Well, I’m packed up. And getting closer to being ready to go. Was packed up near a week ago. But had to unpack for various reasons.
Read moreProxy Pilgrim with Springer Fever
Among American long distance hikers there’s a thing – a real thing – called “Springer Fever.” It hits this time of year. Hard to avoid. Not that you’d necessarily want to. It’s this deep urge to go hiking again, to be back in Georgia on Springer Mountain (hence the name), starting another Appalachian Trail hike. Or, for me this year, walking church to church the length of Britain.
Read moreLEJOG overview map
I have lifted this map from the inside front cover of Cycling Land’s End to John O’Groats: LEJOG end-to-end on quiet roads and traffic-free paths by Richard Barrett. 3rd edition. Kendal, Cumbria : Cicerone, ©2021. It shows pretty much the route I’m planning on walking northbound, except for the two diversions I’ve already mentioned: the Offa’s Dyke Path, and the Annandale Way.
Read moreLEJOG as pilgrimage
Okay, fine, the last posts explain what a LEJOG is, but why do it?
A goodly number of the people do this trek to raise funds for a charity. Those are the people who post and boost videos during their trip. LEJOGers who aren’t trying to reach more potential donors don’t have the same need to publicize their efforts. But there are other reasons to walk 1,000 miles.
Read moreMy Route Changes
I wrote yesterday about how I am planning on walking the cycle paths, small country lanes, quiet roads, and canal paths that are spelled out in the Richard Barrett book.
And, of course, I’m already figuring on customizing it.
Read moreLEJOG Routes
Here’s the deal with planning your own LEJOG: after deciding that you’d like to try it, you need to figure out a route between the two ends. That’s right! Unlike the Appalachian Trail, this major trek is not blazed end-to-end. There isn’t one single “official” pathway. The whole ‘how do you get from here to there’ part is up to each individual trekker.
Read moreMore about LEJOG
So, if you haven’t turned already to your atlas to see where those endpoints are, let me fill you in. Lands’ End is the southwesternmost point of mainland England. John o’Groats is the northeasternmost point of mainland Scotland. They’re roughly 800 miles apart, but you can’t walk there by that ‘as the crow flies’ straight line route. There’s too much water in between, for one thing.
Read moreWhat is the “LEJOG”?
This part of the site is about something called “LEJOG.” That’s an acronym for “Lands’ End to John o’Groats.” Those are the endpoints of an iconic northbound journey in Britain. (Its southbound opposite is JOGLE.) I’ve been preparing for this walk for months now. I leave home on Palm Sunday. I finish some time after that.
two types of pilgrimage
“The pilgrimage idea, the outgoing quest, appears in mystical literature under two rather different aspects. One is the search for ‘the Hidden Treasure which desires to be found.’ Such is the ‘quest of the Grail’ when regarded in its mystic aspect as an allegory of the adventure of the soul. The other is the long, hard journey towards a known and definite goal or state. Such is Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’; which is, in one of its aspects, a faithful and detailed description of the Mystic Way.” (Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1912, p. 154)
be faithful to solitude
“It is not your job, however, to fix anyone else with your solitude. It is only up to you to be faithful to it when you need it, rather than feel there is something wrong with you for it. You are not alone in wanting to be alone sometimes.”
Aron, Elaine. Four Words: Downtime, Solitude, Silence, and Loneliness. Originally published in Comfort Zone Newsletter: November 2012. Read online at https://hsperson.com/four-words-downtime-solitude-silence-and-loneliness/ on 2 March 2024.
A psychologist of highly sensitive persons – she literally wrote the book on them – says to remember to take some time alone (and goes on to quote Merton as “our solitude expert”).
Pathology: the Study of a Path 