Author: janet

Day 20 of the #GrandWalkOut and we’re pushing on down the Grand Union Canal to London. It’s a strange kind of work, not exactly a work out and not something that anyone is going to notice, unlike that long ago heavy work that first made the canal network. I started at bridge 159 and King’s Langley and less than half a mile later I’d crossed under the M25.

It was going to be a hot day and lots of boaters were frantically turning handles at lock gates as they nimbly jumped on and off their boats. Sometimes two boats would squeeze into the same lock. At one there was even a warning about crocodiles.

More common were waterfowl of different kinds who seemed to work hard at paddling up and down and quacking. Grove Bridge, number 164, stood out a bit as being a very fine structure. It seems it was restored by Concrete Bob in the 1980s.

There were boaters and walkers to speak to. At one point we discussed a memorial to two workers who had died making a sewer in the 1970s.

At last I was at bridge 167 at Cassiobury Park, now a lovely public park (it was previously the estate of the Earl of Essex) and I hopped on the miniature train for a quick trip, before collecting the car.

Some miles further on Bob had made it to bridge 177 where a cutely named pub, the Coy Carp provided a good resting and lunching spot.

There was work going on round us all the time, and we were also part of it. Not just passive admirers, our work contributed to the work of others, an interlocking system in which most of the contributors are unaware of each other. When we try to live in community according the Rule of St Benedict we try to increase our awareness of the roles played by others and ourselves. How good it would be to raise that awareness to include all humans and beyond that all living species as we collaborate for the thriving of our shared planet.

From my remembered bible: let everything that has (any) breath (left) praise God.

My praise is in my steps.

From a Friend of Scholastica and a Member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.

Janet Lees, West Hyde near Harefield, 14.05.2022.

Day 19 of the #GrandWalkOut was the day we said goodbye to our comfy glamp at Bragenham. Not just a Heron’s Retreat, it suited us very well. Last night we heard the local muntjac deer barking. Bob enjoyed waiting for the Caledonian Sleeper service to pass by.

We drove to King’s Langley and parked by bridge 159. I started walking back to 157 while Bob went back to Hemel Hempstead on the train and started from bridge 149 to bridge the gap to 157.

Meanwhile I went to the laundrette in King’s Langley High Street. Waiting is associated with launderettes. In my childhood it was a weekly ritual. Nowadays we only use them on epic walks of this kind. Bob came along just as I completed the wash, dry and fold up, to carry the clean things back to Bridge 159.

We stopped at a local farm shop on the way. There were a great number of Red Kites in the area, surfing the wind, soaring and banking and just hanging in the air.

After lunch in a nearby park we drove back to Bourne End to our next accommodation. We spent a restful part of the afternoon have a cool drink at a pub waiting to check in. Later we walked back to the same pub for an excellent Friday evening meal. Fish and chips for me of course.

We are now a week away from our end point in London. Walking and waiting go well together in my experience.

From my remembered bible: The waiting ones will be lifted up on eagles wings.

Wait with me.

From a Friend of Scholastica and a Member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.

Janet Lees, Kings Langley, 13.05.2022.

Day 18 of the #GrandWalkOut started at Tring Station, a short walk from bridge 135. As we set off a group practicing for their DofE were assembling in the car park.

The walk was well stewarded by herons. We saw several including a boat called Heron. We met someone looking for kingfishers but we didn’t see any of those. We did see a pair of grey wagtails. All were enjoying the air.

We also met someone on a mobility scooter who was reminiscing about the old tramway to the gas works at Berkhamsted that he’d seen as a boy. Bob found some photos of it on his phone and we shared those with him before finding an information sign a little further on. The gas plant made gas by extracting it from coal, making coke, the whole cycle being just one contributor to climate change. It ceased at this plant in the 1960s when most of the UK converted to natural gas. But these are just some of the ways in which we are still heating up the climate.

At Berkhamsted there were some excellent fish and chips at the station and the news we were only 33 miles from London. Whilst I visited the castle and the shops, Bob walked onto Bridge 149 at Hemel Hempstead. We both caught the same train back to Tring.

We took a short detour to Aston Hill on the way back. Just one of the places near Tring that Bob enjoyed visiting in the Chilterns. A trig point in a field had us as high as Mouselow Castle in Glossop. So much for hills.

