Holiday 2011

So having answered some of your camping FAQs in my last post, let me tell you a bit about what we did on our camping holiday in Much Wenlock, Shropshire.

The village of Much Wenlock is only a short walk from the Sytche Camp site - either along the road or through the woods, and depending on your interests and the time of year it could keep you entertained for a while. Claiming to be the birth place of the modern Olympics there is the Olympian Trail to be followed around the village, highlighting points and places of interested.

If you enjoy walking, or cycling or running there are plenty of tracks to be explored. The Shropshire way heads out of Much Wenlock on a disused railway towards the Severn Valley in one direction. The National Trust owns much of the land along Wenlock Edge in the other direction and there are some great forest trails to be found there - and if this was my sister's blog, at this point there would be pictures of insects, rare flowers, birds, and dew drops on leaves. But as I didn't carry a camera on the 50 miles of trails I explored whilst running you'll just have to take my word for it. Oh yes - there were also hills - it's not called Wenlock Edge for nothing.

Just a few miles away is the Iron Bridge gorge, along with the various museums that bring the past to life. You can get a Passport that allows unlimited access to all museums for a whole year and is well worth it, especially if you get them with your Tesco vouchers!

As I mentioned in my last post, dressing up as Victorians was required on more than one occasion, and was something that the girls really enjoyed.

One of their favourite museums was the Blists Hill Victorian Village. The second time we visited was an Alice in Wonderland themed day, and whilst sheltering from one of the very few rain showers we experienced the whole time we were there, we bumped into the King and Queen of Hearts, the White Rabbit and Alice.

Another favourite activity was swimming, with the Much Wenlock leisure centre being only a few minutes walk away. One final highlight I will share with you was bat watching - something that we were able to do most evenings on the camp site as three bats would come out at dusk and swoop around the camp site sometimes coming to within a metre or two as we sat outside the tent.
If you've never visited this part of the UK we can certainly recommend it. I haven't mentioned other great days out including visits to RAF Cosford and Warwick Castle - although Warwick was probably a little too far away - almost half way home! We had a lovely time.

Camping - FAQ

I know from conversations that I sometimes have that there are people who think we are totally mad to contemplate living in a tent for two weeks - and who see no way that this could be remotely enjoyable and certainly not constitute a holiday. But as the conversation and the questions develop it becomes clear that these same people actually have no idea what camping is really like - in fact they picture the five of us, squashed into a one man tent, out on the moors with no facilities within 10 miles. But having just got back from a brilliant two weeks in Shropshire let me try to whet your appetite...

If you're going to spend two weeks camping you need a big enough tent. We have a Vango Monte Verde 700, which can sleep 7, but we have it set up for 5 (with sleeping compartments at the rear 1/4, living space in the middle 1/2, and kitchen at the front). If you're looking for a recommendation - we think it's great. It takes about 45 mins to a hour to put up with two people, and won't fit into your rucksac!

With three children it is good to be able to keep the kitchen area zipped up, so even if they get up in the night they can't get out of the tent or start fiddling with the cooker.

Talking of kitchens - some of you wonder what we eat for two weeks whilst camping - do you picture us on dried rations or something? We have a two ring gas cooker, and so eat the same sorts of things that we might at home - tuna pasta bake, vegetarian pilau rice, spaghetti bolognese etc - as well as the occasional BBQ or Fish and Chips.

The weather this year was great, but you have to be prepared for bad weather if camping in the UK. The middle section of our tent gives the girls plenty of space to amuse themselves if they can't get outside, and what with the two sleeping compartments it means that they can all be put in separate rooms if necessary! The girls quickly made friends with some of the other children on the site and so it is good that there is also space for them to invite their friends round. And yes - that is a carpet on the floor.

Another great concern is the question of showers and toilets etc. We stayed at a great little campsite called Sythche Caravan and Camping on the edge of Much Wenlock. There were showers and toilets, plus washing up facilities and a small freezer for ice blocks. The staff were friendly and helpful. Would we go back again? Certainly - although we'd probably avoid busy/noisy bank holiday weekends.

