LEJOG blog

It’s a good idea to have a subtitle for your End to End. Bob’s was called End to End via the Margins, as he was reflecting on life on the margins at the time. Yesterday Hannah said that mine would be End to End via the Distractions as I’d be distracted by everything.
She knows me very well. Today was a good day for distractions. We began at Marazion where we planned to walk part of the Causeway as Hannah was going to visit St Michael’s Mount. The Causeway wasn’t open when we arrived so I got distracted by some hot chocolate while we were waiting.

The tide receeded and it was possible to cross the Causeway. Hannah went on with her visit and Bob came with me to find the route to Leedstown.
The next seven miles were full of distractions. Almost every step there was the distraction of wild flowers in the hedgerows. The Primroses were especially profuse and there were Celendines, bluebells, stitchwort, red campion and later wild garlic.

At the Church of St Hilary there were a great many distractions. The churchyard includes several of the simple stone crosses I passed on the first day. 

Inside there is a wide range of art courtesy of several different local artists who have contributed to making it a very unique place. This included two rows of paintings representing the Cornish saints, in the Cancel.

At this point it was clear I needed to get a move on. I finally arrived in Leedstown nearer 2 pm. Thankfully an earlier distraction of free pastries at a shop in Goldsithney helped to keep me going. In addition there was a farm shop just before Leedstown for some dates and vegetables.

Meanwhile with the pub at Leedstown not open, Bob and Hannah went to Hayle to fetch some pasties. At this point one of my twitter followers suggested that the walk was going to be fueled by different local delicacies. I do hope so.
The last distraction was mud. I took a back road and footpath from Leedstown to my destination today which was Praze-an-Beeble. All was going well until we got to the cauliflower fields. You smell them before you see them. The trucks that have been collecting the cauliflowers had churned up the pathways and this was serious mud. It was difficult to decide where the actual path went such were the rutted muddy field edges. Bob appeared in time to dig me out of my dilemma and we squelched back to the road.

So there you have it: End to End via the Distractions, and that was only day 3.

Prayer

Remembering the examples of the Cornish Saints: Sennen, Buryan, Morwenna, Petroc and Hilary,
May we walk carefully, cheerfully and courageously,
Mindful of the company of the Holy Three:
Creator, Companion and Spirit,
To whom be Glory, Glory, Glory now and forever.

JAL 04.04. 2019

Day 3 of the End to End,  Marazion to Praze-an-Beeble 

About a mile and a half into the 2nd day of the walk I joined the South West Coast Path and stayed on it for the rest of the day as it wound its way round Mounts Bay.

From Psalm 107
People who go to sea in ships, who work on the oceans, they see the work of God and the wonders of the deep waters.

It was another day of mixed weather: wind, rain and hail with sunny intervals. On the journey round the bay this weather provided a changing backdrop to the day.

At Mousehole the sight of the Penzance bus as it squeezed down the narrow streets and around the harbour was part of a normal mornings activity.

On the path out of Mousehole the route passed the old Penlee Lifeboat House and next to it the memorial garden that remembers the crew of the Solomon Browne Lifeboat. The entire crew was lost on 19th December 1981. The memorial reads ‘Service not Self’.

The path continued into Newlyn and the weather took a turn for the worse. I was looking for the place my friend Sue lives just as the rain got heavier. Thankfully she opened the front door just in time and I dripped into her hallway. We talked for about an hour. I dried off and the sun came out again.

Psalm 107 again

The storm is calmed and the waves are stilled.

I carried on into Newlyn, enjoying the fish vendors on the way and bought some kippers. I found an excellent fish and chip shop in the centre of the town for a lovely portion of haddock and chips for lunch.

Back on the coast path I walked on along the sea front at Penzance and the beach at Long Rock. Shower clouds came and went. Sometimes the wind was behind me, sometimes in front. Hail stung my cheeks. The sea changed colours from deep and dark ultramarine to clear and bright turquoise as the sun chased the clouds away.

More of Psalm 107

People are glad for the quietness: grateful to be bought to their final destination, a haven of peace.

Looking out into the bay St Michael’s Mount got closer. The mount crowned by the castle, with the harbour buildings nestled at the base and surrounded with its rocky garden. I first visited it over forty years ago. Today we stopped at the car park opposite on the mainland, the same place we used when Hannah did the End to End seven years ago.

