Gates

Day 98 of the End to End in 2019 continued on the Great Glen Way from Bunloit Pottery to Drumnadrochit. This was the third time we’d used this part of the route in that monster village. Near the beginning there was a lovely honesty stall selling locally printed t-shirts and a bit further on a small honesty shed selling cakes. I love this system and always partake fairly.

There were also a few gates, including one I remembered from Bob’s 2003 walk when Hannah, then aged 9, was walking with him.

There are lots of gates on the LEJOG: some you go through, some you don’t. Some you should go through and you don’t. Some you shouldn’t go through and you do.

Gates come in all shapes and sizes and all materials: wood and metal gates are the most common. Some have latches and catches, some you have to climb over. But, on the whole LEJOG, not one of them had a gate keeper, if you discount the odd patch of nettles or thistles to put you off. Gate keeping is a thing some people do in institutions. They feel obliged to check on those asking admittance, see their up to scratch or likely to behave properly. A sort of semi-benign bouncer system that easily goes off the rails.

Whilst gates may have had the original aim of keeping things in, I think of them as ways through: part of a route to somewhere else. I’m not necessarily stopping long, just passing through. Note that Jesus is not the gatekeeper, but the actual gate. In my remembered bible, the Jesus-gate doesn’t seem to need a gate keeper.

The walking day, after fish and chips in Drumnadrochit, ended 14 miles from Inverness by road. But the route I was taking, there were bound to be more gates.

From the remembered gospel: Jesus said ‘I am the gate…’

In his Rule, St Benedict didn’t have much time for those who ‘pen themselves into their own sheepfold’ or who, just passing through, ‘never settle down’. But then he was trying to encourage the creation of community and he saw these two types of seekers as disruptive. They seemed to do whatever they wanted, either in their own small huddles or by just drifting about. Yet both of these types are common in our time, just as they must have been in his. So, dismiss them or embrace them, that’s the question? I certainly have tendencies of both types myself. If Jesus is the gate, then a real kindom community has nothing to fear from either of these sorts of seekers.

May we kindom seekers, go in by the gate,
welcome others and in openness receive from them.

JAL: 24.07.2020 in Longdendale.

Cake!

Day 97 of the End to End in 2019 continued along the Great Glen Way from Invermoriston beginning with quite a steep uphill section. You might be forgiven for thinking that the Great Glen Way had become a series of rest days after yesterdays unscheduled rest stop for poor weather. Truth was the Great Glen Way was quite demanding, especially coming as it did after the Three Lochs Way and the West Highland Way. There’s no doubt I was tired, so rest days had helped. After all I was not aiming for a record breaking LEJOG.

Unlike Ann Sayer, member of the Long Distance Walkers Association, who’s obituary I read yesterday. She still holds the record for the fastest Land’s End to John O’Groats walk by a woman. Completed in 1980 it took her 13 days, 17 hours and 42 minutes. She walked 830 miles (a lot by road) and averaged nearly 60 miles a day (which is over 3 times what Bob and Hannah each did on their LEJOGs and over 6 times my average). She died in April 2020 aged 83.  I salute her and anyone who walks the End to End.

I’m amazed how much of it I can still remember, even quite small details. Last night when I wasn’t sleeping, I ran my memory fast forward over the route from the Great Glen to the end. It was wonderful. On day 97 Bob, who had come with me on the first morning section, and I arrived at the Stone Cave. This is one of those places where all three of us have visited, and it definitely appeals to the hermit in me, although it is rather small.

Much more of course, do I remember the cake.  Day 97 ended at the Bunloit Pottery which serves fantastic cake (although I seem to have failed to photograph it which is surprising). It’s OK to pray for cake, especially on an End to End.

From the remembered gospel: Jesus said: ‘When you pray do it like this…’

High Holy One of Heaven, named as Father by your Son,
May the uniting of earth with heaven begin now and never end,
as we weave together your kindom.
May the bread we receive today be justly gathered and shared:
forgive us when we fail at this,
as we forgive those who fail us.
May we not be tempted to water down this commitment,
else we fall into less wholesome ways.

JAL: 23.07.2020 in Longdendale.

Avoidance

Day 96 of the End to End in 2019 resumed on the Great Glen Way after a break on 20th July for our wedding anniversary. We had spent a pleasant day touring round the Highlands, stopping for views and bagpipers. Yesterday was equally our anniversary, this time 29 years instead of 28, although we spent a quiet day in Longdendale, a different valley.

On LEJOG there were things I would try to avoid: steep routes of long duration, walking along major roads and bad weather. None of these things could be avoided completely of course, and one or two had already crept into this narrative. But an amber weather warning seemed worth avoiding so we decided to combine to reasonable short days into one long day and not walk through the storm.

