Here we go

I woke early this morning with the same excitement that I felt as a small child, about to set off on the train to our Devon seaside holidays. Putting together the last few bits and pieces before I set off, I downloaded the maps to my phone again to make sure, packed some of the encouraging cards which people have given me, and sketched down in the back of my notebook the cryptic colour-coded flashes painted on trees along the footpaths of the Grand Randonees, Grand Randonees de Pays and Petite Randonees.


I scanned the bookshelves again for some reason and fingered a dozen volumes which could easily justify their place in my pack. Reluctantly, I set each down again, realising that this urge to further equip myself has more to do with my insecurities than any genuine need. There'll be time for reading after I return and I remembered how I want the next seven weeks to be more essential than that, that I want to be content with observing, gathering and speculating. I can refine or jettison my thoughts in the light of what others have written when I get back. John Davies told me that when he walked the M62 he had a collection of books which he didn't open.

I did, however, suddenly decide to change my alternative shoes from the recently-bought (and expensive) Merrells to the old ASDA trainers. The idea of buying the Merrells was that I'd have a smarter pair of shoes to wear in restaurants if my boots get filthy and that they could also serve as a back-up pair for walking. This perfect solution turned out to be unattainable. The fancy Merrells don't 'breathe' and make my feet very hot. The trainers are far from ideal for fancy restaurants but they can be washed and are so comfortable. Realising this kind of last minute decision can have a huge impact on the weeks ahead, I just hope I've done the right thing. I wonder if Scott could have woken up early on the first day of his polar expedition and thought, "Dogs? Not so sure. Let's take the ponies instead."

Arrangements at St Paul's Church while I'm away

Details of the arrangements put in place while I'm away on renewal leave are now on the blog of St Paul's Church.

Deeply thankful

This morning at St Pauls, Paul presented me with a gift from the church to help fund my sabbatical. The amount given by donations from individuals is wonderfully generous and I am deeply thankful. It covers the cost of almost all my overnight stays, so I'll remember this gift every time I put my head on a new pillow.

I can imagine situations in which a congregation would feel a little unhappy at the thought of a vicar spending three months away from 'work'. But members of St Paul's have been so encouraging, so excited for me and now, so incredibly generous.

It's a privilege for me to have the opportunity of a sabbatical/renewal leave. But even more of a privilege to work among such a fabulous community, for God, in Oadby and beyond. I'm looking forward to going away, and very much looking forward to coming back.

Book

Blogging as I go will help me capture the adventure of my walk home but since I began the planning of my renewal leave I knew I wanted to compile the diary into a 'proper' book. The publishing business is changing and one of recent innovations is print-on-demand. The idea is that the author uploads their work to an online publisher, who makes the book available for purchase. Instead of minimum print runs and stocks held in warehouses, the costs are kept down by only printing as many copies as are actually ordered.

I was going to keep quiet about my plans until I was sure that a book would actually appear but something has been happening which has made it sensible to go public about it now.

Some of the people who find out about my walk seem to struggle a bit with the idea of doing something like this without raising money for a good cause. And it's a good point. The whole aim of the project is about a refreshing and renewal of me in my ministry. But if as a byproduct I can raise some cash for a charity, then I'm very happy to do so. I'd already decided that all proceeds from the book would go to Christian Aid, so it seems the right time to let people know what I'm hoping to do.

The plan is to compile all the blog entries into a book during the three weeks after I return home and before I resume work. I'm not sure about the price for the book but I reckon that something around a tenner will allow me to give something worthwhile to Christian Aid for its great work in tackling poverty around the world.

I'll update this post with more details of the book as they are confirmed.

Use the form below to register your interest and I'll send you more details in July 2009.

Accomodation all booked

I've just booked up the final night of accomodation for my walk. Out of 51 nights I shall be spending 12 with friends. For the rest of the time I'm in a mixture of guest houses, bed and breakfasts, pubs and hotels. The most expensive night by some way is the £106 Hotel L'Amandier in Nanterre on the outskirts of Paris, at which I'll enjoy half-board on the first evening of the walk, 23 April. The most economical is the £22 Malvern View Guest House in Tewkesbury, which is giving me bed and breakfast on 30 and 31 May.

