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Lord of the Rings Sponsored Walk 2023

Thank you for visiting this website and for following this virtual walk.

A virtual walk, popularised during lockdown, is where you walk wherever you want but plot the miles on the map of where you would like to walk. This year I am walking from The Shire to Mordor and well, walking in Middle Earth is a bit problematic, so I’m doing it virtually.

The route is over 1,800 miles long. That’s quite a long way and it’s going to take me a while. That’s why I’m doing weekly updates rather than my usual daily updates as in previous years.

Follow me along the way either here or on Facebook and sponsor me here

Start here.

Roughly once a week I will give an update on my progress so far. The latest page will be at the top, the first item you come to.

Here’s the map of Middle Earth and the route the Hobbits, along with the Fellowship took in order to get the ring into the firer of Mount Doom and end the power of Sauron and evil.

 

The Heritage Walk

Rosemary is walking for Restored, a Christian charity dedicated to supporting victims and survivors of domestic abuse and educating churches on how to support them.
To support Rosemary, go to restored-uk.org/heritagewalk

She’s walking from Shardlow where the Derwent meets the Trent to the source of the Derwent at Ladybower Reservoir, then she’ll be following the Chesterfield Canal from Chesterfield to West Stockwith where it feeds into the Trent.

That’s a 101 mile walk in heritage-rich Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

Final thoughts...

According to the journey that these thoughts have followed, we can summarise that God's intention was for human beings, male and female, to be equal. Not equal in value but with different (unequal) roles. Equal.

That's why Genesis 1 includes the fact that God made both man and woman in his image and gave them both together the job of caring for creation and procreating. It's not the man's job to go to work and the woman to stay home and raise children, but both have equal responsibility for both tasks.

That's also why Genesis 2 defies the cultural practice of absorbing the woman as property into the man's family, taking on a lowered status than his blood relatives, by stating that the man will leave his family and with the woman become a new unit. That was - and in some places, still is - utterly counter-cultural.

Throughout the Old Testament we see unfolding the consequences for women of Genesis 3 through some truly horrific accounts with occasional glimpses of women who defied patriarchy.

Then enters Jesus who solidly challenged the status quo. From start to finish - from cradle to grave - from the Incarnation to the Resurrection - Jesus reinstated women to their rightful place and this was continued by the first disciples. Christ came to undo Genesis 3 and reclaim Eden.That includes equality of the sexes.

The Church's heritage should stem from Jesus, not church leaders from the 2nd century onwards and certainly not from pagan philosophers. The Church's heritage is one of equality and reconciliation and the Church's task is to model this as God brings his Kingdom - Eden regained - to his world.

This is our heritage.

Day 9 - Tuesday Aug 30, 2022. 15m Retford - West Stockwith

For our final day, I thought I'd mull over something that doesn't get discussed much when thinking of 'heritage' and that's beauty.

So much of our engagement with heritage is on the level of marveling at the engineering or at the hideous side of our heritage, which I've deliberately avoided (except a passing reference to child employment).

On Day 7 I presented the question of 'what are we doing with our heritage?' and with that, the photos were pretty grim. But most of what I've presented have been photos of beauty.

I've been impressed at the beauty I've seen along this walk. Of the peaceful, airiness and the proportions of Derby Cathedral that lift the spirit; the graceful curve of the weir at Bulmer, where, while harnessing the power of water, the engineers still kept it beautiful, and even a humble water pumping station near Misterton was endowed with beauty.

Then I've seen beauty in the nature which is our heritage; from the dragonfly and mushroom, to the multiple layers of greens and textures, to reflections, the soaring buzzards and precious the little moorhen chick.

And I've also seen beauty in humans. In the openness of strangers to ask us if we were lost and point us on our way - or even take us there; to the welcome and encouragement of the Dean of Derby Cathedral, Peter Robinson and of Daniel Txi who went to the trouble of coming to meet us. I've seen beauty in the care shown to a wheelchair user and in the willingness of dog owners to let me indulge my dog-craziness.

I've seen beauty in the patience and generosity of my sister.

We are surrounded by beauty.

It's our heritage.

What are we going to do with it?

Just a thought...

If Jesus was so counter-cultural as to elevate women to the same standing as men, and if his disciples followed him and did likewise, how come there is such misogyny from the 2nd century onwards in the writing of the great and the good Church leaders and theologians? The answer to this dawned on me very slowly.

For me, it started with Augustine when I read something he'd written and at the same time happened upon writings of Plato and Aristotle. I thought I noticed a similarity.

I then went backwards in Church history, sniffing out bits and bobs from other Church Fathers and found the same kind of material. I started wondering if there was a connection.

Then, to my horror, I discovered that many, if not all, those considered 'Church Fathers', were admirers of these Pagan philosophers!

I was, and still am, horrified.

Plato and Aristotle may have had some interesting ideas, and Church leaders might admire some of their intellectual prowess, but what should never happen is for Christian theology to draw on them and use their ideas to form Church practice. What seems to have happened is that from the death of the last of Jesus' first-generation disciples, there came a reversion to pagan attitudes towards women and this has almost never shifted, to the serious detriment of millions of women. There have been occasional breaths of fresh air coming from those mentioned in Days 5 and 6. It also seems that at the beginning of the 20th Century there was a move away from Patriarchy in the Church. Then came the '70's with the Feminist movement. What seems to have happened is that some quaters of the Church reacted (rightly) to extreme Feminism by (wrongly) heavily reinforcing Patriatchy - called 'Complimentarianism' in God-speak.

And so, we have in many of our churches a misunderstanding of the teachings of Jesus and his disciples along with entrenched Pagan misogyny that maintains inequality, providing a sense of entitlement among men which forms the background for domestic abuse. That's our heritage!

The question is, what's to be done about it?

Come back for final thoughts tomorrow......

Day 8 - Monday Aug 29, 2022. 17.5m Kiverton - Retford.

