Twa Bairns fae Fa'kirk........

 

Week 9

With a spring in their step....!

Having crossed the border before our last blog, this week, as we write another, we have finally after walking over 700 miles reached the "Falkirk Council welcomes you" sign.

This photo was taken on Friday as we made our way from Armadale to Polmont Station. Although, we had actually driven into Larbert on Wednesday evening having walked from Abington to Lanark.

We had worked out it was possible to return to Lanark by public transport and walk to Armadale before returning home from there and back on Friday to walk to Polmont.

You might consider this a bit of a trek, oh what one will do to enjoy a BATH FOR THE FIRST TIME IN NINE WEEKS.

Looking back over our previous week, (week 8) it is, I think, fair to say, we both felt a bit jaded and found the going slow and laborious. 

This week however there seemed to be a renewed spring in our step and on Saturday we were met at Polmont Station by Jack Watson who walked with us from there to the Kelpies.

Despite it blowing a bit of a hooley, it was big hugs all round from those in the photo. Oh, how we have missed everyone and are so looking forward to being in Miller Hall on Sunday.

After we had sat and blethered for a while, Shona and I set off for Larbert. Later in the day, we walked to Longcroft.

As I have already said, Shona and I seemed to have a spring in our step which I am sure was due to the prospect of seeing everyone, especially at Church. As I consider this, I am mindful that my evening readings this week have centred around part of a verse found in the New Testament: Colossians 1 verse 5 this speaks about, a hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel.

As we looked forward to seeing everyone, whom we had not seen for 8 or nine weeks, I began to think, and was very much challenged to ask myself, do I have this same anticipation and spring in my step at the prospect of seeing all those believers who have died and gone to be with the Lord? Perhaps, more importantly, is the spring in my step even greater at the prospect of seeing the Lord Jesus face to face?

Therein lies a great challenge for every one of us; to ask ourselves, do I have this hope. It is however, not an airy fairy hope, it is a hope based on faith, or belief something that the previous two verses (3 & 4) make clear, for we read: We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God's people.

This hope, the believer has is no empty bubble, it is no will-o'-the-wisp, a mirage. By His death on Calvary Jesus abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

We may be just "twa bairns fae Fa'kirk", who are attempting to show our faith by undertaking the challenge before us. However, we are, more importantly, two of the Lord's children, who are tasked by a greater work, and that is to tell of the greatest hope we can ever know. Found only by faith in the Lord Jesus.

As we close this blog, we are conscious that our next week's walking takes in the West Highland Way to Fort William and then, the Great Glen to Inverness. In the light of where we will be, it is unclear, due to mobile signal, if we will be able to upload a blog, we, of course, will do our best to keep everyone updated on our progress.

As always, we thank you again for reading our blog, and thank you for all your encouragement and support in prayer. Please feel free to visit and share the "Shona and Mike Take a Hike" fundraising page at:

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/shonaandmike-giving-page-2298439   

You can also visit our page using the QR Code below:









Comments

  1. Anonymous29 June 2024 at 14:41

    Well done. Amazing

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous1 July 2024 at 13:00

    It was great to see you, you’re both looking so well! An amazing achievement so far! Hope you have a good week regardless of weather!?! Fiona & Donald

    ReplyDelete
  3. Linda Taylor3 July 2024 at 07:19

    Well done. You earned your baths! Looking forward to welcoming you to the Inverness area soon. Hope the weather improves for you. Moray Firth sunshine is notable by its absence this week.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

We're now end to enders.......

Image
  Week 13 When we announced the Shona and Mike Take a Hike challenge to our Church family at Miller Hall, there were three reasons we outlined.  The first was that we saw it as a work, and whilst we knew that works could not earn us favour with God, we believed that by our works we could show our faith. Secondly, we said that we were very much aware of the warning that reminds us that we could, or should, not boast about what we will do, for none of us know what tomorrow will bring. Thirdly, and most importantly, anything we were able to achieve we must, in accordance with the words we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 31 that say: "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God".      Today, Wednesday 24th July 2024 we reached John O'Groats, and for being able to walk 1131.5 miles we simply give God all the praise and glory, for the fulfilment of His promise, given to us on 28/4/24, the day we left Falkirk to travel to Lands E...
Read more

Who are Shona and Mike?

Image
Thank you for taking the time to read our blog, please be patient with us as this is the first time in our life we have ever tried to write a blog. Not to mention the technical issues of actually setting up our blog page. As you will see we are not young computer whiz kids. Recycled teenagers maybe but not overly PC competent.  Is there a reason we are writing the blog? Yes of course and the reason we write this is to promote our challenge of attempting to walk from  Lands End to John O'Groats,  a distance of 894 miles as the crow flies, but as we are not crows we will need to walk approximately 1200 - 1300 miles.  What about us, who are we? Well! We are a married couple and by the time we start this huge, or as a young friend of ours used to say “mahoosive” challenge, we will have been married for over 48 years (this clearly indicates we are not in the first flush of youth). However, like thousands of others, we have family and friends who have been affected by canc...
Read more

Still pressing on......

Image
Walking week 7 On Sunday we spent some time with Shona's Aunty Ann, as is usual, when we visit, we were amply fed and watered. It was lovely to see her and cousin Derek popped in to say hello. Our walking between Monday and Thursday was generally easy, mostly urban with pleasant weather.  Friday on the other hand was wet, and the hills were steep. The photo on the right is Shona walking towards the Ribblehead Viaduct, in the distance the hills are shrouded in mist. The Ribblehead Viaduct was built during the Victorian era just over the border from Cumbria into North Yorkshire and is undoubtedly the most impressive structure on the Settle-Carlisle Railway. Sadly, hundreds of railway builders (“navvies”) lost their lives building the line, this was due to a combination of accidents, fights, and smallpox outbreaks. In particular, building the Ribblehead (then Batty Moss) viaduct, with its 24 massive stone arches 104 feet (32 metres) above the moor, caused such loss of life that the ra...
Read more