Day 2—Cricklade to Lechlade

We have another reasonably long day of walking today—about 11.5 miles. So we are getting an early start from our hotel.

Before leaving town, we stop briefly at St Mary’s church, which has a sign in front claiming that it is the oldest Catholic Church in England. 

The Anglican Church declared it redundant and turned it over in 1984. St Mary’s was built over 1000 years ago, and would have been part of the Catholic Church for a considerable part of its history, at least until the Church was destroyed during the English Reformation. About that, a prolific if not eminent historian of England has written, “Generations of religious observance and ceremony, conducted by the river [Thames], were removed at the instigation of a sovereign who cared as little for the sacred history of the river as for the spiritual heritage of the nation itself.” (Peter Ackroyd, Thames, The Biography, p.99.) Substitute some easily substituted words, and another sovereign comes to mind, also disrespectful and destructive of his nation’s deepest and most cherished values, and also a glutton with multiple wives.

Cricklade is the only town or village of any significance that we have reached since beginning our walk.  And today, there is only the very small village of Castle Eaton until we reach Lechlade at the end of today’s walk. 

Almost all the walking is through the countryside where the Thames is a narrow stream glimpsed through the foliage.

The walking is easy. It’s dead flat. There are no climbs. But there are long stretches where the ground is uneven, which makes for slow going.

After walking for several hours, we reach Castle Eaton and go inside the village church, St. Mary’s, built in the late 13th century. 

Cushions with needlepoint covers are stored at each of the pews.

Two stained glass windows in the church illustrate a verse from Matthew, where Jesus describes how in the last days the goats will be separated from the sheep (you want to wind up a sheep and definitely not a goat.) The first windows are inscribed with Jesus’s sayings, “I was hungry and ye gave me meat,” “I was thirsty and ye gave me drink,” “I was a stranger and ye took me in.” 

The second windows are inscribed, “I was sick and ye visited me,” “I was naked and ye clothed me,” “I was in prison and ye came to me.”

After hearing these sayings, Jesus is asked by those waiting at heaven’s gate, “when Lord did we see you hungry and a stranger?” And he responds, “Whatsoever you did for the least of my brothers and sisters, you did for me.” 

It is distressing that are moving so quickly away from the direction given here and that we are moving faster every day. Who have we become? Where are we headed?

Back in the countryside, we saw our first swans on the Thames.

And our first boat.

After several hours of walking we came to Lechlade, which is dominated by the spire of the village church. We had seen it for at least a mile before arriving at the town.

The bridge that we cross over to Lechlade is the first navigable bridge over the Thames that we have reached.

We both have minor aches and pains. But nothing that a little rest and stretching can’t resolve. For now.