As you can read below in Margaret's blog update, we have left Wales for a week in Northumberland, near Hadrian's Wall in the north of England. Susan and I really enjoyed our course on Celtic Spirituality and saw some really neat out of the way places that I had never heard of, let alone seen before. We really enjoyed the group also, an eclectic mix of DMin students from Drew University, some retired English seniors, a Canadian catholic priest and another American on a sabbatical thanks to a Lilly grant.
After Susan and I picked up the rest of the family in Llandudno, we spent a last night there with cousin Dolo (Dorothy) Roberts and her husband Trevor. They were very kind to host us as they were getting ready for their big parish summer fair. We attended the fair and loaded up on wonderful cakes and said our goodbyes to them and to Dolo's sister Megan.
On our way up north we spent a night with cousins in Wolverhampton (Bob and Jenny Thom). 
On the way we stopped for a visit to Shrewsbury Abbey, the place where St. Winifride's relics were brought in the 12th century. It was an important abbey with ties to the Norman royal family. We found an ornate grave of Richard and Katherine Onslow (Susan's parents' names). Then we were warmly welcomed by Bob and Jenny with a tour of their lovely village of Codsall, a delicious barbecue dinner, gifts for everyone, and some good French wine. The next day we went to their church for morning prayer and a nice walk.
On the way we stopped for a visit to Shrewsbury Abbey, the place where St. Winifride's relics were brought in the 12th century. It was an important abbey with ties to the Norman royal family. We found an ornate grave of Richard and Katherine Onslow (Susan's parents' names). Then we were warmly welcomed by Bob and Jenny with a tour of their lovely village of Codsall, a delicious barbecue dinner, gifts for everyone, and some good French wine. The next day we went to their church for morning prayer and a nice walk.On Friday we stopped for a visit to Coventry Cathedral (destroyed in WWII, the new cathedral is a monument to peace and reconciliation and incorporates the shell of the old cathedral -- very moving. We drove north to Yorkshire from there and arrived in Ingleby Barwick in time for supper with Paul and Kaitlin Dominiak. Kaitlin is Emily's godmother and Paul was a seminarian at St. Luke's for two summers. He is now assistant curate at St. Francis church there and they are settling in well (see photos).
Finally we arrived at the Elpha Green cottage in Sparty Lea. A gorgeous spot to relax in the peace and quiet (at least until the roosters start crowing at 5 am!). We will be making day trips from here to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, Durham, and Hadrian's Wall.
We have added a second volume of photos to our blog. Check the upper right corner for the addresses. They are:
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1 comment:
oh yay you made it to whitby! we stopped there saturday night to say hello to paul's parents, it was so hazy! isn't it just gorgeous there?! anyway, glad you made it safely to the middle of nowhere, and we will see you in durham on tuesday!
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