A cooler day today, so it should have been easier going. Unexpectedly, we had a bit of rain; nothing dreadful. But today was hard work. Having walked 72 miles, I then embark on a day of 15 miles. So of course I'm tired! But today I felt it. As it turns out, I seem to have walked 17.5 miles today. The last 5 miles were really hard going. I was desperate for the end. Every corner I turned, every lock or bridge I came upon, I was sure it was going to be the last........and yet, on it went!

Fortunately, there were lovely things along the way. Beautiful properties, gorgeous reflections in the water, interesting scenes of layers of colour, and wildlife - a moorhen chick and mum, herons and kingfishers. (I couldn't catch a photo of the kingfisher but it flew along the canal for a long time - in kingfisher terms.)

As for heritage, this canal was the last to be constructed under the guidance of James Brindley who was responsible for creating the national network of canals. It dates back to 1771. There's a tunnel on this canal called the Norwood Tunnel which, at that time, was a masterful feat of engineering. But the canal is famous for its connection with the Houses of Parliament. In the 1840s the Houses of Parliament were burnt down. The stone to rebuild them came from a quarry near this canal and was transported down it, onto the River Trent, then the Humber, then down the coast to the Thames. That was the easy route!

Canal boats were pulled by ponies. Sturdy little things. One of today's photos shows some stones with grooves in them. They were made by the ropes that were attached to the ponies pulling the narrow boats. Over time, the rubbing of the ropes against the stone created the groves.

Little things make up heritage as well as big things. The building of Norwood Tunnel will seem quaint to us, but each achievement in engineering made the next one possible until we arrive at today. Therefore, when I have heard friends claiming that the Industrial Revolution should never have happened, I wonder if they'd be prepared to give up their cars and mobile phones. These are only possible because of the generations of achievements that have gone before.

The little marks in the stones may mean nothing to us, but they are reminders of the lives (animal lives) that trod the canal paths so long ago and all the associations that go with them.

Just a thought...

In thinking about the heritage within Christianity of inequality that breeds entitlement that fosters domestic abuse, we've come to the disciples of Jesus.

Were they misogynists?

The Apostle Paul is hated among many Christians because of his writings about women, and rightly so, if he actually said what he's accused of saying. However, just to give a window into a different way of understanding Paul, we need to remember to take his writings in totality, not just cherry-pick individual bits. His overall message and practice is one of equality. He lists women who were co-workers, deacons and - possibly - an apostle. He instructs that women were to be allowed to learn alongside the men and that they were to pray and prophesy publicly. He consistently refers to Priscilla first, then Aquilla, indicating who was the leader of the two. He applauds Lydia who led a church in her home. He teaches mutuality in 'submission' (ie. giving way; allowing space; considering the other) and teaches that both Adam and Eve were responsible for the Fall. Within that context, the passages that seem to contradict (and they don't!) need to be understood. Similarly, Peter's writings need to be understood within the context of what he was saying, but time and space don't allow us to unpack everything here.

I am confident that the heritage we receive from Jesus and his disciples is one of equality and mutuality. Christiainity is 100% counter-cultural and that includes throwing out patriarchy. So. Where did this patriarchy come from that we find in the writings of the Church Fathers from the 2nd Century onwards?

Well, come back tomorrow!

Day 7 - Sunday Aug 28, 2022. 14.7m Chesterfield - Kiverton

It’s been another lovely day. A bit too lovely! Walking miles in unshaded sunshine becomes hard work after a while. Fortunately, there was enough tree cover to give us cooling stretches as well.
We’ve walked the bit of the canal that is the least wonderful bit. In the 1970s some of the canal was built over (!) while some of it is blocked off. There are lengths of the canal that are not visible and some that are not navigable.
The photos show the canal blocked by a stone wall; one looks like wasteland ( through the rusty, iron bars) while some show it blocked with barriers and overgrown. Then, one photo shows litter and pollution.

 

So, on the theme of ‘heritage’ this is the point at which I raise the question ‘what are we doing with our heritage?’
The politics and economics of the ‘70s led people to have no regard for the canal. Now however, there is work underway to restore as much of it as possible.
How should we feel about this?
How do we navigate the complexities of our heritage? How do we decide what’s worth keeping, what’s worth changing and what should be ditched?
And as with the canal in the ‘70s, will we, 50 years from now need to recover what we’re currently ignoring or destroying?

 
Just a thought...

Picking up yesterday’s final question: were Jesus and his disciples misogynists? Did they uphold inequality between the sexes?

Starting with Jesus, why would people think the answer is ‘yes’?

Some may point to his conversation with the syrophoenician woman. Did he call her a dog?? (Mark 7:24-30) Some will point to his calling male disciples only. But that’s not true. He had a load of women disciples.

Every encounter Jesus had with women lifted them up to equality with men and challenged the status quo - namely, patriarchy. This runs from giving a woman the honour of giving birth to him, to a woman being the first preacher/evangelist to the Samaritans (the woman at the well. John 4), to giving women the job of breaking the news of the resurrection to men who wouldn’t listen.

The examples are endless. Jesus was totally counter-cultural and that includes his attitude towards women. For Christians, it’s Jesus’ teaching and practice that is our heritage.

So, what about his disciples? Did they follow in his footsteps on this subject?

Come back tomorrow for some thoughts.
 

Day 6 - Saturday Aug 27, 2022. 13m Baslow to Ladybower Reservoir
Fabulous day! Perfect walking weather. Easy terrain so that I could get up and maintain a good speed, covering the miles in cracking time. Miles of path beside the river under a cool, green canopy. And I even stopped to talk to lots of dogs and a few lovely humans!

The Peacock (right). The date above the door reads 1652.
We sat on a bench opposite eating our lunch and I fell to wondering what else happened in 1652.
This was during Cromwell’s time so we have the Roundheads and Cavaliers battling things out. The Act of Union (passed in 1651) began to be put into practice. This effectively dissolved the Scottish parliament but guaranteed 30 places in the English parliament for Scotland.
One legacy from this era seems to be the fierce rivalry between the Newcastle and Sunderland football supporters.