The accomodation is by far the most expensive part of this whole project but it makes a gruelling journey feasible in a way that camping is not. I really couldn't imagine getting to the end of a long day's walk, then pitching a tent and starting to cook. And the weight of camping gear would add considerably to my load.

I expect to meet interesting people in the hotels and guest houses and the variety of accomodation is all part of the fun.

Renewing civic links

I met with the Mayor of Oadby and Wigston, Cllr Jill Gore, on Thursday. Serendipitously, my planned route takes me very close to the town of Maromme, just outside Rouen. Maromme is one of Oadby and Wigston's two twin towns ("triplet towns"?), so I have the opportunity to walk between them, a feat that I imagine no one else has tackled (I really would love to find out that someone else had done it).

The Mayor was delighted to take interest in my plans and we're seeing if we can arrange a meeting with the Mayor of Maromme, so that I can convey the greetings of our Borough to theirs.

This rendevous could get complicated and I checked this morning to see if there's a French national holiday on 4 May, the date of my visit. It turns out that they celebrate Fête du Travail on 1 May, so I'm hoping that I'll find Maromme open.

Route

Use the goodness of Google to scroll, drag, zoom, or change to satellite or map view.

View Larger Map

16 June 2009: I've updated the map to show the route as actually walked.

If you have Google Earth, follow this link to see the route: http://www.sjharvey.org.uk/route.kmz

Itinerary

This itinerary gets changed about as things fall into place. Last updated 28 March 2009.

Day Date Day Destination Daily distance
-3 20/04/09 Monday Leicester 0
-2 21/04/09 Tuesday Paris 0
-1 22/04/09 Wednesday Paris 0
1 23/04/09 Thursday Nanterre 8
2 24/04/09 Friday Conflans Ste Honorine 12
3 25/04/09 Saturday Flins Les Mureaux 13
4 26/04/09 Sunday Mantes-La-Jolie 10
5 27/04/09 Monday Vernon 17
6 28/04/09 Tuesday Vernon 0
7 29/04/09 Wednesday Cailly-sur-Eure 14
8 30/04/09 Thursday Le Vaudreuil 12
9 01/05/09 Friday St-Etienne-du-Rouvray 13
10 02/05/09 Saturday Rouen 7
11 03/05/09 Sunday Rouen 0
12 04/05/09 Monday Montigny 8
13 05/05/09 Tuesday Caudebec-en-Caux 17
14 06/05/09 Wednesday Tancarville 16
15 07/05/09 Thursday Le Havre 17
16 08/05/09 Friday Portsmouth 7
17 09/05/09 Saturday Ryde 5
18 10/05/09 Sunday Ryde 0
19 11/05/09 Monday Newport 7
20 12/05/09 Tuesday Yarmouth IoW 10
21 13/05/09 Wednesday Milford on Sea 7
22 14/05/09 Thursday Bournemouth 14
23 15/05/09 Friday Bournemouth 0
24 16/05/09 Saturday Bournemouth 0
25 17/05/09 Sunday Wimbourne Minster 10
26 18/05/09 Monday Blandford Forum 11
27 19/05/09 Tuesday Stalbridge 13
28 20/05/09 Wednesday Sparkford 14
29 21/05/09 Thursday Glastonbury 14
30 22/05/09 Friday Cheddar 14
31 23/05/09 Saturday Knowle West 17
32 24/05/09 Sunday Knowle West 0
33 25/05/09 Monday Clifton, Bristol 10
34 26/05/09 Tuesday Almondsbury 13
35 27/05/09 Wednesday Thornbury 6
36 28/05/09 Thursday Kings Stanley 18
37 29/05/09 Friday Gloucester 16
38 30/05/09 Saturday Tewkesbury 13
39 31/05/09 Sunday Tewkesbury 0
40 01/06/09 Monday Uckinghall 11
41 02/06/09 Tuesday Worcester 15
42 03/06/09 Wednesday Stourport (south) 13
43 04/06/09 Thursday Kinver 13
44 05/06/09 Friday Wolverhampton 14
45 06/06/09 Saturday Wednesfield 6
46 07/06/09 Sunday Wednesfield 0
47 08/06/09 Monday Walsall 7
48 09/06/09 Tuesday Lichfield 11
49 10/06/09 Wednesday Sutton Coldfield 8
50 11/06/09 Thursday Atherstone 14
51 12/06/09 Friday Stoney Stanton 14
52 13/06/09 Saturday Oadby 12

