked that he thought it unlikely I’d complete the walk as all I seemed to do was eat fish and chips and ice cream.

But complete it I did, much to my own amazement. Day two took me to Marazion where many years earlier we had left our tandem in the care of Marazion Methodist Church so we could visit St Michael’s Mount. As it was, I walked on my route and Hannah walked over the causeway for a brief visit. Places like the Mount are amongst the footprints of pilgrimage long carved into the British Isles. Even on days when I had little company, there were always the Saints, both ancient and modern.

So too in quieter days this Spring, when wild goats come to town, we are still served by the saints.

There’s nothing quite like the Magnificat to get you through stuff.
From Luke 1, a version of the Magnificat

God gets bigger in me in all the ways I serve God.
God’s arm protects me and makes nonsense of the proud plans some make.
Arrogant ones are brought down and the humble lifted up.
Good things are shared with the hungry and the rich are left empty.
Promises are kept by God, who helps those who serve
and mercy is God’s hallmark.

Mercy for the anxious.
Mercy for those who mourn.
Mercy for those who wait.
Mercy for those who serve.
Mercy for the merciful,
Mercy for the unmerciful,
for today and forever.
Amen

JAL: 03.04.2020

Now I’ve completed the End to End and we’re on the way South, it’s time I answered some of those FAQ’s you all have about LEJOG. Here they are!
1. Is it a long way?
Yes.

2. What’s best, Land’s End to John O’Groats or John O’Groats to Land’s End?
Personal preferences vary but with the dominant weather pattern in the UK being SW to NE starting at Land’s End makes sense. You mostly have the wind behind you (obviously there have been some exceptions to that this summer!).

3. Which place is nicer, Land’s End or John O’Groats?
Again personal preferences will play a part.
I love Cornwall and it holds many family memories but the Land’s End theme park is a tacky place. Try to start before it opens at 10am: not so busy then.
John O’Groats has really improved in the last decade. Better accommodation and a neat harbour with great views of Orkney in the right weather.

4. What is the distance from Land’s End to John O’Groats?
That depends on the route you take. There’s no set route so you have to decide how long you want your journey to be.
One correspondent noted a difference of 2 miles on one of the signposts. LEJOG is like that: places are always moving.
My overall total was 1110 miles.

5. Bike, cycle, run, or walk?
Again it’s a personal thing. In our family LEJOG is something you walk. The pace means you get to savour so much. Otherwise it all pass in a blur. Think of LEJOG as a slow project. You won’t regret it.

6. What’s the best food for those walking LEJOG
Fish and chips and ice cream. These quintessential British foods are available almost anywhere and can fortify you on any day.

7. What should a LEJOG walker carry?
As little as possible. Try to find someone else to do that. Just have a bottle of water in your pocket and a snack like chocolate or nuts (warning, may contain nuts: other snacks are available).

8. What time should you stop for 11s?
Any time between 10am and midday depending on conditions.

9. What time should you stop for lunch?
Any time between 11am and 4pm depending on conditions.

10. How often should you eat ice cream on LEJOG.
As often as possible up to 4 or 5 times a day. It is important to support local businesses especially in remote areas.

11. What should a walker do while walking LEJOG?
Firstly carry a paper map in a plastic map case and use it. This is better than an electronic map because you can use it as a hat in sunny weather, and it to disperse flies (and midges in Scotland).
Second, have a ticking sheet of natural phenomena seen en route, particularly flora and fauna. Add anything else unusual to this list as you go along, invaluable for aiding recall later.
Thirdly, sing! These can be real songs from your memory or ones you make up as you go like ‘Is there a toilet in the town, in the town; one where I can soon sit down, soon sit down…’ etc
Fourthly, prepare to go forth and prepare your stand up show which you are going to tour Britain with after LEJOG.

12. What were the low points of the journey?
The worst combination is rain and wind leading to walking in wet knickers. This means that the day from Clunes along Loch Lochy was not a great day although I wasn’t actually going Commando (see comment about knickers) but following in their footsteps, so to speak.
However, the day from Shebster to Thurso was grim requiring three attempts due to poor weather and I couldn’t actually stand up at one point near Achscrabster road.
Basically any day where your knickers get wet is a poor outcome.