Apparently, Charles 1 had given special coal trade rights to Newcastle, jeopardising Sunderland’s coal trade. This set the scene for the two cities to be on opposite sides during the Civil War.
As with the Montagues and Capulats, Newcastle and Sunderland have forgotten why they hate each other but just continue the rivalry, to the extent that serious violence can erupt at football matches.
1652 was a leap year and saw a total lunar eclipse.
It was also the year that Cromwell ended Presbyterianism as the state denomination in Scotland and it was a formative year in the establishment of the Quakers.
And, Rhode Island declared slavery illegal - WAY before anyone else!
So. Look at all the bits of our heritage that sprung up in the same year The Peacock was built!

Just a thought...

Following on from yesterday... The Quakers from their inception taught the equality of men and women. Ahead of the times!

I promised that today I’d mention where the Church has maintained inequality.....and inequality is behind domestic abuse.....

Time does not allow for much, so, briefly: Present-day inequality in the Church is being upheld to a large extent by a swath of theologians who teach something called ‘complimentarianism’ which maintains that while men and women are equal in value we have different roles - namely, that women are to sit down and shut up, have babies and clean the house. That, apparently, is classed as ‘equal’!

Going back in history, we find a plethora of great theologians who, for all the wonderful things they did for the Church had pretty sick views of women which have done massive harm to millions. Among them are Luther, Augustine, Tertullian and Iranaeus. Go and google what they said!

That takes us back to the 2nd century, the generation that followed the last of Jesus’ disciples.

It’s because of this that Christianity - I think justifiably - is accused of misogyny and this is part of the heritage we’re dealing with when addressing domestic abuse in the Church.

The really important question then is, were Jesus and his disciples misogynists?

I’ll attempt to dip into this tomorrow.

Day 5 - Friday August 26, 2022. 11m Matlock to Baslow

Today has been lovely. We’ve had sunshine but not too hot. Much of the walking has been along the wooded riverbank. We’ve also had the delight of walking through the Chatsworth grounds with a view of Chatsworth House.
We’ve seen some old steam trains, a vintage car and a couple of buzzards circling above us.

As for heritage....
Well, an obvious one today is Sir Richard Arkwright (1732-92) who revolutionised spinning and who owned Chatsworth House and estate. His inventions were crucial to the progress of industrialisation as textiles were central to the English economy.
Many of England’s cities were born out of the boom in textiles. That’s part of our heritage.
Chatsworth House and many such places are also part of our heritage. They are beautiful and perhaps it’s a great blessing that many of us can now enjoy the art of these places.
But, of course, there are negative things to be aware of. Arkwright, along with many others of his time employed children as young as six to work 13 hours a day in his factories. But fortunately, some people realised the horrors of this and some, notably Lord Shaftesbury, fought and won for laws against child employment. Such laws of compassion and mercy are also part of our heritage.

Just a thought...

Yesterday I said we’d spend a bit of time today on the role the Church has played in the equally battle that began in Genesis 3.

Overall, the Church doesn’t seem to have a great track record, but some of the good stuff I’m aware of is that some branches of Christianity have a tradition of equality. The Methodist Church has a reputation for equality; certainly John Wesley taught equality. The United Reformed Church and the Salvation Army, similarly. Then there’s the Girl Guiding movement, originally Christian, started to enable girls to develop the same skills and qualities that boys were learning in Scouts.

Then there’s Celtic Christianity. This was the original Christianity brought over from Ireland by Patrick or his students. It’s a Christianity that is finely in tune with the natural world and practiced equality. Tomorrow, I’ll touch on bits of the negative track record of the Church.

Day 4 - Thursday Aug 25, 2022. Rest day at Matlock

Unexpected rest day.
We were parked at our starting point about to get kitted up for today’s walk when the heavens opened.
I mean, in Geordie, it was stotting down!

Now.
We’re not afraid of rain. We’re not afraid of walking a whole day in rain. But today the rain was so heavy we couldn’t get our waterproofs on without getting soaked.
So we sat in the car and waited for it to pass....
....until we’d waited so long that we didn’t have time to do the walk and get to our hotel for dinner.....

Fortunately, due to excellent planning (ahem) we had a day’s rest scheduled for Saturday, so we brought it forward to today.
We’ve had a lazy day just chilling; we’ve chilled in a cafe, on a bench in the rain and in the hotel.

We’ve experienced some more kindness too.
The parking at our planned end point was at a sports field car park. On arrival we discovered it was members only. I found a staff member and explained that we needed somewhere to park and why. He kindly said they’d turn a blind eye. I offered to pay but he declined. All the staff were wonderfully welcoming. So, if you’re ever passing through Baslow, pop into the Pavilion Cafe at Baslow sports field and enjoy a cuppa and a piece of cake. They’ve said we can park there tomorrow too, seeing we’ve had to change our plans.
Little bits of kindness make a big difference.

Just a thought...

Yesterday I ended with the question ‘why is inequality so tenacious?’ There are multiple layers to this question and a complexity of answers, most of which can’t be explored here.

However, it’s my opinion that our heritage of inequality is not the result of the heritage of the Industrial era. The inequality then was already ingrained but thankfully, awareness and action led to homes for ‘battered wives’ being opened and the suffrage movements. So, at what point did inequality become ingrained? Well, we can trace it all through human history, but how did it start?

I don’t think evolution gives an adequate answer, but I think the Bible offers one!

Genesis 3 (go and read it, and chapters 1&2 while you’re there, and you can google it if you don’t have a Bible) offers a picture of something that happened that created a haemorrhaging of relationships; the relationship between humans and our Maker was ruptured which precipitated ruined relationships between ourselves and our environment, between each other and even our relationship with ourselves.

God never cursed humanity but predicted that the expression of this ruin for the woman would be inequality (v16 ‘he shall rule over you’).