From my remembered bible : I look up at the hills from where I get help. God aids me day and night, never sleeping.

I breathe in, I breathe out.

From a Friend of Scholastica and a Member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.

Janet Lees, Aston Hill, 12.05.2022.

Day 16 of the #GrandWalkOut and I am still walking through this remarkable space. It’s green in so many ways but it’s also grey and blue and yellow and although it’s continuous it’s also always changing. Just the kind of environment for an aspiring Dr Who.

I started walking at bridge 107 and walked on to bridge 110 where I also visit St Mary’s Church. That it was closed was to be something of a theme for the day as far as inside spaces were concerned. Bob had by now started at bridge 110 and was walking to bridge 126 so I had plenty of time to fit in a few other visits.

Pitstone Windmill is the earliest dated in England (1627) and was closed, but looked wonderful in a big green space. A sparrow hawk and a red kite enjoyed the grey space above my head.

The old church at Pitstone was also closed, but there the green space was dotted with yellow. Churchyards have been noted as some of the most biodiverse places in England, each a potential ancient undisturbed oasis.

By now, Bob was nearing bridge 126. We met there in a less glamorous space beloved of fly tippers. No, the countryside does not benefit from your old fridge.

We drove back through Ivinghoe to Whipsnade as I wanted to visit another space I’d heard about: the Tree Cathedral.

It was gorgeous. Whilst some of the trees now show maturity and age others are younger. Some peel, others blossom or prickle. It’s delicious. Bob took us back via the Icknield Trail, an old track towards Bison Hill and a view over the plain.

It had been a totally delightful spacious day. Glory to God.

From my remembered bible: The trees of the field shall applaud with joy.

Thank you.

From a Friend of Scholastica and a Member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.

Janet Lees, Ivinghoe, 10.05.2022.

It’s Day 15 of the #GrandWalkOut and we said goodbye to Canons Ashby after breakfast. We drove back to Simpson village on the edge of Milton Keynes and I started walking again at bridge 92.

There were a lot of young birds about today with their parents. The news over the weekend is that Spring is now up to three weeks earlier in Britain. We certainly saw plenty of signs along the Grand Union Canal.

Whilst the season may be progressing faster, I’m sure I’m getting slower. I seemed to be walking slower than ever today. After a stop to lunch at the lock at Stoke Hammond and a drink at the Three Locks pub we made it to the end of today’s route at bridge 107. A new glamp for the week called Heron’s Retreat was thankfully not far away.

Speed isn’t everything. Somethings take a long time to take effect. Reducing the effects if climate change, even if we really do the tings recommended like reducing the use of fossil fuels, will take some time. It can be quicker to mess things up then sort out the mess.

Building community isn’t usually a quick fix either. The Rule of St Benedict doesn’t expect things to go smoothly or in a flash. Reading the Rule together is an ongoing prompt on how to live that comes round several times a year like a new season.

From my remembered bible : There’s a time for every season.

Come with me

From a Friend of Scholastica and a Member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.

Janet Lees, Bragenham Farm, 09.05.2022.

Day 14 of the #GrandWalkOut saw us return to Milton Keynes and Bob started walking at bridge 71 on the Grand Union Canal.

The Canal came before the new town, which is a mear 55 years old this year. I drove to one of the other ‘villages’ which were incorporated into the larger town in 1967. This one was Simpson, by bridge 92 of the Grand Union Canal.

On the way I was aware of two things: it was very green in Springtime and there are a lot of roundabouts.

I then walked back along the canal towards Bob and we met at pub called the Warbler on the Wharf for a drink and snack.

The return trip to Bridge 92 was a little faster. It was a good day for spotting wildlife, waterfowl including cygnets, goslings and ducklings, butterflies and a heron.

Fringed by a wide green corridor with many paths and cycle routes it seemed very green from my position. I hope that impression holds up in the rest of the town.

Milton Keynes has a long history before the development. A number of religious communitites had settled in the area and each of the original villages has a parish church. It shows what can grow from small communities being bought together. It was quiet and relaxing along the canal tow path and we completed our route by mid afternoon.

We have a rest day tomorrow.