For now we end the day saying:

God grant us a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 03.04 2019 Day 2 of the End to End, Castallack to Marazion

Land’s End was quiet this morning as we timed our departure before most of the attractions opened. A photo of a sign post and a quick look at the stories of other End to Enders was enough and we were off. 

Wind, sun, rain, hail and eventually a rainbow: such was the weather in the first two miles.

On the way up to Sennen village, I was joined by Bob and Hannah, two experienced End to Enders. This short section to Sennen has now featured in all three of Team Lees Warwicker End to Ends.
At Sennen village the church of St Sennen claims to have been founded in 520AD, possibly named for an Irish saint. There are a number of early Stone crosses in the churchyard and others on the route across to St Buryan.

These are simple slab crosses, a shaft and a rounded head which is often incised with a cross or a figure. Due to age and exposure to the weather these are often quite difficult to make out. They are found at cross roads and in church yards, but also in fields, at field boundaries and just anywhere along the side of the road. These ancient stones were not the only ones in the landscape. Much older standing stones, burial cairns and stone circles are also scattered across the landscape clearly indicating what an important area for human settlement West Cornwall has been for millenia.

The crosses continued to occur beyond St Buryan, also named for an early Irish saint, and together meant that the whole days was very much a cross marked way.

Prayer

Creator, who made the darkness for rest,
Surround us this night
So that our words, our thoughts, our breath,
May rest in you.

JAL 02.04.2019

Day 1: Land’s End to Castellack

It’s now the day before I am due to start the End to End at Land’s End. This morning we left Devon for Cornwall. As a child we’d take the A30 from Bodmin each summer. Now some of it is even dual carriageway.
We stopped first at St Buryan. This is part of the route tomorrow. The church tower is under repair and the pub won’t be open on Tuesday lunchtime. We had enough time for ice-cream: it’s a holiday ritual with us.
We went onto Porthgwarra, a tiny hamlet near Gwennap Head for a short walk on the coast path. The lanes were full of flowers: violets, alexanders, three-cornered leeks, primrose, bluebell, celandines. This is one of the things I love most about walking in the Spring.

It was a bit cloudy such that rays of sun pierced the cloud layer and played across the grey sea like spotlights. The rocks on the coast were bearded with lichen, covered with a grey green fleece. It was an unexpected part of the South West Coast Path to add to our itinerary.
Later we met Hannah at Penzance from the London train. We are ready, as team Lees Warwicker, to begin our third End to End.

For the jewelled hedgerows
I am thankful.
For the bearded rocks
I am thankful.
For the sun’s spotlight on the sea
I am thankful.
For meeting, greeting and starting again,
I am thankful.

JAL 01.04.2019

On this walk

I’m looking forward
To the long road,
The well trodden path,
The greening hedge,
The stony edge,
The blue sky
The veil of cloud,
The slanting rain,
The stinging hail,
The unplanned trail,
The tiny Violet,
The bluebell carpet,
The peeping primrose,
The clinging bramble,
The unexpected scramble,
The tumbling stream,
The mirror puddle,
The incoming tide,
The singing lark,
The laughing crow,
The nurturing ewe
And the suckling lamb:
I’m looking forward, I truly am.

JAL 31.03.2019

16 years ago, Bob was on the second day of his walk from Land’s End to John O’Groats. At the time Bob was a minister in the workplace chaplaincy team in Sheffield, south Yorkshire and the walk was his sabbatical. His role was to resource marginal workers in the changing economy hence the title of his walk and accompanying commentary: End to End via the Margins. The record of the walk is here

http://bobjanet.org.uk/lejog/fulllist.htm

Bob did many things by this walk. As well as revitalising himself he gave us a lot of life giving resources too. We got used to following the line of the walk virtually each year at this time. His route became the basic plan for other walks we made. At first just short sections of the West Highland way. The stories were told and retold and the photographs shared.
Eventually Hannah, our daughter prepared to walk her own End to End in 2012. Using Bob’s route but changing it a bit, Hannah needed to fit her walk in between the end of the school year after her A Levels and starting university. It needed to include a 24 hour window for her to collect her results in late August. The adapted route will form the basis of the route I will hope to walk this year.
We hope to be at Land’s End on Tuesday 2nd April. See you there?

JAL 30.03.2019
Ugborough, South Devon