So, what’s to be done about it? Is there a remedy or are we fated with this forever?

Come back tomorrow and I’ll start to look at the Church’s role in this and some more thoughts from the Bible......

Day 3 - Wednesday Aug 24, 2022. 11m Belper to Matlock

Today has been a better day. The weather was less oppressive, perhaps slightly cooler and we had some clear skies and sunshine. The walking was easier too. Almost all of the way we stayed close to the Derwent, so we were in the valley with very few climbs.
One interesting thing was that alongside the river ran the railway line, a canal and the A6; a reminder of the importance of transport to our heritage.
When Industrialisation kicked off the need for transport became apparent. The road system - the turnpikes - was awful - so the obvious thing to do was to build canals to transport raw materials and products. Hence the massive network of canals around the industrial parts of the country. But then the steam train was invented and the canals lost their importance.

Our walk took us along the Cromford canal, the first to be built but it quickly fell into disuse once the railway was built. One of the photos shows the railway line going under the canal. It’s not very clear but you might be able to make it out.
The canal has become a haven for wildlife. As well as the usual swans and mallards we saw some moorhen chicks - first time I’ve seen them and they are the cutest little poppets - and a grebe and her chick, and I’ve never seen a grebe before! We’ve also heard plenty and seen one buzzard.

It’s been a really happy day. For much of the way we’ve been able to get up some speed, get into a rhythm and make good progress. I’m deeply grateful for my health and fitness so that I can do this, and walking through beautiful countryside feeling physically, mentally and spiritually at one and at peace is a wonderful place to be in!

 
 
Just a thought...

What is it that drives the exploitation of women and girls and domestic abuse if it’s not inequality? If domestic abuse is about power and control which is fuelled by a sense of entitlement, that entitlement comes from inequality. Where does this inequality come from? Why is it been so tenacious?

I’ll offer some thoughts tomorrow.....

Day 2 - Tuesday Aug 23, 2022. 10m Derby city to Belper.

Another hot, sultry day that feels as though there’s no air, so it’s not been the best day for walking. Most of the walk has been fairly level which has made it less hard going than it might have been.

A complication arose when we found the path closed due to the bridge being unsafe. Desperately trying to figure out an alternative route without adding too many extra miles, a local noticed our discombobulation. She was walking her dog and was going in the direction we needed to go, so she took us through a nature reserve, then a housing estate and pointed us to where we could pick up the Heritage Way again.
We’ve often experienced kindness on our walks and are grateful to Jackie (who turned out to be a Geordie!) and Doug the utterly gorgeous white Retriever.

A 15 mile stretch of the Derwent around Derby is a World Heritage Sit. Derby owes its existence to the river Derwent. The river provided the power for the first mill, a corn mill, in the 1400s, then in the 1640s during the civil war, a gunpowder mill was built by the river. This was converted into a waterworks in 1692, providing the only fresh water to houses and businesses outside London.
In 1702 the first silk mill was built and silk became a key industry in Derby.
In the 1830s water power was replaced by coal-fired steam with the massive implications we’re feeling today, but it was the harnessing of water power along this river that started the Industrial Revolution which has affected the whole world.

 
 
Just a thought...

We are where we are today because of yesterday.

How is it that 1 in 4 women in this country experiences domestic abuse?

Domestic abuse is about power and control. It has its roots in entitlement.

We live in a society that thinks men and women are equal. After all, women can vote and own property and have a career, can’t they? So they’re equal, right?

Yet, we also have a society where women are objectified more than ever, thanks to social media; where on Reddit groups exist for the purpose of exploiting women; where a tech giant owns the world’s most popular porn site, the place of unspeakable abuse, trafficking and exploitation of women and girls, and the credit card you use is probably one that finances it!

How is this possible?

Drop by tomorrow for some thoughts on this......

Day 1 - Monday Aug 22, 2022. 11.2m Shardlow to Derby
Today has been a bit of a scramble.
We left my sister’s house later than we should have and I’ve tried to cram loads into the day.
Result?
A scramble to get everything done on time!

The walk has been fine. It’s been completely flat, so no challenge there.
Weather?
Sultry but dry until the last hour.

We arrived at the cathedral in time for a good sit down and then the evening service.
Following this I had the joy of a quick catch up with the Dean, Peter Robinson. I met Peter in 2019 at the first CADA conference. He spoke at it and was extremely encouraging to me following the conference. I’m deeply grateful for his input and time in his busy schedule.

As a final treat to the day, we had the pleasure of Daniel Txi’s company over a drink in the Old Silk Mill.
Daniel is a Cranmer friend, working on his PhD and due to be ordained next summer, so it was great to catch up and remember my Cranmer days. Ever grateful for Daniel’s faith and unstinting love, care and support!

 
 
Just a thought...

This year I’m mulling over the idea of ‘heritage’ and what that has to do with the issue of domestic abuse. The reason for mulling over ‘heritage’ is because this walk is rich in heritage sites and I’ll probably comment on some of them along the way. But what’s our heritage regarding domestic abuse?

‘Heritage’ is what we have inherited and it usually refers to our material and cultural inheritance. There is a ‘cultural’ inheritance that impacts domestic abuse and I want to explore that. But before that, just to clarify, domestic abuse affects 1 in 4 women in this country. The same applies to women within Christian contexts. Women are disproportionately affected; so more women than men suffer and the suffering is worse among women. The North East has the highest occurrence nationally of domestic abuse.

Domestic abuse is not about beating up a woman; it’s not about him being drunk and losing control. It’s about one person having power and control over another person and using any means available to maintain that power and control. Future ‘mullings’ will not be as long as this so please pop back and keep up to date with these thoughts.

 Tyne Walk Daily Blog

While I’m walking this year’s walk I thought I’d attempt a daily update on our progress and while I’m at it, I thought I’d attempt a daily theological thought on the theme of ‘source’.