From my remembered bible : And the leaves are for the healing of the Nations.

Pray for the nations of the world and for peace.

From a Friend of Scholastica and a Member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.

Janet Lees, Day 14, Milton Keynes.

Day 13 of the #GrandWalkOut started on the Grand Union Canal at Bridge 47. The weather was getting warmer, which means the tow path is dry but hotter walking is harder walking in my experience. Thankfully the signpost at Gayton Junction puts Brentford only 77 miles away.
It was 2 miles to Blisworth Tunnel, which is longer than yesterday’s Braunston Tunnel, but the path is much better sign posted.

It was another 2 miles to the south portal of the tunnel.
There’s a blacksmith working a forge there. I’m not sure who was hotter.

But it’s a good reminder that many industries grew up around the canals. The village of Stoke Beurene was cut in half by the canal, but also became an important hub on the canal, especially before the tunnel opened as boats had to unload to do the trek overground for several years whilst it was completed.
It’s now home to an interesting museum of the waterways. I was amused to discover that a particular type of boat used on the Aire and Calder was called a pudding boat: Yorkshire of course.
I drove onto Wolverton to meet Bob at bridge 71. It was an opportunity to do the washing at Bubbles the laundrette where the staff have the equivalent hot job: the place was very warm today.

From my remembered bible: it seems like they were touched by tongues of fire.

As the evening sun goes down, God grant a quiet night.

From a Friend of Scholastica and a Member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.

Janet Lees, Wolverton, 06.05.2022.

Day 12 started at bridge 2 of the Grand Union Canal, just a few feet from our glamp. This is a broad canal, unlike the others we have walked along which were narrow canals. These broad canals were the motorways of their age. It meant that when I got to Braunston Tunnel, a mile further on, two boats, one in each direction could go through the tunnel at the same time.

But not people. Walkers have to take a route over the tunnel. I met another walker and we chatted on the path to Daventry. It was clear my path had been diverted by some housing developments but I eventually found my way back to the tunnel exit and onto Long Buckby Wharf.

Bob had by now walked further on and I caught him up at Gayton, bridge 47, where there is a small car park. There was an unexpected sighting of a terrapin in the canal.

We stopped at the Old Dairy Farm for cake on the way back, and I later walked to the boat shop at bridge 2 for some shopping.

We met our host and chatted over the gate. It’s been a lovely place to stay. I don’t usually make recommendations but this one is super.

The broad way is not recommended to followers of The Way, but in this instance it is the broad canal that leads to our eventual destination.

The Rule says ‘be encouraged’ and I am.

From my remembered bible: it’s the narrow way that leads to life.

Lead me.

From Friend of Scholastica and a Member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.

Janet Lees, Braunston to Gayton, 05.05.2022.

On to day 11 of the #GrandWalkOut and I took Bob to Newbold on Avon so he could walk through Rugby to Braunston on the Oxford Canal.

It was a showery day so I opted for a shorter local walk around Braunston village and the junction. I walked up the High Street to the Parish Church, All Saints, also known at the Cathedral of the Canals. It has an excellent toilet.
I walked across a field by the church and joined the canal at bridge 89. From there I walked down to Braunston Junction. The Oxford Canal meets the Grand Union Canal here, although the later has quite a few other branches. An impressive double iron bridge spans the junction. Round the corner bridge number 1 is officially the first bridge on the Grand Union Canal. It’s mostly downhill to London from here, and I think we’re about half way along the distance.
At bridge 2, the nearest to our glamp, I spent some time browsing in the art and craft shop enjoying looking at the things made by local artists, including two huge dragon’s heads made from recycled materials.
From there it was only a short walk through the well numbered sheep to the glamp. I could play sheep bingo on the way.
Living by the, Rule of St Benedict in a community has, until recently, been a local thing. In the last couple of years the ability to link with each other via the Internet has meant our dispersed community has felt more local. Even so, in our community promise, we aim to live by the Rule according to local opportunities for Holy Space, Holy Service and Holy Communion as our situations allow. A way of life in which dispersed people also embrace the local.

From my remembered bible: Your kindom come…

God grant a quiet night…

From a Friend of Scholastica and a Member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.

Janet Lees, at Braunston, Star Wars Day, 2022.