Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: nature writing, rachel cooke, robert macfarlane, the new nature writing, the old ways, walking
There is an excellent interview with Robert Macfarlane by Rachel Cooke in The Observer today here. Macfarlane’s new book The Old Ways is now out and I look forward to reading it (it’s on my list for next time I get a book token). Macfarlane writes like a dream and has certainly reinvigorated British nature writing (“the new nature writing”) … yet for me there is a nagging doubt somewhere. I’m not sure I agree with his conclusions and assertions. What do others think? Am I being fair? But certainly read his books at all costs.
An update: there is a blog post in gestation on pilgrimage, living and some of the difficulties of society now. Things are busy this week with lots of good things – not least Weoley Castle and Bartley Green Older Peoples Forum tomorrow, so please be patient. There will be one or two quotation posts first.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: camino, north downs way, pilgrimage, pilgrims, st swithuns way, st thomas a becket, the pilgrims' way, therese of lis, therese of lisieux, walking
Last year I wrote about pilgrim traces on the eastern section of the Pilgrims Way here. I was not disappointed in what we encountered in this month’s section. Indeed, for me, the journey took on more and more of the characteristics of a pilgrimage with every step I took towards Canterbury.
There were ancient traces, the most evocative being in Detling. On this street
is a Tudor Gateway
behind which was a domus hospitur or refuge for pilgrims. This information plaque tells all about it (click on the image to enlarge the text):
I was reminded of the ruinous medieval albergue Meenakshi and I rested outside of at Sigras on the Camino Ingles:
At tea time on our second day (and we’d been up since dawn, so it felt later) we arrived at the Vigo Inn. This place is excellent and deserves support. Andy and Val welcomed us with open arms and invited us to camp in their field. They knew about the pilgrimage and valued pilgrims.
view from the tent as I went to sleep – in the morning mist meant there was no view
The route was reminiscent of the Caminos in Spain in that it goes through towns and villages on the way to Canterbury, mixed in with some beautiful walking. On this walk through the world, there are some spectacular constructions including the Medway Bridge which has a dedicated footpath (there was a man with a big rucksack on the other side who we couldn’t catch).
For myself, there was a significant interior journey reflecting the outer one. Much of this was to do with the continuing realisation that if I am to thrive in the ministry I live, I have to trust in and rely on God – again a deepening of hard won insights from the Camino. On returning home, I found this quote from St Therese of Lisieux which sums so much of this up for me:
Teach us to let go of what is unnecessary.
As on the Camino I found a deepening devotion to St James, so on the Pilgrims Way I am finding a devotion to St Thomas Becket. I am looking forward so much to the arrival promised arrival in Canterbury Cathedral in the summer.
As readers of this blog will know, I believe that contemporary pilgrimage informs us how to live in the world we find ourselves in. More reflections on this to follow.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: hiking, north downs way, pilgrimage, the pilgrims' way, walking
Roland and I met up at Oxted to continue the Pilgrims Way. Last year we started in Winchester and got just under half way in 4 or 5 very enjoyable days. Our plan was to walk to Canterbury in 17 or 18 mile stages and then to spend the rest of the week following the North Downs Way to the sea at Dover and Folkestone.
This post is a report on the walk – I’ll post something else with reflections on it as pilgrimage soon.
The weather meant our plans changed. After two very dry years, it had been the wettest April on record and this carried on into May. While not much drought fell on us as we walked, it rained hard at night and the ground was saturated. There were several stages where liquid clay was deeper than walking boots and progress was under one mile an hour. As on the Camino Ingles last October, I was extremely glad to have invested in a heavy pair of Meindl boots which meant my feet stayed dry. I have a strong memory of one steep muddy hill where my feet were moving at great speed while I made precisely no progress up the hill. Walking in these conditions with 20lb packs (we were camping) meant falling over a few times. I contributed blood to the Pilgrims Way; Roland hurt his ankle badly.