The theme is thanks to the fact that we’re starting our walk from the two sources of the Tyne and that the idea of ‘source’ has something to do with domestic abuse - would you believe!?

So, pop in here daily and see if I’m in reach of a signal so I can send an update and to see if I’ve had any more thoughts on this theme.

The days are presented in reverse order so scroll to the bottom for Day 1!

Please join me in supporting Restored's brilliant work' https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RosemaryNew

To learn more about Restored visit https://www.restored-uk.org/

Happy reading!

Rosemary

tyne map-day-13.png

Day 13 - Aug 20th, 2021. 8m Walker to Tynemouth

Weather: We started this whole long walk at Deadwater with miserable weather. Today, it looked as if we’re going to end with miserable weather.

The first photo of the day was where I’d parked my car in Walker, where we ended yesterday. It’s a most unattractive photo, and deliberately so because that’s how the day felt. It was drizzling, dull and as uninspiring as the industrial landscape that surrounded us.

Spirits lifted as the drizzle stopped and we reached Segedunum, the Roman fort guarding the Tyne at the eastern end of Hadrian’s Wall that kept out the marauding Scots. (Good old marauding Scots! Where would we be without them?) We have, of course been here before, 7 years ago, the end point of walking Hadrian’s Wall. Today, it’s just a marker along the way.

Another marker along the way was reaching Royal Quays. It was from here that Sarah and I sailed on our epic trip when she was 12, up the east coast, through the Caladonian canal and down the west coast to Crinnan. On that occasion it took no more than 30 minutes of sailing before a grey-green silence fell on all the crew as we struggled to hang on to our stomachs. Today though, by the time we had reached Royal Quays, the weather had cleared and with blue sky and a calm blue sea you would never imagine the trip we embarked on 10 years ago. My main problem passing the marina was choosing which boat fitted my dreams best.

And so, with the beautiful cool breeze and smell of the sea, we made it to Tynemouth. The final stretch was along the promenade in perfect weather, up to the little high point overlooking the mouth of the Tyne and the North Sea with the castle and abbey to complete the picture.

Every long distance walk we do has to end with Afternoon Tea.

You know, the proper English thing!

But alas, that couldn’t be arranged, so we went to a small, favourite café instead and had something as a celebration; the proper Afternoon Tea is pending, to be realised at a later date.

135 miles, and how would I sum it up? Piece of cake!

Just a thought...

So, there you have it.
The idea of ‘male leadership’ (aka ‘male headship’) wrongly drawn from ‘kephalē’ has been, and continues to be massively powerful in churches and denominations.
It’s the teaching that keeps women making the tea and serving as Sunday School teachers.
It’s the teaching that keeps women out of the decision-making process.
It’s the teaching that silences women.
It’s the teaching that tells women to ‘go home and obey your husband’ because he’s the leader, regardless of what he might be doing to her.
It’s the teaching that tells a woman that her husband has authority over her and that it’s ‘God-given’ authority, thus sanctioning anything a man chooses to do to her.
It’s the teaching that puts the woman in the wrong if she decides she can’t take any more.
And none of this is what Jesus or the New Testament writers, particularly Paul, intended!

The consistent message in the Gospels and later writings is that ‘Jesus-followers’ have no hierarchy, either of sex, race or social status.
The consistent message is one of love, not dominance.
The consistent message is one of service, not entitlement.
The consistent message is to be last, not first.
The consistent message is one of mutuality and equality.

And the reason for this is because, rather than each of us trampling on one another, vying for our own position, we don’t need to if we draw our security, meaning and destiny from the God of utter self-giving love who is our source.

Day 12 - Aug 19th, 2021. 13.5m Wylam to Walker

Weather: we’ve been so fortunate. Another great day weather-wise for walking.

 Once again, we’ve had lots of interesting things along the route.

We’ve passed George Stephenson’s house at Wylam.

And we’ve passed The Boathouse, an old pub at Newburn. You can see on the wall the markings of how high flooding rose up the wall. I think if flooding like that happened today it would be put down to global warming. I wonder what they put it down to back then.

At Newburn we got our first really good view of the Tyne for the day, including some canoers, training from the club at Newburn. That was after passing a harvested field. We’ve passed many fields ready for harvest since leaving Deadwater and I’m always moved with gratitude for harvest even though most of us live lives far removed from the realities of food production.

There’s a shot of the Blaydon bridge and a couple of pictures of the Tyne before Newcastle ‘proper’.

Amazingly, from along this stretch of river we were able to see the Angel of the North. There are two photos; one as we saw it at a distance (can you spot it?) and the other with a zoom lens.

Then there’s the famous view of the seven bridges across the Tyne at Newcastle.They are the Redheugh Bridge (road), King Edward VII Bridge (rail), Queen Elizabeth II Bridge (Metro), High Level Bridge (two-tier- road below, rail on top), Swing Bridge (turning to allow boats past), Tyne Bridge, (road. The iconic one!) and Millenium Bridge (foot bridge). I wonder if you can pick out each one from the photo?

And we spotted the Tyneness monster!

What else could it have been?

Look at the last photo. Swimming up-stream was something. We couldn’t make out what it was. It wasn’t behaving like anything we’d seen before. It actually looked to me like flotsam but that doesn’t move up-stream against the tide at a steady pace. It wasn’t a whale or a dolphin. It wasn’t a seal or an otter. What was it? Any suggestions?

Just a thought...

What has this thing about the meaning of ‘kephalē’ got to do with domestic abuse?

Well, the thing is, ever since the Bible has been translated into English, the word has correctly been translated as ‘head’ because that’s what the word means. The problem is that, because we’re smart enough to work out that Paul can not possibly have meant the literal head, interpreters have gone for a secondary or metaphorical meaning. In English, the most natural metaphorical meaning is leader or boss or something like that. But that is not the most obvious secondary meaning of the Greek word. The best secondary or metaphorical meaning of ‘kephalē’ is ‘source’ and what Paul is driving at is that all the arguing and division among the Christians he was writing to is wrong because we all derive from the same source. He was calling for unity; mutuality; equality.