13. What were the high points?
So many it’s difficult to order them. Unusual flora and fauna feature heavily: seals on the beach, deer in a barley field, many different kinds of orchids many I was seeing for the first time. But best of all clouds of painted ladies on the Black Isle: so many I could hardly count them.

15. What is it like to be a Lay Benedictine doing LEJOG?
I was greatful for the time in Christ’s company. It helped me to put down a lot of things I’d been carrying for too long.
I love remembering the psalms, although some of my remembered versions may not be the ones others remember.

16. What is your favourite prayer?
Another one where it’s difficult to choose but probably St Patrick’s Breastplate :

Christ beside me,
Christ behind me,
Christ before me,
Christ above me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger,
Christ in hearts of all who love me,
Christ to comfort and restore me

14. What 1 piece of advice would you give any prospective LEJOG walker?
Just go for it. Hannah said we three all did it differently and we did. You do it your way. Just do it, however long it takes.

And now, God grant a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 13.08.2019
LEJOG plus 1 day.

The last day of the End to End was the 117th day of walking. Although the weather was clearing we could see some heavy showers coming over Stroma and we waited for those to rattle through before setting off.
I started walking at Canisbay War Memorial and down into the village of Canisbay. The old hostel is boarded up and the old post office a private residence. The North Coast 500 has not yet reached all of these pockets.
I turned up the next straight road to Stemster and surprised a doe at the edge of a barley field. It bounded away over the field leaping high above the height of the ripening cereal. It disappeared into a corner of the field with just its ears sticking up above the barley. I was completely amazed.
I turned the next corner and walked down to the disused Mill at Huna. At a field on the corner there was a flock of Zwartables with their distinctive black and white faces. Two buzzards looked on from fence posts. I could see the hotel at John O’Groats and it was less than a mile to go.

I tried to make the final mile last as long as I could. It was hard to believe this was the end of the road (but I knew it was because we’ve been here before). After crossing the line and a big hug from Bob, ice cream was of course a priority! We got big ones.
We then drove up to Duncansby Head for a picnic lunch. The weather was the best we’ve had for days and there were great views in all directions. Bob walked back while I scuffed about in the little shops. We opened a bottle of fizz to toast a successful conclusion of LEJOG. We’re a family of End to Enders now.

From Psalm 23

And will live in God’s place forever.

May the Deer bound to greet you,
May the Buzzard, watching, circle over you,
May the foxgloves trumpet your progress
And the waves applaud your arrival,
As you celebrate your daily progress
And travel on to the end of the road

God grant us a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 12.08.2019
Last day of the End to End (day 117) from Canisbay War Memorial to John O’Groats.

Day 116 of the End to End is the penultimate day of the walk. It’s equivalent the other end was Day 2 when I walked into Newlyn in the rain to visit my friend Sue. I then walked round St Michael’s Bay. Today is a bit similar but wind instead of rain and the sea here is the Pentland Firth!
The walk started at Greenland and I’d soon walked to Holland: Caithness is like that. The grey clouds meant soft colours in the landscape. Most of the wildflowers were thistles except for some unexpected Monk’s Hood (which is poisonous). The few butterflies to brave the buffeting winds were green veined whites.

The roads, like many in Caithness, we’re long and straight. I’d see our little car moving up ahead of me and then Bob walking back from quite a distance.
The views of the Pentland Firth got clearer as the day progressed. Orkney emerged and so did Skoma. We had a bit if a picnic at Rigifa. The afternoon walk was quite short. I saw the Gills Bay ferry set off from the mainland for Orkney. Just before the end point I joined the route Bob and Hannah had used for their walks as it came in from Lyth. I chose to stop at the iconic Canisbay War Memorial from which the views are amazing. We were a bit early for our accommodation so we back tracked a bit in the car and had some afternoon tea at the Castle of Mey where the strawberry gateau was excellent.

Tonight is our first night at the John O’Groats Inn, in a lovely room overlooking the sea where gannets are diving. Tomorrow is the last day of the walk. Don’t miss it!

