Month: May 2019

It’s been another beautiful day for walking. Janet’s going by canal and river through the heart of a post-industrial area. The greening and conversion to ‘heritage’ of such areas is good for visitors like us. But what to do with the hollowed-out communities left behind?

That’s not the whole picture – I think some salt related work still goes on here, though as with other industries of the type, the numbers employed are probably drastically down. And new industry comes up in its place, but I guess the skills required and the pay offered are not the same.

I went shopping in Winsford today.

Janet is walking well – today was a long day, almost all of it on a canal towpath. In my shuttling job, I met the West Coast Mainline unexpectedly, not having looked at the map thoroughly.

Even more unexpected was my first sight of a shiny new train due to be introduced to the Huddersfield transpennine services. It was running up and down the line for practice. I had been hoping to see these trains working through Huddersfield before I left the town, but because of a cock-up over the brakes*, that was not to be. But now, I have seen the promised train. I even took a photo of a twig with a blur representing the train behind it.

As I walked back towards Janet, I saw this written on the side of a bridge: “repent”. I wished the writer had been more specific. Repent of what? John the Baptist and Jesus both urged people to repent. Sometimes people asked the same question – repent of what? What must I change in my life? And Jesus (and for all I know, the Baptist too) would sometimes answer. One day I’m going to trawl through the gospel stories of incidents like this, but in the meantime, working from memory of stuff to repent of, I can recall nothing about homosexuality, and a lot about clinging to wealth. BTW, when I read anyone talking about an “adulterous generation” in the Bible, I read it as about cheating on God, not on one’s spouse.

*This is my theory about the brakes. As the train slows, the friction brakes on the whole train have to progressively take over from the electrical brakes on the locomotive. The characteristics of these braking systems have to be matched. My theory is that someone in the UK said to the manufacturers in Spain, we want the train brakes to be of such and such a strength, meaning “for the whole train” and the people at CAF in Spain took that to be “per carriage”, meaning the the friction brakes were dramatically too strong. Idle speculation of course, but maybe that’s what retirement is going to be like.

Anyway, boats on a canal are much slower than trains, and they have a charm of their own. But I imagine there’s a lot to worry about, like leaks.

The weather was still sunny, but not too hot. Janet is still going strong, now heading for the Shropshire Union Canal, which she turns on to some time tomorrow morning.

We had a peaceful lunch in a churchyard, leaving a while before a funeral in the afternoon.

For all people in their deepest hurt, may the words of Jesus come true, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted“.

The place we are staying for this phase of the walk lies in the shadow of the power station’s reddish cooling towers. Most of the people staying here are contractors working on the site. It’s a quite different atmosphere from the previous stopping points, where most people were caravanning for fun. It’s quite a relief not to have the admiring looks for a campervan we only hired. I guess the Bambi too would have been admired if it had been working….

… I think what Janet is doing lies somewhere between a holiday and a job. But it’s really neither – it’s a holy task, an education, a discovery of self, of God, and of the land.

Another hot, sunny day. We’re beginning to long for a few clouds and a bit of breeze. I guess that when the clouds and breeze come and bits of rain begin to fall, we’ll hope for the sun again. I hope the weather moderates a bit before the real summer comes. By then, all being well, we’ll be a bit further north.

Ironbridge power station still stands, but doesn’t operate. There’s a kind of regeneration project going on there. Maybe this place too will soon slide gracefully into our industrial history. Janet and I had lunch today by another heritage railway.

Janet is still walking strong, despite the heat and today’s lack of shade.

Last night I watched television fitfully, between chores, trips to the toilet etc.. Sometimes I sat where I couldn’t see properly. A programme about the Holocaust came on, featuring the testimonies of descendants of the people who ran the concentration camps. For a spell, I couldn’t see the subtitles. But in the middle of all this was two minutes of repetition, a father’s answer to his daughter. “nicht Vernichtungslager, Arbeitslager”… or something like that – my German isn’t up to much. But even I recognised the denial: “Not extermination camp, work camp”. Denial, denial, denial. Maybe it’s a sign of a shred of humanity, that he couldn’t admit to what was done there. Maybe it’s a sign that we, maybe all of us, can tread down that path and bit by imperceptible bit, weave a web of self-deceit.

Today, Janet ended in Ironbridge, and more history, this time, the history of industrial Britain, the industrial world, and a part of my history too. I had never seen the Bridge before AFAIR, and here’s a picture where a few bits are just about visible behind the spring foliage.

Tomorrow the van goes to a new place. Although walking is a slow and thoughtful way of travelling, the markets of progress are coming fast, like the 88 miles from Chester marker that Janet saw today (see her blog). The accents of people around us are changing. The landscape is changing. We are now in BBC West Midlands area.

Sunday’s lectionary

There was this great conflict in the very first years of the church. Should we look outwards and welcome all nations – or should we look inwards and confine the faith as a sect within Judaism alone? The outward-looking faction won, and it was the making of the church. Also, love one another – I can’t think of anything else to say about that, other than to repeat it.

Today Janet walked from Stourport to Highley, and with the help of the Severn Valley Railway, I was able to walk most of the way with her. We got a ride back behind a Churchward 2-8-0, a type of engine I occasionally saw passing my back garden when I was a child. (I seem to remember I also saw one a few years ago parked in Birmingham Moor Street Station and looking sad). Today, this is a recreational locomotive, in my childhood it would have been tugging heavy freight trains.

This transition from current technology to museum piece doesn’t always go smoothly, and usually doesn’t happen at all.

And it can be a little bit heartbreaking.

Janet has visited a number of churches on this walk. As places to visit, they are beautiful, soaked in history, testimony to the dedication of generations, wonderful places whose very existence is a piece of worship. And yet now, churches of the traditional kind are under pressure from the dysfunctionality of some of their own congregations, cultural change, and challenges to the idea of faith itself. So what is their future, as places and congregations? Something more than museum pieces I hope. But don’t be surprised if the new age involves a bit of heartbreak: change generally hurts. (Have a look at Romans 8:22 for instance)

Anyway, here’s a photo of one of the railway’s engines – not the 2-8-0 though….

Janet has been magnificent as ever, walking well, and a day and a half ahead of plan. We’ll need the day for the non walking day when we return this camper van to its owners.

The weather too has been lovely, ideal for this kind of scenery.

This is the second day Janet is back walking after a four day break. For the next two weeks and a bit we are in a hired camper van. Although it is wonderfully luxurious, there are inevitably more chores to be done in this style of accommodation, especially when moving on.

Today was a massive day for Janet, walking her longest distance so far, from Wainlode to Upton upon Severn. On top of this, Janet’s journey is getting to the stage where the Severn Way is more overgrown and harder going.

On the way to the starting point this morning, we passed a Kingdom Junction, where the A road gives way to a B road.

There are loads of small ups and downs in Tewkesbury and the surrounding area. If these bumps got flooded too, and some of them did a few years ago, the Severn must have been many metres above normal. The amount of water, its extent and depth, must have been terrifying. It’s an unhappy thought that we can look forward to this happening more often.

I sat in the Abbey at Tewkesbury. Some of the visitors inside were chatting, their voices less than their echoes. It must have been like this for as long as the Abbey was built. Did this mean anything to those mediaeval people? What is given back is more than what is given. Maybe that’s how people saw their faith.

This is a more common sight since I did my end to end. Among the others are professional dog walkers.

Today almost a day off for Janet, going to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust place. Wonderful diversity of creatures on display…

… Praise God for the evolution of all this variety of colour, shape, sound, behaviour.

Janet’s cuckoo…