But by using the wrong metaphorical meaning, what has happened is that Paul’s writing has become weaponised against women. By insisting that the Bible teaches male superiority, the abuse of women has become institutionalised and couched in ‘god-speak’; dressed up in Christianeese and women have been emotionally blackmailed into suffering in silence.

Day 11 - Aug 18th, 2021. 13m Corbridge to Wylam

Weather: Perfect walking weather!

 I’m tired. My legs and feet are aching.

A lot of the time they just don’t want to go and have to be persuaded with stretches and gentle shaking.

Which is fine.

It’s been another lovely day of walking though. There’s been some roadside walking, but it wasn’t as bad as yesterday and we’ve seen some wonderful things.

Some people never change. Today my brother Andrew joined us. He loves cricket and trains and independent beer, so for him, I took a photo of Stocksfield cricket club, one of him waiting for a train just up the track from Prudhoe station and I include his photo of the pub where we rested before coming home. I’m not convinced by its strap-line. They had no fresh orange juice for an orange and lemonade, nor did they have lime or lemon for my diet tonic water!

There are more photos of the ever-widening Tyne and a lovely leafy path we enjoyed.

Then a couple of quirky things. The very odd bridge near Wylam called Hagg’s Bridge and the wonderful sign on a gate!

But best bits of all……

Three of us siblings craning our necks to see the next train, just as we did when we were young scallywags.

A path lined with wild cherry trees – red, yellow and deep purple which we picked and ate with glee.

And the salmon!

We saw several leaping, but just watch the video!

 
 
Just a thought...

Not all languages have the same metaphorical meanings attached to ‘head’ as English.
French and German are examples, where ‘la tête’ or ‘der Kopf’ don’t get used in the same way as we English use ‘head’. Similarly, in biblical Greek, the word ‘kephalē’ (κεφαλή) that Paul used in those contentious passages we all struggle with, doesn’t have the same metaphorical meanings.

As I said yesterday, had Paul wanted to say that ‘man’ is the leader of ‘woman’, he had the vocabulary to do so. He didn’t use it. What Paul is saying has nothing to do with leadership or who takes charge or who makes decisions. The biblical writers know nothing about ‘man being the head of the house’ or ‘male headship’. In fact, such an idea is contrary to everything Jesus taught and everything the other biblical writers taught elsewhere!

The metaphorical meaning of ‘kephalē’ that Paul most likely intended to be understood was in fact – yes – ‘source’.
Read with this meaning, the ‘difficult’ passages in Paul’s writings become less difficult and make a whole lot of sense.
And the link with domestic abuse……?

Keep popping back here!

Day 10 - Aug 17th, 2021. 6m Warden to Corbridge

Weather: today has turned out better than forecast, with no rain. No sun is ok when you’re walking distances.

 Another short walk today, which is what we needed, but the great thing is that we’ve passed Watersmeet. We’ve been within spitting distance of it a number of times but have held off walking to it sooner; we’re not inclined towards multiplying steps!

Part of the walk was along about three miles of busy A-road. That wasn’t fun. We were safe; there was pavement all the way, but having traffic thundering past got me stressed.

Once we were off that, we were back into riverside walking. At one point we had a railway line on our right and the river on our left. The railway was elevated, so trains were coming along at high speed at shoulder height, which was a weird feeling. My brother Andrew had joined us for the day and he reminded me of when we were kids and we used to put our ear on the railway line to hear if there was a train coming……..it seems we managed to get our heads off the line in time. How times have changed! We could hear a ‘zing’ on the line waaay before the train was within normal earshot, never mind seeing it, but please don’t try this on your local railway line!

On the other side of us was the river with the remains of an old wooden railway bridge. You can just see it in the photo through the trees.

There’s a photo of the confluence of the Tyne and Devil’s Water (https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6679523 ) and photos of Hexham and Corbridge bridges which took us along a wildflower verge, now, in late summer, past its best.

Because it was a short walk, we hadn’t brought much food with us, planning on finding something out. Marvel of marvels, we ended up at the Errington again! How did we manage that? Perhaps the photo will explain why.

Just a thought...

The meanings of ‘head’.
It can be the thing most of us have on our shoulders;
A boss, like the head of a corporation or school;
A leader, like someone at the front of a queue.
Nails have heads.
So do hammers.
Jazz music has a head.
A stylus is housed in a head.
And rivers have heads.
So do fountains and springs.
Each one of these uses has a different meaning or connotation. Apart from the first meaning – the thing on our shoulders, all the other meanings are ‘secondary’ or metaphorical meanings.
Which use of ‘head’ did Paul have in mind when he wrote the [in]famous words about the man being the ‘head’ of the woman?
As it happens, the word that the Apostle Paul used – kephalē (κεφαλή)– in biblical Greek means that thing on our shoulders, but Paul couldn’t have meant that a man was the literal head of a woman.
So, what did he mean?
The thing is, had he wanted to say that men were the leaders/bosses/top dogs (and women the followers/cheerleaders/support act), he had vocabulary available to him that expressed exactly that.
Why didn’t he use that vocabulary?

Day 9 Aug 16th, 2021. 6m Haydon Bridge to Warden

A half day today and tomorrow which is what I need.

I’m tired.

We’ve had good walking weather again with an occasionally stronger wind to cool us down.

Today has been another day of lots of road walking but this time the roads have been through a deeply wooded valley. Again, we’ve been accompanied by the cries of Red Kites and Buzzard and we had the pleasure of seeing a buzzard up close both perching and in flight. That was in the photo of woodlands. Try here for the cries of these birds:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMaDJur6y54 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS7_Li07wMc

Obviously, the South Tyne is widening all the time. The pictures of the arch show a tributary that feeds into the South Tyne and it was pretty – prettier than the photos.

The sunflowers! They were massive. They must have been at least 10ft tall, if not 12ft and the biggest heads must have been bigger than a dinner plate.