We slowed down and accepted our plans would change. We began by deciding we would be exhausted enough when we eventually reached Canterbury that the walk would end then. However, Roland’s feet became very wet resulting in bad blisters and nails. This combined with a bad fall meant he decided to call it a day at Charing. I enjoyed the walk very much but returned home too. I have received enough to live out of for a while and I have the opportunity to finish off the last stage with Meenakshi in the summer.
I think we walked around 50 to 55 miles. It was tough but good walking through beautiful scenery. There is not a huge amount of infrastructure, particularly in terms of campsites, but there are reasonably frequent pubs and the trail descends into towns and villages when the chalk ridge is cut by rivers. There is wonderful wildlife. It is the time for spring wild flowers; we heard owls, foxes and wild boar. It was quiet. We passed a few day walkers and were passed by one or two people walking distance but with much lighter, non-camping packs.
We mainly camped at night. A lack of people around to ask meant wild camping a couple of times – although going to bed and getting up with the light at this time of year meant we were ready for bed by mid afternoon! We camped one night at the excellent Vigo Inn (named by a landlord who bought it with his prize from the Battle of Vigo) and a need to get dry meant walking into Chatham to stay at Medway Youth Hostel for a night.
medway youth hostel
After drying out and getting some sleep, I’m really anticipating finishing off the pilgrimage to Canterbury. But there’s the important task first of mining the experience.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: hiking, kent, north downs way, pilgrimage, surrey, the pilgrims' way, walking
Just back, earlier than planned, from the Pilgrim’s Way. An exhilarating, joyful, profound, difficult, exhausting few days walking with Roland from where we left off last year (posts from last year here). Reports and reflection to come once I’ve rested, but here are some photographs:
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: hiking, hiking blogs, section hiker, walking, walking blogs
Philip Werner who writes the excellent Section Hiker blog is developing an extremely useful new site Hiking Blogs. Philip writes:
Can you help me beta test out my new (other) web site? It’s a directory of international hiking blogs – currently with about 450 listings. If you’re a blogger, can you check to see if your site is already listed? If it is can you “claim it” – there’s a form to fill out. Otherwise, please submit your site. Thanks a million.
And thanks to Philip for his work, for sharing a lot of wisdom, and for including this blog and a load of my favourites.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: kinder trespass, Kingdom of God, socialism, walking
This week marks the 80th anniversary of the 1932 Mass Trespass on Kinder Scout which paved the way for working people to be able to enjoy their free time roaming in the open countryside near the industrial cities. There is a wealth of information about the Trespass and how it is being commemorated here.
Such struggles in the past are vitally important for us now. I know how much being able to spend my day off walking in the countryside means to me. How I am re-shaped, re-made, re-created. That I return home feeling better than I did at the start of the day, that I am able to appreciate and savour my life and my work all the more. It is a vital thing that everyone has the chance to flourish in this way, that it is not dependent on birth or luck. I recommit myself to the struggle to bring fullness of life, laughter and joy to all. Will you join me?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: canals, pilgrimage, re-creation, stratford upon avon canal, walking
The time immediately after Easter and Christmas are difficult for me. I’m supposed to be on holiday but am absolutely exhausted. They are really recovery time rather than anything more life enhancing. But part way through Thursday I suddenly found some energy (see the poem in the last post). I went for a walk on Friday, and on a whim, inspired by Richard Mabey’s The Unofficial Countryside decided to push myself by catching the train to Stratford and then walking home along the entire length of the Stratford upon Avon Canal. This was a stretch of 26 or 27 miles which I had to walk quickly as waking up late and missing a train meant a mid morning start.
I walked in and out of sun, over frost, through rising mist.
It was a beautiful walk, through the city, the edgelands, and varied countryside. I realise the need to improve my skills at botanising, of recognising birds and plants (can anyone recommend any books for this?) but I did see cowslips, the may in full blossom, rabbits, ducklings running on the top of the water, a yellow wagtail, buzzards, something (surely too early) that flew like a swallow catching insects over the water, swarms of flies, and a very angry swan.
