My Covid Walk: 3. Shannon Island

Where would I have reached if my year of walking in various lockdowns had been in one direction instead of daily ambles around North London?

My third idea takes me North West.  This would have required mostly walking on water and, even more alarmingly, above the place where the Titanic failed to stay on the surface, let alone me.

Leaving the physics to one side, would I have reached North America?  The answer is YES!

Shannon Island.  I couldn't make it to Canada or the U S of A, but the eastern coast of Greenland is in reach - and that includes Shannon Island, which I choose because I was born in Ipswich, Suffolk.  Let Wikipedia explain: 

Shannon Island is a large island in Northeast Greenland National Park in eastern Greenland). It was named by Douglas Clavering on his 1823 expedition for the Royal Navy frigate HMS Shannon, on which he served as midshipman under Sir Philip Broke. Broke was born at Broke Hall, Nacton, near Ipswich. He was educated at Ipswich School, where a house was later named in his honour.

Is it Covid-safe?

Couldn't be safer. 

On the Plus Side:

Social distancing (from humans - there are none).  Wildlife to look at but . . .

On the Minus Side:

. . . the wildlife is dangerous!  I can't outwalk a polar bear !  Also cold and windy even in summer.

Has it got a Football Team?

No (Greenland itself only just about has a football team).

Has it got a Baptist Church?

Er, no.

Prospects out of Ten:

Two.  Safe and beautiful in some ways but lonely after such a long walk . . .

My Covid Walk 2. Arkhangelsk

If, during my year of walking in the pandemic, I had walked in a straight line sort of North East (and across water) I would have reached Arkhangelsk (or Archangel as traditionally in English atlases) in the Russian arctic.

Encyclopedia Britannica says . . .

Founded in 1584 as the fortified monastery of the archangel Michael it was the first port of the Russian Empire to conduct trade with England. The port reached the height of its prosperity in the 17th century but subsequently declined with the founding of St Petersburg (1703) and the exorbitant customs dues introduced by Peter the Great to divert trade to his new town. Arkhangelsk later revived with the building of a railway from Moscow in 1898.

Is it Covid-safe?

Not too sure about Russian cities, but this April it is moderately OK - at least it has big city medical facilities. 

On the Plus Side:

Emerging from its winter deep freeze with a riverside promenade and some sights to look at if they're open, including the brand new Orthodox Cathedral which is part of the Russian Nationalist resurgence.

By Екатерина Борисова - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68543618

 On the Minus Side:

Fairly bleak urbanscape and a winter to avoid at all costs (for 6 months).

Has it got a Football Team?

Bandy (sort of Ice Hockey) is unsurprisingly the thing here - but it has/does have some low level football - as far as I can tell the only professional team went out of business in the 1990s.

Has it got a Baptist Church?

Yes, at least two, including the Arkhangelsk Bible Church which appears to meet in part of a shopping centre.

Prospects out of Ten:

Five.  Based on arriving now in late April into tolerable weather, and finding someone who knows about the city's positive historical connections to England and so is anglo-friendly.

My Covid Walk 1. Mariupol

I've been walking.

During the past year most of us have.  Exciting destinations like East Finchley, Friern Barnet, Bounds Green and Hornsey.

But what would have happened if I had just kept walking in one direction in a Forrest Gump-like fashion?

First, I'd have walked a long distance away, and secondly the results are, at best, mixed!

Heading East (for these purposes I can walk on water of course) I would be at MARIUPOL.

Wanderer777, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Wikipedia says . . .

Mariupol lay within a broader region that was largely devastated and depopulated by the intense conflict among the surrounding peoples, including the Crimean Tatars, the Nogay Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and Muscovy. [More recently] The city was seized on June 13, 2014 by Ukrainian troops, and has come under attack several times since.

Is it Covid-safe?

Ukraine is not doing very well at the moment. 

On the Plus Side:

It's by the sea!

On the Minus Side:

Russian border tensions are rising in the news this week.

Has it got a Football Team?

FC Mariupol haven't shaken the world, but are a respectable representative of a steelworks city.

Has it got a Baptist Church?

Ukraine has one of the largest Baptist communities in the world, and some remarkable churches.  Here the link to one http://domboga.com/index.php/o-tserkvi

Prospects out of Ten:

Two.  Based on the prospect of a walk with a Baptist pastor along the beach.

Psalm 121: Hope from the Hills

 'I lift up my eyes to the hills,  Where does my help come from?'

Psalm 121 has long been a favourite psalm for many people.  To me it evokes one word - 'Scotland'.   Apart from having live there and the hilly landscape I think it also derives from the Scottish Psalm settings in which I first sang this psalm.

For good measure, here are some Scottish hills:

Whichever way you do the geology, hills are old.  They are also very big.  The Psalmist seems a little awed by the danger he faces, but when he looks to the hills . . . re remembers that his God is the Maker of hills. 

'My strength comes from the Lord who made the heavens and the earth'.

After such a daunting year it is a good thing to look at the hills, and to look beyond them to their Creator.  And to be strengthened by Him.