And seeing it was just a half-day walk, we had time to relax. We went to the Errington on the A68 for a treat. We stumbled into this when it was a pub on our first ever walk, Hadrian’s Wall. And I mean ‘stumbled’. We could hardly walk. Nowaday’s we’re hardened walkers. (I wish!) Now it’s not a pub but a coffee house. Try it some day.

Just a thought...

Did you manage to think about the many uses of the word ‘head’ that we have in English? When the Apostle Paul wrote all that stuff about the man being the ‘head’ of the woman, which meaning did he have in mind? More on this tomorrow!

Day 8 - Aug 15th, 2021. 11m Haltwhistle to Haydon Bridge

Weather: miserable becoming more miserable then clearing. Sunny by the time we were home.

 Scraping the barrel today for photos.

It was too wet much of the time to take my phone out of my pocket to take pictures. In desperation I took one of a signpost (that’s desperate!) and a couple of views of the lovely Northumberland farmland. One of these has a glimpse of the South Tyne, and there’s one of the same river at Haydon Bridge, but it’s facing into the sun, such as it was!

However, there were some interesting bits. We heard, and eventually saw, a Red Kite and I’m sure I saw hare. Bigger than a rabbit and with a different gait. We’ve seen millions of rabbits and some rats, rats, big as bloomin’ cats skulking around farm junk.

Apart from that, today has been uneventful and a bit of a slog.

Just a thought...

The word ‘head’; how many different ways are there to use that word? That doesn’t sound like a theological reflection does it, but we’re getting there!

Day 7 - Aug 14th, 2021. 14.5m Alston to Haltwhistle

Another great day. Waterproofs at the ready, they became unnecessary and I needed my sun hat instead.

The real highlight of the day has been the narrow gauge steam train, the lines and the little stations.

We’ve had a lovely day walking through woodland, beside the river, at the foot of heather covered hills, through tiny hamlets.

Just a thought...

Before I continue, let’s recap. So far, I’ve suggested that maybe our source is within the context of music, poetry and dance, or in short, in the context of joy, rather than meaninglessness. I’ve suggested that the mechanics of our coming into being might be different from the reason for our existence and that the source of our reason for being is God. We’ve considered the idea that God is also the source of our character, qualities and even our equality. I’ve also dabbled in the complex ideas around how Jesus fits in to this, being both our source and also having his source in God.

And finally, I’ve deliberately referred to the source of the South Tyne as the ‘head’. This is where the link between ‘source’ and domestic abuse comes in.....really? Keep following and it’ll become apparent.

Day 6 - Aug 13th, 2021. 12m Head of the South Tyne to Alston

What should we expect from the North Pennines but rain, cold and strong winds?

Well, we didn’t get the rain. We’ve had another dry day. And it was cooler but not cold.

To get to the head of the South Tyne, you have to walk uphill for about two miles on unmetalled track. You then turn round and go back the way you came, just so you can say you’ve followed the whole river. That’s two miles uphill against strong wind. The good thing about that, is that you then get to walk downhill with the wind behind you.

So that makes it ok.

We’ve had another lovely day, this time with mostly off-road walking and wonderful views of expansive moorland.

The photos show the South Tyne from its source, through its infancy and then growing.

There were several lovely waterfalls.

Towards the end of the today’s trek we were greeted by a junior hedgehog.

Just a thought...

While walking the North Tyne I’ve wittered a bit about Genesis 1&2 and I expect it to be controversial. We’re going to nip over now to the New Testament but we’ll revisit Genesis again later. I just want to point out that the idea of God being our source - of life, of character, of status as equals, plus loads more - is restated in the New Testament. Look at the opening of John’s gospel. In the first 18 verses there are references to God being the source of our life and ‘light’. (Wonder what that means?) Relevant to later thoughts on this walk, is the idea that Jesus, being God, is also our source. But to make things complicated, we also have in this passage the idea that Jesus the human came from God, so that God is the source of Jesus.

And, what’s all this got to do with domestic abuse? Keep popping in here....

Day 5 - Aug 12th, 2021. 8m Barrasford to Warden.

Perfect walking weather. Dry. Not too much sun. Gentle breeze.

‘Cool, shady and pretty’ or ‘hot, hard and tedious’. Which describes me?

Actually, neither. They are the two types of walking we did today! The first half was along by the river, the second half was road walking.

We’ve loved the countryside and beautiful views. We’ve also enjoyed being accompanied by the call of buzzards all the way since Sunday, with occasional sightings of them.

And actually, while I don’t like road walking, it’s been good to be able to get up some speed and push myself a bit.

Just a thought...

Continuing from yesterday, the God we know in the Bible is the God of equality. As God’s image bearers, equality is intrinsic to humanity. What went wrong?

Day 4 - Aug 11th, 2021. 11m Redesmouth to Barrasford

Another lovely day with lots of riverside walking. A few miles on-road at the end, which I hate, was ameliorated by a long cold drink in the garden of the Barrasford Arms. So that made it ok.

One of the photos of the North Tyne shows beautiful reflections of trees on the water.

I took the picture of the grass because I actually really like grasses. I don’t have many in my garden because they are so hard to control.

We safely negotiated our first field of cows of this walk, skirting around them, keeping well away. When I was a nipper, I regularly walked fearlessly through fields of cows. There was never a hint of aggression. A few walks ago – possibly on my walk across Devon – in conversation with a farmer I found this experience was not unique. Something has changed with cows. The farmer said she thought it was due to either breeding methods or feed that cows have become more aggressive.

Just a thought...

On the theme of ‘source’, going back to the idea of Genesis 1 being poetry (or, as I like to think, song) then the climax of the poem is the creation of humanity where the refrain changes from ‘and God saw that it was good’ to ‘and God saw that it was very good’. It seems a point is made particularly that male and female were made equally with unique qualities that are God’s qualities. Male and female were charged equally with the task of managing creation the way God would manage it – rather than pillaging it, and they were given equal responsibility for raising the next generation. And so, it becomes apparent that God is not only our source as beings, but also the source of our qualities, our work and our procreation.

