Wales. Have you ever been? I have many happy memories of childhood holidays. My father’s homeland. His sister’s farm. Caravanning in Swansea South. Northern Stately Home (well an apartment in a big house) on Anglesey. Fish and chips in a dodgy Corwen cafe. Marmite sandwiches in Snowdonia. Long walks on beaches. Climbing mountains….the list could go on, but memories are not my reason for writing.
I’d asked my parents to arrange a few days holiday so we could have quality time together on my return to the UK. We went to Wales. North-West Wales. Beachside with mountains behind. It was bliss. A caravan owned by wonderful friends G&L. I have to be honest the immediate thought, when I read the ‘caravan in Wales’ email in sweltering Burundi, was ‘I’m going to freeze, it will be raining and how is that restful’. But, it was perfect. Just what I needed.
This is what I wrote in my journal under the heading ‘It was such a treat, I really enjoyed’:
• being cosy in a caravan
• not feeling guilty about doing very little
• walks on the beach, especially at sunset
• chats, laughs & prayers with Mum & Dad
• reading a whole novel
• home cooked caravan meals
• ice cream in Harlech with 1/2 & 1/2 scoops of 2 flavours
• seeing Dad’s joy of finding books in a secondhand bookshop & driftwood on the beach for the log fire at home
• walks in the mountains & woodland
• a swim in the pool before other people arrived.
Tal-y-Bont Beach, North West Wales
While we were there we climbed a mountain. Cader Idris (The chair of Idris). We drove to the car park at the bottom through country lanes. It was the old courting ground of my parents so a trip down memory lane for them. It was dry, but cold. I had layers of clothes on, both the top half and bottom. I wore my Dad’s oversized gloves and matching black hat. The air was fresh. We walked up the pony track at quite a pace as we had paid for 4 hours of car parking before reading the walk information board that the round-trip was 5 hours.
I felt alive. This is what I’ve missed, regular country walks in Burundi. Almost immediately the small-stone path was a steep uphill gradient. The amazing view behind us down to the valley and across to the ocean was a good excuse to stop for a much needed breather. I really am out of practice of mountain walking or exercise in general.
The cloud was low and it didn’t take long for us to be walking in it. The view behind no longer visible and the path ahead could be followed by walking from one pile of stones to another. Thinking time. Praying time. Mum up ahead. Dad far behind. Me in the middle. One part of me wanted to stop, to turn around and go back down. What was the point of continuing, there was no view, we were tired, it was cold and damp in the cloud. All I had to do was say the word and we would descend. They told me this was the case.
BUT, a stronger part of me, wanted to get to the top. To achieve the goal. To complete the walk. To persevere.
I thought we’d reached the top when we came to a bigger pile of stones. You know how mountains deceive you, there is always an unseen higher tip. We sat in a stone-walled sheep shelter to eat cheese sandwiches and drink coffee-coloured hot water while other walkers proudly descended from the summit. Not far they said, but no view.
We continued. We trudged. No view. Eerie mist. The top. A trig stone to mark the place. No mistake. We had done it. And even though there was no view there was a real sense of satisfaction. We had climbed Cader Idris. A first for me. A 35 year ago repeat for my parents.
At the top of Cader Idris
It was beautiful to return and see the view appear as we walked out of the cloud. The same view was better than on the way up. My eyes were opened to more things. There was joy instead of trudging. Oh and we reached the car in 3 hours 55 minutes. And there were big hot chocolates in the nearby town cafe.
So why do I write about this? I think it is a good metaphor of life perseverance. When life is good it is easy to keep going. When the clouds and difficulties come it is tempting to stop, to go back. To dwell on the past and the good views. But, there is so much more for us. Through the clouds. We grow, we learn, we rejoice.
I want to ‘press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.’
Looking back at Cader Idris
And if you have never been to Wales you should go.
joy instead 