Booking hotels in France

I've spent several hours today booking up the hotels for the French leg of my trip. I'd originally planned to stay in the very nice Logis de France but sterlings recent tumble against the euro (currently at around 1.1 euros to the pound) mean that it would cost an awful lot more than I'd planned.

So I've settled on a mixture of hotels, both cheap and expensive, figuring that by alternating between them the expensive ones will feel luxurious and the cheap ones worthily frugal.

Bottom of the range is the Formule 1. We've used them for one night stopovers in France on the long drive to the south, which we've done many times. They're basic and very reasonable value: less than 30 euros for a room that can sleep up to three. There's no en suite bathroom but, apart from one memorable occasion in Mulhouse when the place was being used by a local prostitute to entertain her clients, we've never really had any trouble. The biggest hassle is waiting to use the showers and being awoken by screaming, excited, and usually English, kids. They don't include restaurants, which is fine if, as sometimes happens, there's a selection of cheap local places nearby. But as they're located on industrial estates and on motorway exits, it's possible that I might get a bit stuck. I think I'll need to google for nearby eateries before I set off. I've planned six nights of the total of fifteen in these bottom of the range places.

Slightly more up market (only just) are the Etap hotels. They're part of the same Accor chain as Formule 1 and I've found one to stay at.

Then there's Premiere Classe, which again we've used before on family holidays. They're my first choice for ultra-budget hotels, being only slightly more expensive than Formule 1 but feeling quite a bit more special. Certainly the websites of Premiere Classe feel a bit more snappy and I notice they boast wifi in the rooms - a feature than I'm not sure Formule 1 have yet fitted. One of my nights will be spent inside the sheets of Premiere Classe establishments at £35 per night.

I have two more nights at the Kyriad in Rouen, part of the same company that runs Premiere Classe. These look quite comfortable and are £65 per room per night.

Finally, the remaining five nights are in the (anticipated) luxury of the Logis de France. They range from £67 to £107 (the latter being half board and also in fashionable Nanterre, where Nicolas Sarkozy was mayor until his election to the presidency). The Logis are independently run, so I'm expecting a bit more character from them.

It's taken ages to sort this lot out and I've had to fight the temptation to settle for something convienent to book today that might turn out to be a bit grim or inconvient en route. We'll have to see how it all works out and I'm expecting surprises - nice ones as well as not so nice.

Spontaneity

I'm a bit of a planner. That's an understatement - I love planning ahead.

The opportunity to take three months off work in a sabbatical 'renewal leave' is as much a blessing for the scope for planning as for the break itself. Once I settled on 'Walking Home' as the main focus, I set to work planning and plotting.

One of the most immediate and important questions that arose was the extent to which I should book accomodation along a pre-planned route or whether to leave more things to chance and a decision-in-the-moment. Reading the experiences of other long-distance walkers suggested that accomodation fills unpredictably and that it makes sense to book a while ahead.

I didn't want to plan the route turn-by-turn, or to replace a busy work schedule with a busier walking schedule. But I did want to anticipate the experience, just as I did when planning our drive around the western USA this summer. So I've set myself an itinerary, with modest distances for each walking day.

Reasons to plan an itinerary and overnight accomodation:

1. The security of having accomodation booked and not having to make last-minute changes of plan.
2. Predictability in knowing what lies ahead, anticipating demanding days and more restful days.
3. Finding motivation in knowing that I have a daily goal to reach, rather than settling for a comfortable looking inn after an hour's walk.
4. Planning options for detours and diversions rather than feeling that I have to press on to reach a town before searching for accomodation.
5. Spending less time wandering around or backtracking to find somewhere to stay.