Day 3 - Aug 10th, 2021. 11.5m Donkleywood to Redesmouth.

A much better day weather-wise. No rain and quite a bit of sun. We even needed sun hats and sun cream! 

Gorgeous walking along the bank of the North Tyne but nothing spectacular; it was just pretty. We did enter a wood with mint growing wild and the smell was a lovely surprise and at several points we found ourselves hacking our way through head-high undergrowth which is fine as long as we can recognise giant hogweed – of which there was none. Fortunately. At one point there was a choice of routes. Hazel took the road option, Sarah and I took the country route – through fields, then bog and more bog, then through a tiny, tiny tunnel (see photo). Competitive as ever, I was pipped, but not surprised that Hazel got to our meeting point first.

Just a thought...

On the idea of our source; where we came from and why we’re here, I think it’s fairly obvious that the first two chapters of Genesis are not a scientific report or science textbook. Not everything can be explained by science. ‘How’ questions might be answered by science. ‘Why’ questions are answered by other disciplines like metaphysics, philosophy, ethics and religion. Possibly, the point about the two records of Creation in Genesis 1&2 is not to give a scientific statement, but to tell us that, whatever the mechanics of our arrival here, behind it all is the God who is disclosed in the rest of the collected texts – what we call the Bible.

The point about the opening pages of Genesis is that humanity, and all Creation, has its source in God.

Day 2 - Aug 9th, 2021. 12 miles Matthew’s Linn to Donkleywood.

Weather was miserable first thing but brightened as the day went on and with it our moods brightened so that the afternoon was enjoyable. We’ve had some lovely views, walked through beautiful forest and seen some quirky things that made us smile. 

Hope you like the photos!

Just a thought...

To begin before the beginning, I love the fact that the Bible begins with poetry. The style of Genesis chapter 1 is described as poetic prose. I think it reads like a song. Have a read of it and notice the structure and refrain.

I think it’s a terrific idea that creation is formed within poetry or song. Before creation there was song! That ties in with the idea of God being described as the eternal dance.

What if our source is music, poetry and dance rather than cold chaos or meaningless power?

Day 1 - Aug 8th, 2021. 8 miles Source of the North Tyne to Matthew’s Linn.

Most of this leg was in steady rain!

Not the most exciting start to a walk, but we’ve done it.

 

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2018/20 - Coast-to-Coast

Miles: 190-192 miles

 

Hazel and Rosemary set off from St Bee’s Head on the Cumbria coats to walk the 190 miles across the country to Robin Hood’s Bay on the Yorkshire coast. Tradition demands that walkers setting off from either end of the walk tip their boots in the sea when they start and again when they finish. It is also tradition to take a pebble from the beach where their walk begins and throw it into the sea when they reach their destination. Why? Who knows, maybe to confuse some poor geologist who studies these coasts in 1000 years!

Desiring to cross the t’s and dot the i’s, Rosemary and Hazel each dipped their boots in the sea and picked a pebble from St Bee’s to be carried to Robin Hood’s Bay.

 
 
 

They arrived at Reeth. Rosemary and Hazel had made it most of the way, however, on day two, while navigating the Lake district hills, Rosemary slipped crossing a stream and hit her leg off a stone. Being a trooper, she kept going…until day 5 when she wondered why she couldn’t put her foot down on the ground, it hurt too much. Sarah joined a few days later. She and Hazel walked a leg the next day and then she walked on her own the day after and they reached Reeth. The decision was then made to abort the walk and recontinue at a later date. Below are some photos of Reeth, it was a drizzly day to match the mood of the hikers…

…Rosemary went to A&E on returning to Newcastle…She had broken her leg…

 
 
 

Hazel also broke her leg the year later (2018) but eventually, they continued their trekking, gradually filling in what parts of the walk they had missed and got back on track in summer 2020 and started their way across the North York Moors but this time, due to time and covid restrictions, in batches of two or three days.

First came the 7 August - 9 August

 
 
 

From the 26 August to 27 August Rosemary and Hazel’s brother, Andrew joined them as they continued across the North York Moors finally reaching the sea, but…

They still had to get to Robin Hood’s Bay…

 
 

And, finally… 27 August 2020! They reached Robin Hood’s Bay! Once the smuggling capital of the Yorkshire coast and now, quaint little fishing village albeit a honey-pot in summer. They fought their way through the crowds to the beach to take part in the tradition of dipping their boots and throwing those pebbles that they had picked up on the beach at St Bee’s Head into the North Sea (to confuse future geologists).

Now a tradition amongst the group, they celebrated with afternoon tea in Robin Hood’s Bay.

 

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2016 - Two Moors Way

(Devon Coast to Coast)

This year, Rosemary, Hazel and Sarah hiked from Wembury on the south-coast of Devon to Lynmouth on the north-coast, across Dartmoor and Exmoor

Gallery

2015 - Hadrian’s Wall

In 2015, Rosemary, Hazel (Rosemary’s sister) and Sarah (Rosemary’s daughter) took on the first of many long-distance hikes, walking the full length of Hadrian’s wall (all 73 miles!) in one go.

 

They started in Cumbria, on the Solway Firth and walked east:

And continued along the wall, with some stunning views from Cumbria and Northumberland…

Horse-crazy Sarah was very happy when this turned up at one B & B…

And finally, exhausted, they reached their last campsite with sore feet and only enough energy to boil the kettle. Even Flossie, was tired (almost unheard of in Border Collies!) and went straight to bed in Sarah’s tent!

The next day, they reached Newcastle

Below is the newsletter that Rosemary produced to thank everyone who sponsored her:

A wee note:

Rosemary does these hikes to raise money for Restored, a Christian charity working against the scourge of domestic abuse. Please visit their site to find out more: https://www.restored-uk.org/