St. Oswald's Way - Day 4

Today gave us our first glimpse of our final destination - it seemed so close from Bamburgh Castle and yet our route took us inland on a seeming detour to the town of Belfour.  We walked further today so that our mileage would be less tomorrow but we still managed to stop for refreshments on the way:)

I read a quote which made lots of sense: "Pilgrimage is physical prayer.'

My journeying thought for today again from the Psalms was:'pray today that your "feet may not slip" as you try to be the person God is calling you to be.'  How easily my feet slip when my life is not grounded in God and how easily my feet are distracted by the entcing ground of busyness.

Day 3 - Howdiemont Sands to Beadnell

Today we continued to make our way up the coast reflecting on the words: 'You have brought us out to a spacious place.' (Psalm 66:12).  Walking this way has reminded of the vastness of God and his amazing majesty.  What an amazing God who knows us individually.  Two stops today - one in a cafe and one in a pub before saying evening prayer in the ruins of Ebb's Chapel and a snese that even if we kept silent the stones would cry out.  We got wet today but only briefly - the weather has been fantastic.

Pilgrimage - Day 2

It was back to Warkworth Castle for the start of Day 2 and a 'proper' walk of 10miles.  Today we got our first glimpse of the fantastic coastline.  I still struggled today with a sense of wanting to have some revelation/deeper experience of God which in hindsight came when I stopped striving and simply 'soaked up God' (slightly ironic as today my water bottle leaked and I ended up walking with a wet back!

The psalm for the day contained these words: 'lead me and guide me' (Ps 31:3) - words which I reflected on as I made my way up the coast.  We reached Alnmouth in time for lunch followed by coffee and cake!!  Having made good time we arrived at Howdiemount Sands two hours ahead of pickup time and so there was opportunity to stop, take in the beauty and test the tempertature of the North Sea!