The first section to Fort Augusts was along the Caledonian Canal and ended with fish and chips for an early lunch or late 11s. We were now getting into Monster country, where every item you can think of, and some you can’t, either resembles a Loch Ness monster, is emblazoned with the Loch New Monster or just named after it. Of course this is all in the name of local economics and seems to work well enough. I do wonder how that Nessie themed world is faring in 2020.

The afternoon section of the walk to Invermoriston included two things I try to avoid: a steep uphill start and a section on the road just before the end. Like I said, they cannot always be avoided. I ended the day by St Columba’s Well at Invermoriston. Legend has it that St Columba defeated the Loch Ness Monster. Seems to have worked: I’ve not seen it all day.

As an adult there are things I avoid: the depiction of violence, especially sexual violence, on film for example. There are plenty of conflicts I have walked away from, to avoid a conflict I didn’t think I would win. I have retired to a quiet corner of Derbyshire and as yet, what with COVID19 have yet to re-engage with the local situation very much.

We all have things we avoid. Changing our minds is something we might sometimes find difficult, if the decision has been profoundly linked to our identity in the first place. It’s like altering a part of ourselves. That’s why a lot of the words about ‘turning to Christ’ are about making a new identity. But we do change, over time, as we age, as we face new situations and challenges, as we lose some relationships and make new ones.  It’s probably something we can’t avoid.

Be a bright flame before me, O God
a guiding star above me.
Be a smooth path below me,
a kindly shepherd behind me
today, tonight, and for ever.
(St Columba’s Prayer)

Path smoother, as I make my way with you,
fearing the worst yet yearning to step into the future,
please be my Flame-Star-Shepherd One,
whatever the monsters which lurk in the unknown.

JAL: 21.07.2020 in Longdendale.

Knowing our limits

Day 95 of the End to End in 2019 continued along the Great Glen Way. The weather was better than the day before, the breakfast and sandwiches excellent. The route was lovely: a disused railway line for some of the way which was fairly easy going.

Some folks express surprise when I say I’ve walked LEJOG. After all, carrying several surplus stones as I do, I don’t look the epitome of fitness. Maybe they imagine it’s some kind of ultra event for the super fit. I’d say, that depends on how you do it. But this section was no more difficult that a walk on the Longdendale Trail which also includes a disused railway line.

Bridge of Oich is a place of three bridges, one of which, in the care of Historic Scotland, has a notice that says ‘Only 50 people allowed on the bridge at one time’. Perhaps it does get busy here and days of 50 people piling on the bridge in some sort of record attempt may have sometimes occurred. But not today. There were few people about and we were 48 short of the limit. I wonder if there was ever a party on the Bridge of Oich?

Meanwhile in 2020 in Longdendale I’m trying to get back up to walking fitness after my unscheduled stay in hospital now over a week ago. It’s easy to do the odd mile or two from our front, or back, door, and it’s quite easy to do anything up to 9 or 10 miles actually, but I’m a bit out of practice. So I set off for a morning walk , slowly. With lots of butterflies in the valley at the moment, that was fine as I could note them as I went along. It’s another 6 days before I’m allowed back into general circulation.

This year has been a year of numbers: those who have caught the virus, those who have died, days in quarantine, days in ICU, metres of social distance, number of people in your bubble or your shop. Our world has certainly got smaller and we are in physical contact with far fewer people on a regular basis. Tomorrow is our 29th Wedding Anniversary: I am thankful.

From last year’s blog,the remembered bible from Psalm 139
You see me, whether I am working or resting and you know everything I do.
Even before I speak, you already know what I will say.

You have me in your eye,
you hold me by the hand,
you guide me through these steps,
you nurture me in body and mind:
You know my limits,
the way my human frailty works.
Keep me mindful, caring and supportive,
that others I meet may reach theirs
and together we can thrive.
JAL: 19.07.2020 in Longdendale.

Common Ground

Day 94 of the End to End in 2019 continued along the Great Glen Way beside Loch Lochy. The first thing it had in common with today, one year later in 2020, was rain. We’ve had a bit of rain here for the last few days or so and it seems set in again today. Probably because England are playing cricket against the West Indies at Old Trafford in Manchester, just down the road. However, it does give us a chance to relive our past cricketing glories: Bob’s out for a duck, my epic umpiring decisions. These are just some of the wickets of common ground we stand on.

PENTACON DIGITAL CAMERA (a cricket match in 2011)

Before the walk, a visit to the commando Memorial at Spean Bridge. I always try to visit when I’m near here: a statue of three men standing on common ground. Lochaber was the training ground for the Commandos during WW2 and my route through the Great Glen would take me alongside many of those places, but at a much slower pace.

