LAID BARE

THE abandoned church in a derelict state is surrounded by a dry-stone dyke, an entrance gate and an exit gate.

An adult could swing a leg over the stone wall and it would be no obstacle for scrambling children. The main gates are easily accessible.

At some point in its history, however, the wall was deliberately breached. It was built up again, allowing for a three-feet-wide access. The gentle rise on the other side of the gap, which most walkers would have taken in their stride, had three stone steps inlaid.

On either side of this afterthought of a gate is grass. There is no path to it, no path after it, and no explanation as to why it is there. All we can conclude is that, at some point, someone needed the way made easier and someone else must have made it so.

Many will like and appreciate that as they attempt to walk through an undesignated area of land used by others in the past. Why it is there remains a mystery.

If we leave anything behind after we finish our walk here, may it also be signs that we made the path easier for others to follow.