It's walking time again!

 I can hardly believe that it is a whole year since our first Valley walk. It was our real introduction to the wonderful Dorset landscapes that can only be found away from the roads. It is the first event I can remember clearly since arriving in the parish last March (of course we had beautiful weather to make it truly memorable). We walk from church to church, with a short 'service' in each. It is about eleven miles in all. People are sponsored to raise money for TRUSTchildren's Home in rural south India or Double-Joy Children's Farm in south western Kenya or one or all of our beautiful valley churches.


Our Tess will be raising money by walking the walk with me. She was born just when we found out that the Rector@6 was coming to Dorset - hence the name Tess. One of our churches has links to Thomas Hardy - and has delightful carvings designed by him. He used to cycle over to read the lesson at evensong. Of course all these beautiful old churches cost the small congregations a lot of money to keep in good order. So Tess will be walking for them and trying to raise plenty of sponsorship.
   

Learning the ropes from Dad

 

Seasonal changes

It's one of those days where you just have to get out and walk. The clear, clean air adds a sharpness to my thinking. The breeze whispers gently in my ears and clears my head of the doubts that go round and round in my head. Was it really meant to be so challenging? Was it really meant to be so stressful on our marriage? Will we survive this settling period? But, like the fields around us, there is a need to clear the ground to begin another cycle of growing. This has meant that the once productive field must be ploughed and harrowed again. This process involves digging deep and turning over new earth, breaking up the lumps and bumps and trying not to bend the harrow or plough in the process. The barren, chalky subsoil must not be exposed so the valuable top soil must be nourished and not lost in all the upheaval .
As I walk alongside the huge, manicured fields, the dogs relish the space and race down the furrows - we all enjoy this walk, high up above the rest of the world. It can leave you raw and exposed if the weather turns against you, but today, it is on our side. Bright autumn sunshine creates contrasts of dark shadows and shafts of light piercing through the remaining leaves that are clinging to the branches. A few berrries still remain in the hedgerows but summer is over. We are not fooled by these occasional servings of sunshine - the damp, misty mornings tell us otherwise. But today I can revel in walking without a coat or a care in the breeze!

So that was the summer

Our last summer walk from Corfe Castle to the coast at Swannage.

Summer is over. I am sitting next to a roaring fire and through the window I can see the predicted gale tossing the trees so violently that they are forced to surrender their leaves. The Rector@6 and I are on our summer holiday. We have had some time to explore Dorset and now we have escaped back to Devon to put up our feet for a day or two. (At this present moment The Rector@6 is changing the light fittings in this room.)
The real summer has been full of shows, festivals and harvesting. Our rectory has been filled, each week in August, with a lunch and then evening summer course run by the rector. In between all of this, we have managed some lovely days out. Pictures are better than words.....and at the moment I seem to have very few words to write. Maybe it will be easier after our 'summer' holiday.
 For now, here is a taste of our new life.

The beaches are varied and glorious!

We live in the countryside where Thomas Hardy was born and where many of his books are set.

We are next door to an amazing annual steam fair!

We managed to get to the Christian Greenbelt festival for one day!

The weather has been good and the natives friendly! Here is our Faith, Hope and Love lunchtime course sharing lunch in the rectory garden. We had five sunny Tuesdays in a row in August / September - allowing both the evening and lunchtime groups to eat outside. It has been good to get to know so many people and I hope they will feel enthused to work together to build up our six rural churches. It has been good to talk - now the work begins!

Returning relaxed, revived and raring to go.

What a difference a week away makes to how we view life. We have been back from Devon a week now and, as usual, The Rector@6 had to hit the ground running...and so did I, as I am now helping with some Andalusian horses (adding to the heavy horses and the Dutch friesians who I visit). Suddenly life seems exciting again. We have had a week together in the familiar surroundings of our PO days (pre ordination), the weather was kind to us. We travelled from South coast to North coast and spent a day riding on the bit between. We went to see a film (this is now a luxury as we are not near a cinema in Dorset). We watched Summer in February, which is about an Edwardian artist colony and the erratic artist, Sir Alfred Munnings. It was romantic, moody, with stirring music and a stunning setting on the Cornish coast - pure escapism. And we stopped talking church!

The dining room

It took several days to unwind and to discover that life was not totally centred around six parishes and their parishioners. Our three hundred year old cottage did what it has always done since we have lived here - it soothed and relaxed us and reminded us of who we are. The much loved garden, where I know almost every plant, is overgrown after months of neglect but the roses and wild flowers are stunning. Some evenings, the garden was framed with a huge expanse of inky blue night sky, scattered with handfuls of stars. This is the place to see shooting stars.

The Rector in high places

We were supposed to be doing repairs on the house - and we did do some - but the fine weather seduced us and we walked the coastal footpaths and paddled in the chilly sea. We had the beaches to ourselves (most of the time) and there is no better place to be reminded of how insignificant we are, than under the towering rocky cliffs. It was time to just stand and stare and breathe deeply. When we first moved to Devon, these were the secret beaches - the ones that you had to climb down a long, overgrown path to, or walk the fisherman's (smuggler's) path to find. Now there are footpath signs and even road signs sending people to the nearest parking places. I know it's good to share but sometimes......I would prefer not to. These are the places that need to be chanced upon or passed on by word of mouth. That way they keep their magic and do not succumb to the health and safety brigade and TV chef's latest, greatest authentic dining experience. But to tempt you to step out and chance upon these places yourself, I will share some of  the photos - then you must get the map out and find them for yourselves.                                                          

One path down to the beach

and another secret path..

 

view across to a well known island and hotel

Walk, talk, pray and sermon writing

Last Saturday a hardy group of parishioners took to walking a valley walk around our six churches - a total of 11 miles in all. I'm not sure why this was started ten years ago - maybe as a prayer walk or a spin off from 'beating the bounds', but as it was, we were blessed with glorious weather and a great day out. Over thirty people walked the whole walk (the Rector@6 and myself included) and this rose to over fifty people if you included those who completed parts of the walk. Some were sponsored and were raising money for a chosen charity and others were just walking and enjoying the countryside and fellowship. There was time for prayer and a reflection in each church - each with a different topic and some with tea, coffee and cake (Dorset does very good homemade cakes). It was a great opportunity to get to know people from the different parishes and for the Rector@6 to get ideas for his sermon the next day (which he had not completed!).

Sermon writing in our house can be a bit like blogging production in our household - sometimes they just roll out with ease and other times I know the Rector@6 is struggling because he doesn't sleep well and keeps disappearing into his study - even on his DAY OFF! Occasionally we have a week of chewing over a particular text at the supper table. On other occasions, my experience as a time served teacher comes in useful for testing out or inspiring more child friendly talks. I still have a drawer of 'useful objects' that teachers tend to hoard - just in case!  The sermon for the day after the valley walk (Pentecost Sunday) was one of those occasions when my hoard of yellow stretchy men came in handy. The stretchy men were handed out to everyone who attended the joint churches' service. It was quite amusing to see the reactions and questioning look as each person was given a hymnbook, service sheets and a stretchy man. The Rector@6 was obviously inspired by the aches and pains he was feeling from the walk - because he talked about being stretched and re-shaped by the God - a subject close to my heart!

The early birds at the first church

Tess was not very well behaved in church!

We reached the last church in time for a lovely tea. It had been a super walk and the Rector@6 and I feel we are beginning to know where we are!

It was such a lovely day that we didn't want it to end - so the Rector@6 and I decided to walk the two and a half miles home, passed thatched cottages, through the scented bluebell woods and out into the vibrant yellow fields. What a day.......what surroundings!