English Roads

In England this time, our group rented an auto on two occasions.  The first rental was in Newcastle.  What impressed me most was the tight parking and the roads which although technically two-way, only allowed one car to be moving at any given time.  Parking was just as tight.

We didn’t really travel in the city all that much, instead we spent most of our time going to and around the coastal area near the Farne Islands, Bamburgh Castle, and we spent the night in the Redfearn’s cottage in Warren Mills. A lot of the driving wasrural.

In the Cotswolds, NW of London, it was a bit different.  We spent some time in rural areas, but in some of these the roads were just like those in Newcastle, the two-way road only was wide enough for one small vehicle and maybe a half.  We saw lorries and buses, but have no idea how anyone going the opposite way got past.  That’s not exactly true.  We did note, and a couple of times saw that there were little pull-outs informally cut into the shoulder (verge) of the narrow roads.  One car would pull into one of these to let the other pass.  The curves were a bit unnerving, not being able to see very far down the road.

Parking in Italy and England was interesting.  In most situations, there was not enough room to walk between vehicles with their rear-view mirrors deployed.  You searched for two cars parked apart enough to allow you through.

Perhaps these are metaphors for life.  We are squeezed together, and there may not be enough space to walk between us- but that just means you can pack more of us in.  The narrow roads require a bit of care, and a great deal of consideration for others. We drive by faith, and we must walk by faith, blind curves notwithstanding.

We drive by faith to get anywhere interesting.  And, we walk by faith to get anywhere worthwhile.