From Psalm 139

If I flew away beyond the east or lived in the farthest place in the west, you would be there to lead me, you would be there to help me.

I am on the North Coast of the British Mainland. The steel grey sea, grey islands on the horizon and grey skies the world around me looks very different again. The purple thistles, white daisies and blue Monk’s Hood colour the verge. I have been lead to a beautiful place.

God grant me a quiet night and a peaceful end. 

JAL 11.08.2019
Day 116 of the End to End, from Greenland to Canisbay War Memorial.

Day 115 of the End to End looked better than day 114 right from the start. It was sponsored by Christine and Richard of LCSB. We set out from Thurso East, optimistically, taking the A836 which is part of the North Coast 500.
The section between Thurso and Castletown is largely straight although it does go up and down a bit leading to some hidden dips. The clouds were clearing and views of Dunnet Head emerged.
Bob came back to meet me and we walked into Castletown for some 11s.
The second part of the walk went first to Castletown beach at Dunnet Bay. The sun was beginning to break through and the huge sweep of the bay looked beautiful.
I took the back road via the disused airfield to Greenland. At the Burnlea Croft what we first thought were Ostrich turned out to be Rhea. We don’t have a lot of experience classifying flightless birds. Turns out Rhea are originally from South America although there are some feral Rhea in Germany. Maybe Caithness will become their next pecking ground.
On the next corner a large group of poultry were very excited to see us. This was Greenland, end point of today’s walk.
We then took a short drive to the village of Dunnet to see Mary Ann’s Croft, a small museum of local rural life. We also made a brief stop at Dunnet’s bay on the way back.
Later the street outside the Hostel in Thurso became a practice ground for a local pipe band.

From Matthew 23
Jesus said ‘How often I have wanted to gather you together like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings’.

God grant a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 10.08.2019
Day 115 of the End to End, Thurso East to Greenland.

At the beginning of day 114 I had 4 days for the 28 miles to John O’Groats and the weather forecast was looking unfriendly to say the least. The aim was to get to Thurso by lunchtime when heavy rain was due from the south. I set off from Shebster early, just after 8.30am and it wasn’t raining. However, it was very windy and the turbines at Baillie Wind Farm were whirring away.

Bob came back towards me and we made a brief detour at Westfield to St Trostan’s cemetery, a now disused burial ground of uncertain age. It was said to be the earlier site of St Trostan’s Chapel of which nothing remains although there is an intriguing water stoop in one wall of the graveyard. St Trostan may originally have been St Drostan and may have been from Ireland: such are the stories hidden by history in this vast landscape.

It was raining hard by now and by the time we got back to the car I was wet and cold. In an attempt to dry out and warm up, Bob drove down to the garage on the Thurso road and I had a hot chocolate. We returned to the sheep farm at Bardnaclavan to start again. However, it was even windier and wetter and I could hardly stand up. The road is very exposed and there’s no shelter for some distance. I therefore managed less than a mile before Bob picked me up again, completely drenched.
This time we went to the Co op for a bit of shopping. In Thurso there was no rain and the weather seemed a bit clearer. After getting the shopping we therefore headed back up to the Achscrabster junction to carry on. It was only a couple of miles round to the footway into Thurso if I could make it through the wind.

At Janetstown I sheltered in the bus shelter for a bit. Bob came back towards me from the garage on the edge of town and we battled back with our heads down. Once we got into Thurso there was some shelter from the buildings and I carried on as planned, cutting through the streets in the town to come out by the A9 junction at the bridge over the River Thurso.
I eventually reached the end of today’s walk by the junction in Thurso East at about 1pm and we returned to the hostel to dry out and have lunch. There are now 3 days to go and less than 20 miles to John O’Groats.

From a Scottish Pilgrim’s Prayer

The keeping of God be upon you in every pass,
The shielding of Christ be upon you in every path,
The bathing of the Spirit be upon you in every stream,
In every land and sea by which you go.

God grant a quiet night and a peaceful end

JAL 09.08.2019
Day 114 of the End to End from Shebster to Thurso East.