So what is there to do in and around Much Wenlock? Loads. I'll write some more on what we did later, but here are a couple more pictures - as you can see dressing up as a Victorian was a recurring theme.

Doing what comes naturally

How well do you respond in a crisis? What would you do if you were flying an Airbus full of passengers over a populated city when you lost both your engines?



Most of us would simply panic - resulting in disaster. But that is because we have no training and no experience. When an experienced pilot gets into difficulty often their training kicks in and they simply do what comes naturally.

The best sports people in the world often respond instinctively and effortlessly to situations, making brilliant catches, scoring goals or runs, or kicking conversions. But the reality is that thousands of hours of practise lies behind the instinct and intuition. In the heat of the moment they do what comes naturally - but they have worked for years to ensure that what comes naturally is the very thing that will bring success.

Last Sunday, at church, we were thinking about how the Bible plays an important role in forming our Christian character, so that in the heat of the moment, we instinctively know what to do - we naturally do the thing that will bring glory to God. And what goes on in our minds is so important. Our thinking affects our behaving.

Therefore it is essential that we spend time reading and reflecting on God's word - but also get into the habit and discipline of memorising Bible verses - something that has gone out of fashion in recent years.

If you want somewhere to start, Psalm 119:11 says 'I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you'. Write it down - on a small card that will fit in your pocket, and on a post-it note stuck to your fridge, mirror, computer screen...Repeat it often - including the reference. Think about it. Ask the 'so what?' question.

When we get God's word into our minds and hearts, when it affects us, when we allow it to change us, we will find that what comes naturally is pleasing to God.

Responding to the Riots

Yesterday was the one month anniversary of my last post - so I thought it was about time I wrote something.

Those of you living in the UK, and many of you living across the world, will have seen images from the riots that occurred this week in London, and in several other major English cities. Following the consecutive nights of rioting, which saw groups of people involved in battles with the police, burning properties and cars, large scale looting, and tragically several killings, the focus has now shifted to the clear up and the analysis of what happened and why. There are many different opinions and much has been written in many blogs over the past week.

As different opinions are put forward in television interviews I find myself agreeing with some and getting really annoyed at others. As I have been reflecting on the events over the last few days and wondering whether to blog - and then what to blog - my thoughts have gone round in circles, and off on tangents: clearly there are no easy answers. And one thought seems to lead to another, which leads to another.

Certainly it is true that there were large numbers of people involved who were just out for a fight with the police, out to cause trouble and destruction, out to get their hands on a new mobile, a pair of trainers, or a flatscreen TV. Why did they get involved? Some simply got caught up in the events as they happened - and many probably thought that because of the numbers involved that they could get away with it.

I wonder how much of our behaviour is governed not by an absolute sense of what is right and wrong - but governed by the thought: will I get caught?

A feeling of hopelessness, anger, of being disconnected from society, of not having a voice - these are other reasons that have been put forward as so why things reached the scale they did. With parts of our society so on the margins, some are not at all surprised by the riots, declaring them to have been inevitable sooner or later. And whilst there are undoubtedly those in our society who despair at ever getting a job, who can't pay the bills on benefits, who see no escape, no way out, who have no hope, who have been let down by the education system...(and these are the people who Jesus spent time with)...they don't all turn to violence as the only way to get heard. One does not have to lead to the other.

Of course there are parts of the world where we (or at least our government on our behalf) have encouraged civil uprising and unrest against the authorities. Where we have armed those who have no voice in order to allow them to topple 'unjust' regimes. Is there a link?

There is so much more that has been said, and there is so much more that could be said. But where should the church be in all this? We pray for peace. We pray for those who have lost homes, jobs, family members. We pray for the authorities. And we continue to seek to be God's agents for change, bringing hope and faith and love in the places where God has called us to be, alongside people, who just like us, have been created in the image of a creative rather than destructive God.