This is a catch up post. I disappeared rather suddenly from the Camino on 18th April. I had been ill for a couple of days, and had let myself rest in Burgos. And then rather suddenly I told you all that I was cutting short my walk to go home to let myself recover.

That was not untrue, but it was not the whole truth. What happened was that I got a call from my stepmother to let me know that my very elderly father was weakening. He was adamant that I should not come home – he was not a man to make a fuss – but I knew as soon as I got this news that I would not have been able to forgive myself if I had set out across the Meseta, with its small towns and lack of easy access to transport, and he had weakened further and died.

So, using AI for one of the first times in my life, I asked Gemini what was the quickest and cheapest route from Burgos to Southwell. The answer was Flixbus to Bilbao, a transfer bus to the airport, a Vueling flight to Gatwick, and a train to Nottingham. It all worked fine and I was  home that evening.

It really was a wrench to leave the Camino. I love pilgrimage so much, but I knew it was the right thing to do. Of course, as soon as I got home, Dad got a bit better. But Laurence and I went to see him pretty soon after my return.

Dad was 97, nearly 98 by this time. We had planned a family party for my 70th birthday on 24th May. Dad was determined to make it, and we gathered in Warwickshire on a glorious late  spring day. He had, by then, 25 direct living descendants  – not a small family. Of them 21 were there, and he had a lovely time, and made a speech and talked to everyone. He was very deaf, but his mind was as clear as a bell and his memory extraordinarily retentive.

I was the oldest direct descendant there, and Bede, second from the right, was the youngest at four months old.

I went to look after him a week or so later for a couple of days, while my stepmother was away. We had a lovely time, with conversation, and sharing memories, listening to his history, and sitting silently reading. A week later he died, very peacefully, at home in his own bed, with his dear wife Tessa beside him. He had only been in bed for one day, and had no pain. It was as gentle and safe and secure a death as one could wish for a much-loved father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

His funeral was on 6th July. He was buried in a beautiful natural burial ground only a few miles from his home. It was a hot sunny day, the sort of weather he loved, and he was carried to his last rest by his four adult grandsons, a family choir sang an anthem, we sang the hymns he chose, and he, being an actor and lover of theatre, had requested a reading from Shakespeare.

It has been an extraordinary first half of the year. Beside Dad’s last months, and our farewells, both Laurence and I have welcomed new grandsons, Bede born in January, and Rami, born in May. Their arrival has brought great joy!

And, after several years of retirement, I have been surprised and delighted to be asked to go back to work. The cathedral that is my spiritual home, Southwell Minster, lost one of its clergy when he went to be Vicar of Doncaster. I can’t function as a priest, because the bishop won’t give me authorisation on account of my being married to Laurence – but the Dean of the cathedral took out all the priestly parts of the job and asked me to be Liturgy and Worship Coordinator for the interim period. This is a behind the scenes job helping organize the services both regular and special that are at the heart of the Minster’s life and purpose. 

I will do this until another Canon Precentor (the priest whose job is to take care of the worship) is appointed. It is the sort of job I would have loved to do, and it feels like a very special gift at my time of life. In fact, I started today.

What it means is that I am going to put a temporary halt on my pilgrimage activity. I am also getting fairly near to completing my PhD thesis. I am going to concentrate on the job and the thesis. When those are done I will, I think, go back to Burgos without limit of time, and set out on my little road again, until I get to Santiago.

So, if you have travelled with me this far, thank you. Stay subscribed and I will, from time to time, apprise you of my progress, and, when I can, will let you have warning of preparations for more walking!