It was quite possibly also one of the coldest days of the walk, probably because I was wet through in quite a short time and didn’t dry out until I got to the car at Laggan Locks. I wasn’t alone, although there were fewer people walking than on the WHW. Rain makes things green so there was plenty to see and the path was not difficult. At Laggan Locks there was a welcome place for hot drinks, although the open sided design meant it was almost as windy and wet inside as out.

Nowadays, in 2020, I walk up and down the Longdendale Valley, overlapping my daily routes one after another, sometimes going round clockwise, sometimes anticlockwise. Bob saw a lot of young people setting off on the DofE expeditions this morning. Such encounters contribute to our common ground as does taking part in the Great Big Butterfly Count this month (photo below is wood vetch, I think).

There are sweet peas in my garden, just as there were at Laggan Locks a year ago. The drips of rain may be different but this is definitely common ground.

From the remembered gospel: And the rain came down.

Steadily falls the rain, at least it does here.
We think of the people of China currently struggling against rising flood waters;
We think of the people of Palestine, currently struggling for just water rights;
Where wells are empty, may they be filled,
Where rivers are full, may they return to safe levels.
Remind us of the common ground on which we stand,
as we pray in solidarity with those who pray today.
May God’s mercy and love flow between us all.

JAL: 18.07.2020 in Longdendale.

 

Steaming along

Day 93 of the End to End in 2019 began early at Roy Bridge Station. Hannah was travelling south and we were waving her off. Roy Bridge station is very small, but it has now been used for arrivals or departures by all three of us (I used it in 2012).

The West Highland Line has several small stations. Another is Banavie, at the foot of Neptune’s Staircase on the Caledonian Canal, which was also part of today’s walking route. So it was good to know the Jacobite Express, a fairly well known steam train, was coming by around 10.15 am which was about the same time as I was due to be there. I was able to get some good photos as it chuffed through the otherwise deserted station on its way to Mallaig.

Day 93 was also a good day for free biscuits. I was given some at a small cafe near the bottom of the staircase and they kept me going for a bit along the side of the Caledonian Canal. I was walking up the Great Glen and this would be my route for quite a few days, longer even than on the WHW.

Towards the end of the walk, during which I’d seen quite a few butterfly orchids, it began to rain on the green landscape surrounding me. But what is rain except not yet vapourised water. I kept on steaming along towards Loch Lochy.

Last year I chose this remembered psalm: From Psalm 68
Holy One, you made abundant rain fall and restored your worn-out land.

The psalmist was writing in an arid landscape for which rain was essential to life. It’s also true here in the Highlands: temperate rain forest and, as we shall see later, blanket bog all need rain. Earlier in the Spring of 2020 it was very dry in Derbyshire but since June the rain has returned and the reservoirs have filled up again.

Yet quite often we see rain as something to avoid. I’m not that keen on walking in the rain, something that would not decrease in my time spent walking on the wet Great Glen Way. But I do admire water. Our ancestors would have made offerings to water. Clean water is a basic essential for life. Solid, liquid or gas: water is the stuff for me.

In this landscape, water makes its mark:
streams flow, pools fill, leaves drip.
As I walk through the rain,
I see the green land and rejoice.
I am grateful for water.

JAL: 17.07.2020 in Longdendale.

 

Touching the sky

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.

Multiple Adventures

Day 91 of the End to End in 2019 was a day of multiple adventures. It was necessary to be a bit creative as we couldn’t get all three of us and all the things in the small car at once, and we had to move campsites today. So we came up with a plan that meant train lovers, Bob and Hannah, both got a bit of train time, I got to walk and we could meet up at the end of the day and retell our stories to each other. Like all of the best adventures, it ended with ice cream.

Hannah opted for a train trip to Corrour, a small station on the West Highland Line, which had a nice cafe, walks and trains. Bob took me to Kinlochleven to start my walk. Still on the WHW, day 91 was through a large valley called The Larigmoor. It was reputedly the escape route used by the McGregors in 1645 (who were running away from the Campbells). In 2020 there has been a lot of talk about history, but I bet there’s plenty of history in these islands most people don’t know. I particularly think the English are ignorant of Scottish history. They may know the bit about the spider, but little else.

The Larigmoor was an amazing walk, with its steep sides, frequent streams to ford and diverse plant life. It was one of the little talked of parts of the WHW. Not so dramatic as Rannoch Moor or challenging as the Devil’s Staircase, but still amazing. It was also a bit intimidating. Although not that far, in a large valley walking on your own it’s easy to wonder if you can walk that far.