In reality, even if I had decided not to make a detailed plan, I would have wanted to phone ahead to book accomodation by lunch time each day. And that would mean far less spontaneity than an unplanned route might suggest.

A test of stamina - physical or mental?

Walking 500 miles in 50 days next spring will be the biggest physical challenge that I've faced. That's part of the inspiring, motivating, exciting thrill that comes every time I think about it. I've been reading blogs and articles from people who have tackled long distances and several have said that the mental challenge was far harder than the physical challenge.

Over a pint last night I asked a friend who recently cycled over 1000 miles from Land's End to John O' Groats how he compared the physical and mental challenge. "About 80% mental, 20% physical" was his assessment. This surprised me. He explained that he had confidence about the daily distances that he set himself and he didn't experience any injury that threatened his strength or physical endurance. But he said there were several moments when he felt like giving up and many times when he wondered why he had set himself such a challenge.

I was interested to know how he overcame these periods. In the bleakest time, when lost in Cheshire, he bargained with himself. If he didn't find the right road within 45 minutes, he promised himself, he'd pack it in. He found the road. He wonders what he would have done if he hadn't got back on track. "I'd probably have given myself another 20 minutes", he said.

With 20 weeks to go before my epic journey, the physical test feels far and away the most significant. I'm not anxious about loneliness or danger at all. But hearing others' experiences makes me think that the mental challenge may turn out to be far more serious than I'm imagining. I guess keeping a clear idea about my motivation, and setting a plan, will help.

Why?

It's a privilege to plan and prepare for a substantial period away from the responsibilities of full-time ministry in 2009. Clergy are recommended to take a sabbatical every so often in order to be renewed and refreshed for the demands of their role and the Diocese of Leicester generously provides for this as part of the normal pattern of clergy development and support. My Ministry Development Review with the Dean of Leicester Cathedral in December 2007 recommended that I should take a sabbatical in 2009.

The idea of a sabbatical has been on my personal agenda since 2007. In the months since I began serious planning, I've been excited about the prospect. I've also noticed how even anticipating the adventure has helped me reflect on what I do in the day-to-day. Just thinking about not being here challenges my desire to be closely involved in everything going on and makes more intentional about empowering others.

I often meet people who are exhausted by the demands of their jobs or pressures at home. I know people who dread their work and I feel rather embarrassed about taking up the generous offer of time away from a role which I love. A pastor who is as exhausted as those he seeks to serve isn't much use. I want to minister more effectively to people who are stretched by competing pressures and will focus on this during my time away.

I've not been entirely satisfied with the usual idea of 'sabbatical', nor 'study leave'. Some authors suggest 'renewal leave', which feels better but is less familiar to people. In this document, I've decided to use all three terms interchangeably!

1. Timing
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; What gain have the workers from their toil?

Ecclesiastes 3.1-2, 6, 7, 9

I plan to take study leave for three months beginning after Easter 2009. That is, from 13 April to 12 July.

This feels like the right season, for several reasons:

I'll have been in post at St Paul's for five and a half years, and for three and a half years as Warden of Readers. Both roles are now very familiar to me. Living 'in the detail' for such a long time leads me to think it's time to stand back, regain perspective and to examine the assumptions that familiarity has created.

The period from Christmas to Easter is very busy at St Paul's. We have an exciting Alpha Course to deliver and it's usually a time of significant growth for us. I wouldn't want to be absent in these months.
The summer is a period when cover for services is harder to arrange, due to holiday commitments.
I plan to be away for about fifty days, returning home when Jon and Phil are taking their exams. Jon will be preparing for university over the summer and this will be an important period of adjustment for us as a family.
Easter marks the beginning of the celebration of resurrection life. Resurrection and sabbath are related as moments of renewal, creativity and freedom. The freedom of resurrection will characterise an adventurous period of discovery for me and, I hope, for St Paul's.

2. What I will do
I'm planning two main components:

• Walking Home
• Exploring the Evangelical Spirituality of Activism

Both of these are described in a little more detail below.

Sabbaticals enforce disconnection from the familiar, routine and urgent demands of regular ministry. They work best when they involve doing "something different". It will be hard to not do what I love doing. But I sense that it's important that I break away from some of the compulsions to live and work in certain ways that ministry has led me to adopt.