The names of the places I walked through are a poem in themselves:
Stratford upon Avon, Wilmcote, Wootton Wawen, Lowsonford, Preston Bagot, Lapworth, Hockley Heath, Warings Green, Earlswood, Dickens Heath, Solihull Lodge, Yardley Wood, Brandwood, Kings Norton.
Looking back on the day, it was one of intensity of experience and enjoyment, but it was challenging. My comfort zone is 15-18 miles; this was considerably longer. There were some mental battles in the first couple of hours; some physical battles in the last. I fell asleep once, but woke up before I walked over the edge. I had to pass far too many good pubs if I was to finish, but I was able to wet my whistle in the Fleur de Lys.
A great walk. Tired. Refreshed. What’s the next challenge?
A bad cold has meant a couple of weeks with no spare energy for walking. I’m feeling much better now, but today’s day off was derailed (fortunately a very rare occurrence) by a meeting I couldn’t miss. What to do? Simple, walk the 5 or 6 miles to Ladywood alone through the light covering of snow along the frozen Birmingham and Worcester Canal. A truly beautiful day, and utterly solitary walking. Body, mind and soul restored.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: halfmoon poetry, poetry, walking, Wenlock Edge, writing
light shed
photo by halfmoon
Horizontal sun
crosses hills and quarries
on, over the light shed,
through trees onto dale
rolling into haze.
Here, at the top of the climb
in pause of looking
that question of inward
and outward journeys
echoes combine.
Winter dark
trudged out
Gift of light
at darkest time of year
that moment
something glimpsed for now
beckon deep
beauty cold severe.
- Andy Delmege, Wenlock Edge, January 2012
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: halfmoon poetry, helen james, poetry, poetry workshops, shropshire, supervision, the birmingham greenway, urban ministry, walking
Three recent walks give much food for reflection.
Mike and I try to walk once a month. We’re both in a position where we supervise other people. Our walking is an essential safety valve, often a chance to let off steam and frustration, and an opportunity for peer supervision. We usually spend a day walking in the countryside, drink a pint en route. This has become an increasingly central and important discipline, something that adds to thriving as well as surviving.
This time we walked 14 or 15 miles of a route from a booklet I had found: The Birmingham Greenway. This leads from the northern edge of the city at the TV transmitters near Blake Street Station to the southern boundary at Coughton Park between Longbridge and the Lickeys. As we both know the south well, we walked from north to the centre. This is a way of walking which is about conversation, support and challenge while getting exercise and exploring a place.
The second walk was a poetry and landscape workshop which Bharti gave me as a birthday present on Wenlock Edge. There’s a really good description of it here by Helen James the poet who led it. This was a way of walking which was about going slowly, of looking and listening deeply to the landscape and what is within. The walk, for me, was comparatively short, but I am grateful to be introduced to new ways of walking, one which is very much about mindfulness.
The day was a real gift in terms of poetry. I’ve begun writing poetry really for the first time as a result of the long Camino I did a couple of years ago and through this blog and some of the people I have met while blogging. The workshop has really increased my confidence that I have a poetic voice. I also came away with a draft of a poem ‘light shed’. I’ll share it with you when I have worked on it some more.
The third walk was with my friend Paul. He is a very experienced hill walker and it soon became clear that he is much fitter and faster than me. We had an excellent day in south Shropshire. A bright day with sun, cold wind and ice. This in many ways was walking as pure exercise as we climbed Caer Caradoc, the Lawleys and the Long Mynd, scrambling down icy descents, me doing my best to find the balance between keeping up and not falling over. I feel much better for having done this and it has spurred me on to think about increasing the distance and difficulty of the routes I walk.
Much to mull over with the prospects of another year of good walking and writing.
