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!
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Rosemary
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!
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?
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
