I spotted Glasshampton Monastery on the map and regretted that I hadn't seen it in the planning stage. Glasshampton has a very good reputation and I might have been able to join them for a night.
Another surprise lay at the side of the road in the form of a memorial to William Gladstone, three-times Prime Minister of Great Britain. It was a substantial plinth, surrounded by a ballustrade but lichen-covered and shaded under the trees. It would be difficult to spot from a bicycle, impossible from a car. Prime ministers come and go.
Gladstone lived for many years at Astley Hall, not far from Woodhampton House, where Sally and Pete made me very welcome in a comfortable B&B.
Sue, Ed and Matt came over from Alvechurch in the evening and treated me to a lovely birthday meal at the Red Lion at Holt Heath. I even had a doughnut with a birthday candle and a foot-soothing gift. We've known them for years, Jennifer and I were at school with Sue from the late 1970s.
It was great to meet up six weeks after they visited us in Oadby just before I left.
My walking verse for the day was John 8.12 "[Jesus said,] 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.'"
John's gospel is full of contrasts, light and dark being a recurring metaphor for wisdom and blessing contrasting with ignorance and sin. Walking in the light of life simply means not creating shortcuts or diversions of our own devising but in the footsteps of our Lord, the well-trodden paths of the saints.
Gosh how much slimmer you look - not that you needed to lose weight, but you can definitely tell the difference between the 2 pictures.
ReplyDeleteHave to do a bit more walking myself methinks!