Start:  Cleeve Hill

End:  Painswick

Mileage:  only 10 miles!  Piece of cake!

Day 4 was another fantastic day.   I can say that now that we’ve gotten accustomed to packing our “rucksacks” (backpacks) the night before, filling water bottles and making sure that we have everything we need for the day.  It was again gorgeous…sunny, bright, no wind.  Hills…up and down…challenging, but oh so worth it when you get to the top for the view and oh so worth it when you get to the valley and see the little stone cottages and streams and encounter civilization once again.  We tagged off and on with the Sisters, the ones who helped us find our way on Day 2, the Californians, and three hilarious middle-aged British sisters who it soon became quite obvious which was the elder as maps and directions were “discussed.”

We are starting to get quite a rhythm hiking all day and are more relaxed and less intimidated by the maps or guidebooks or working or not working google map…or how many miles we need to travel to our next destination.  Instead we take our time, stop to visit locals or other walkers, take pictures, take a layer off or put one on.  We take our time, smell the roses…well, if there were any, but there’s so much to stop and look and experience along the way.  Sometimes friends have commented that they can’t imagine being with their husbands all the time like Roger and I are.  I guess we do have our moments, but generally, we get along fine.  Especially, when we travel for work, we are constantly together and have been given tons of grace to not only do it but really enjoy our time together.  This vacation, though, it really different…hour after hour walking mostly it’s just the two of us.  You  might think we’d run out of things to say, but so far that hasn’t been a problem.

For example, just before we left, my chiropractor asked me if Roger and I were doing this walk as a pilgrimage (like the Via de Santiago in Spain).  I told him not really, but then the more I thought about it, I thought since we are doing a long distance walk, what a great time to be more spiritually intentional in some way.  So, we spent some time thinking about what our walk could or would look like.

I’m not sure exactly what a “real” pilgrimage really is, and the reality is that most of our days are pretty consumed with looking for the next acorn donned signpost or reading the guidebook to make note of anything of interest coming up, or at a minimum, checking in with (google map) to see if it’s working today and if the “blue dot” is still on the red trail.  Other than all of that, here’s what we’ve come up with for our long walk:  first, each day one of us gets a turn to talk about and invite a conversation about a characteristic of God.  For example, yesterday’s topic was God as a creative God.  We talked about God’s creativity in coming up with solutions to our “problems” or even our very lives that we never could have imagined, and His creativity in our every day life and who or what we get to encounter.  Then, there is obviously, God as the One who is so incredibly creative to come up with shapes and sizes and colors of well, everything:  people, places, things…etc., etc.  I’m sure you could add to our ongoing list.

Then, secondly we each answer three questions:

1.  First question is a marriage question.  For example, today’s was, “What is something you would like to add into our life together?  And then, what is something you would like to see us let go of?”

2.  Second question is a coaching question.  Today’s:  “What is something that you would like to do to bring more fulfillment to you personally while we are working in Africa?

3.  Third question is a recovery question.  Today’s topic was acceptance, so the range of discussion went from everything from the past, present, possible future unrealistic expectations, situations, longings.

Lots of time to think.  Lots of time to focus.  Lots of time to listen.  Time to feel and experience and be.  I have Roger’s undivided attention, and he has mine!!  Relationship.  To be known and to know.  What a great gift.

May you receive the gift you desire today as well.

Every steep climb has an amazing view!

If there are no sheep present, there are always telltale signs that they’ve been here anyway!

Walking is a very common British pastime, and what’s walking unless you have a dog, too, which most of them seem to…hence the need for doggie doors at most of the people pass-throughs, too!

One wood after another….

wild garlic ready to blossom open by the hundreds.

Checking in with Rick…

we actually walked from that high ridge all the way to where we were standing when I took this!

Our path dumped us out at the far end of a fairway where a ball landed right near me. Thankfully, the golfer’s partner saw the top of Roger’s red cap and waited to hit his ball.  Loud and burley, with rosy cheeks and firey red hair, he yelled out to us that he was Norwegian so we’d sure as heck better look out.  Thankfully he waited for us to climb the long hill before slamming that ball who knows where…and thankfully, too, he was grinning ear to ear, highly humored by the two Americans traipsing across the golf course.

The end of our journey for the day, the quaint little town of Painswick.

St. Mary’s in Painswick…another piece of stunning architecture and history.