Alone or together?

Most of this way I have walked on my own. Occasionally I have had a companion and that has mostly been Bob. Last night at Boggle Hole YHA there were three women sharing a room, each of us had walked from Whitby and each of us was walking onto Scarborough.

In the bar, I saw Mark, who I met at Helmsley YHA on the first day of the walk. Encounters on the way from Boggle Hole; a van drew up, it was a couple I meet yesterday.

My decision to travel alone was about prayer and thinking time. Company is nice but sometimes you need less of it. But today was going to be a long hot route and Karen, from Leeds, was going the same way so, when we met later on the track, we decided to go on together.

The steepness of the Cleveland Way path meant we decided to use the flatter route that follows the old Whitby to Scarborough railway line. It also has more tea shops. We tried the one at Ravenscar and the one at Cloughton. The route was more shady. There was also a charming weasel at Burniston.

 

It is very different walking with someone else but we both agreed on this long hot day, the company of each other had helped us get to the end. It also reminded me of one of my favourite episodes in the Gospels: reflecting on the meeting on the road to Emmaus, the say to each other "Wasn't it like a fire burning in us when he spoke to us on the road".

That fire, the one you put in us,
That fire, may it burn on and on.
That fire, the one we remember
That fire, may it fuel our days.
That fire, that comes with your company,
That fire, may it energise us on the way.