Walking Home
I shall give around fifty days to a long walk from Paris back to my home in Oadby, Leicester. This may sound bizarre (it still sounds odd to me!) but there are specific reasons for planning this adventure in this particular way.

Walking demands a change of pace. Spending such a long time on the road will force me to experience less rushed, less frantic days. Walking allows time to think, to pause, to simply experience the passing of miles and hours in ways that are more 'human' than driving or being a passenger. I have never really been a walker and it already feels odd not to find the parking space closest to the supermarket door! Living this strange way will be a complete change, give me the space for solitude which I value, and help me to experience a certain powerlessness which I think will be important. I hope to meet people as I go and will enjoy the freedom to discover, explore and encounter.

Walking is physical. This won't be a heroic journey and the daily distances that I have planned are modest compared with the adventures of some people. It's tempting to turn the plans into something more epic but I want sufficient time to linger, to meet people and to pause when I want. There's no denying that walking a significant distance every day will test me physically. I need that! But I also need to find ways of integrating patterns of exercise into my daily routines for the sake of my long-term health and fitness.

Walking offers many parallels with the scriptures. I long to "to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with my God" (Micah 6.8) and sense a personal calling from God to be renewed in humble walking. He wants me to "get out more". Through the bible, and in Christian tradition, the long walk has been a metaphor for the life journey. It's often a journey in which the places of departure and destination are significant - sometimes a pilgrimage from the profane to the holy, from darkness to light, or from slavery to freedom in a promised land. But it's also sometimes less a means of 'getting somewhere' and more an experience in it's own right, exposing the walker to the testing of the wilderness.

I've chosen to Walk Home because I want my destination to be the relationships and responsibilities of family and church. It instinctively feels wrong to walk away from home. Instead of an escape, this is a journey in which the dis-location is resolved by a home-coming and the glad resumption of life again.
I've chosen a route which allows me to meet up with people who have been personally significant in the past. Full-time ministry reduces the time and energy for catching up with friends and I have been too neglectful of precious people. Conveniently, many of those who I want to re-connect with live on a walk-able route from the south coast of England, through to the West Midlands and on to home.

I chose Paris as a starting point because it's where Jennifer and I started our marriage. We honeymooned there and will enjoy a couple of nights together before I set off. Beginning abroad will make sure that I really do leave and that it feels like getting away. It also means that the total distance I walk will be around 500 miles, which is appealingly round as a number!

Fifty days for the walking corresponds to the fifty days between Easter and Pentecost. I'll wait a week or so before setting off, so my fifty days won't parallel this exactly, but I like the idea of a period which leads towards the Pentecostal promise.

Exploring the Evangelical Spirituality of Activism
During my walk I'll experience a disconnection from the work that I find fulfilling and immensely satisfying. But I've been in ministry for long enough to realise that the pleasure from what I do risks taking me into a 'compulsive doing' which isn't healthy for either me, the ministry I exercise or the people around me. I recognise traits in myself and patterns in my working from which I need liberating.

I am more confident of my evangelicalism than I have been for a long while. I rejoice in an understanding of the gospel that celebrates God's achievement and the dynamism of the life in his Kingdom. But I am also aware of the pitfalls of activism that lead some evangelicals away from grace and towards an imperative of personal achievement, productivity and success.

There have been welcome spiritual responses to our contemporary culture's obsession with these things but these have most often come from catholic tradition. I treasure these insights but I wonder, what of us evangelicals? Do we not have similar resources in our own tradition which we can use, and offer to others, in response to the same issues?

I must be careful not to set an objective for learning which is too demanding - that would defeat the purpose of the time I'm spending. But I have a hunch that during this sabbatical I will learn for myself things which I may be able to helpfully share with others. It would be good if part of the legacy of this renewal leave is a more balanced, more integrated approach to ministry and life in an evangelical context.

While I'm Walking Home, I won't be able to carry a bundle of books. But I do hope to be able to use the experience itself as the raw material for reflection during the journey and afterwards in the study. I hope to write as I go and will have to think carefully about the extent to which I keep in touch.