I finished my pilgrimage as scheduled, on the morning on Saturday 12 July, when I hiked the last 7 miles from my campsite in the corner of a large windy field shared with a few sheep. Got to John O’Groats up there in the northeast corner of Scotland before the businesses that sell trinkets and refreshments to the tourists opened. But not before the tourists had arrived. I asked a woman who was part of a bus tour group to take my photo standing next to the iconic sign that I’d walked 75 days reach.
Read moreTicking Clock
The clock is ticking on this pilgrimage as it winds down. I’m writing from a campground in Melvich on Wednesday. And, God willing (everything is God willing), I will walk into John O’Groats on Saturday morning.
So many of my thoughts have been turning to some sort of summary, or gathering together of loose threads, or working out what I have learned from this 1,000 mile walk the length of the United Kingdom.
Read moreRoadblocked
Back near the beginning of the month I took a couple days off from walking to rest and rejuvenate. I stayed with friends of Ann’s in the village Kirkby Malham. It sits in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales.
(If you’ve seen any of the episodes of “All Creatures Great and Small” on PBS – which you should! – this is exactly what it looks like. And I do mean exactly, because this area is where the exterior shots were filmed.)
Read moreSomeplace to Lay My Head
One thing about this trip, that I think I’ve mentioned before, is that there is no set path to follow. Everyone who does this LEJOG – Land’s End to John O’Groats – does it their own way.
Read moreMy Sheep Hear My Voice
Sheep have been one of the constants of this long walk. I have no clue how many I’ve seen, but it must be thousands or even tens of thousands by this point.
Which, of course, has me thinking about the Good Shepherd and the sheep of his flock.
Read moreUpdate on this Pilgrim’s Progress
As of today, Monday 9th June, I am in the city of Carlisle, Cumbria, in way northwest England. About 10 miles of walking from here is where I cross the border into Scotland.
Thomas à Kempis on Midges
“There is no creature so little and so vile as not to manifest the goodness of God.” (Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ, Book 2, ch. 4)
Really, Thomas?
When I was young, I questioned whether the goodness of God was manifest in gnats flying around me on a summer afternoon. (I was also not a big fan of worms, but they could usually be avoided.) Lots of other insects were not on my ‘good list’ even if they might be on God’s. Yellow jackets in the rotting apples on the ground under the tree or sipping from our soda cans at a picnic. Crickets in our cellar. Mosquitoes.
Read moreBeing and Doing
Doing what it does and being what it is for all these years, it has stood there. It was old when our grandparents were just born. It was old even before that.
Read moreSeldom Grow in Sanctity
Thomas à Kempis, in his classic “The Imitation of Christ,” has this interesting line: “Few are improved by sickness; so also they that go much on pilgrimage seldom grow in sanctity.” (Book 1, ch. 23)
Read moreSpiritual Ages and Stages
“Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God”
Hebrews 6:1 (NIV)
The central idea here seems to be that there are, if you will, “ages and stages” in the Christian life. There are elementary teachings, and then there is maturity. There’s a foundation, and there is what is built on the foundation.
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Pathology: the Study of a Path 