KODAK Digital Still Camera

In 2020 my recent stay in hospital was also anxiety provoking so I can understand folks are not using them so much as before lock down. I certainly didn’t expect to be admitted and I think the absence of visitors (it would just be too risky) also makes it feel a bit isolating. But I was safe and well cared for and discharged home in due course.

in 2019 I was thinking about this section of Psalm 23:

Even though I walk through Death’s valley, I am not afraid, for you are there for me.
Waves of anxiety come and go with me, mostly due to over thinking about others.
There is so much of life we cannot control, of course. Jesus doesn’t avoid Death’s valley, for himself or us. He is familiar with the landscape. He’s ready to walk through it again.

One year later, it is of course still very pertinent, just as I suspect it might have been in 1645 in the Larigmoor.

Companion Christ, you know this landscape:
your familiarity is a support to me in times of high anxiety.
There is something about walking that makes it a great adventure:
Even thought I am fearful at times, I am ready to walk on with you.

JAL 15.07.2020 in Longdendale.

Going up

Day 90 of the End to End in 2019 included the Devil’s Staircase on the WHW. It certainly is a devil of a climb, especially in hot weather, which was the only way I knew it given it was a sunny day. This would take me to the highest point on the WHW and on the whole LEJOG.

People talk about this staircase, but of course it’s not as bad as all that providing you take things gently. And of course, it’s not a staircase. I can confirm that I didn’t meet Thora Hird on a stair lift going up, or Alan Bennett anxiously waiting for her at the top.

I did see two playful ravens, who I called Caw and Grunt, for the sounds they made as they soared and tumbled together in the sky. Of course, what goes up must come down, so having made it to the top, I took the gentler path down to Kinlochleven meeting Bob on the way, for a well earned ice cream at the National Ice Climbing Centre, at the end.

Lots of things go up. At the moment COVID19 figures continue upwards, both the rate of infection and the death rate. I’m not really a numbers person. But many tragic events are known by numbers: 7/7, the 96, the 72. These numbers are tattooed on our lives but each number represents a much bigger thing: loved persons lost, grief and sorrow, mental and physical health challenges, lives changed forever. So much that numbers cannot contain. It makes me sad that we hear so little about those lost to COVID19.

(photo:  a memorial on the WHW)

As one who has visited the CWGC cemeteries in Europe and Turkey, I’m used to seeing huge numbers of people remembered. Thiepval is not my favourite monument, standing as it does in the Somme landscape. But I’ll never forget hearing the last post played there by one of our students in a hail storm. The Menin Gate is set in the city of Ypres and the whole place has a very different feel. Although the last post ceremony itself has become a much greater magnet to visitors, I cannot criticise that. We must remember.

(photo: A quilt I am making to remember the 72 people who died in the Grenfell Tower Fire)

How will we remember COVID19? Well I’ll have a lot of quilts and a lot of words, whatever else happens. As for the answer, it’s a hard thing to decide with numbers still going up. One community in Wythenshawe, Manchester, is creating a COVID19 memorial garden. Each one remembered. We all have to eat.

From the remembered gospel: Jesus said ‘Do this to remember me’.

Bread breaker, eating and drinking are so everyday, but you urge us to remember:
To remember you, companion in life and death.
As I do that now, I remember other companions,
Bread takers, both the living and the dead:
Breathe on us that we may be healed,
Hold our memories that we may be set free.

JAL 14.07.2020 in Longdendale.

 

One family walking

Day 89 of the End to End in 2019 was across Rannoch Moor on the WHW to Kingshouse Hotel. When people asks ‘What was your favourite day of LEJOG?’, I’m pretty sure that Bob and Hannah would both say this part of their respective walks in 2003 and 2012. I find it much harder to choose a favourite day, but this one is special, mostly because I had both of them with me.

When Bob first told us about the walk across Rannoch Moor in 2003 it seemed vast, and indeed it is. With its countless lochans and bogs, flowers and insects, the path is not that strenuous. Bob and I first went on a walk together in January 1990, in Oxfordshire, on the Ridgeway. After Hannah was born and we went to South Africa in 1994, Bob walked with her in a carrier on his back until she could walk for herself. She was 9 years old when Bob walked LEJOG in 2003, and sometimes walked with him. In 2012 she walked LEJOG herself and there has been plenty of walking together and apart between and around these times.

I began to walk more as I got older. I was probably a bit under active in general and this activity suited me. But I didn’t know if I could walk LEJOG: Bob and Hannah always seemed better walkers than me. Now I know that as long as I go at my own pace, I can do it and enjoy it.

After my three day stay in hospital I hope to get back to walking and eventually finish the TPT eastwards this year. Yesterday was a lovely walk and today I’ll visit a few scarecrows scattered through the village.

From the remembered bible, psalm 139: God, you know me better than anyone.

Even the smallest creature in the cosmos,
even the lone walker in a vast landscape,
whoever, we are you know us, God of all.
May we make many more journeys in your safe keeping.

JAL: 13.07.2020 in Longdendale.