Dave “We’ll park at Burston, walk down to Sandon and meet the walking party there.”

Me “What time on Saturday?”

Dave “I expect we need to leave the house some time before 8 a.m.”

Me “groan”

Yes I admit I wasn’t too enthusiastic about going on the Mid Trent Churches walk on 8th February but it turned out to be a most enjoyable experience. We met up,at beautiful Sandon church, with the Bishop of Lichfield and 30 plus other walkers and started with a very short service of Bible reading and prayers. A point of interest the toilet at Sandon is also labelled the Necessarium!

Great swathes of snowdrops greeted us at Salt and in the church a host of paper doves swung from the ceiling.

Conversation flowed on the walk and we heard about the best courses for a PhD in theology (Amsterdam ), the New Zealand grazing system and many other interesting snippets.

We also saw the site of the Civil War battle at Hopton Heath and reflected on the evils of civil war. We rejoiced in sunshine and bird song and gambolling black lambs.

Many stiles were climbed, much mud discovered and the site of a long closed railway line was noted.

Tiny Hopton church was once a humble barn and there we listened to the story of Jesus’ birth in an equally humble stable.

Our last church before lunch was Burston (once a schoolroom ) where we were well fed before we said our goodbyes to our fellow travellers and headed home, having completed the first quarter of a two day walk.

What a great way to spend a Saturday morning!

Enid