Which way will you choose?

Not long after we had arrived in Leicester, I bought book entitled, "Drive and Stroll in Leicestershire & Rutland."  The book contains 20 different walking routes spread throughout the two counties.  They are mainly fairly easy (the longest is only 6 miles).  For various reasons we had not had opportunity to try out any of the walks, until last week, that is.

My sister, Mary, and her husband, Keith, were staying with us for 24 hours; knowing that they are fairly keen walkers, Sue and I decided that this might be the ideal opportunity to venture forth on a walk!  After some discussion, we decided to try out a trail which begins in the village of Cossington, then follows the Grand Union Canal for some distance.  The sun was shining brightly as we set off, though there was definitely a nip in the air.

We found our way safely to the designated parking spot in Cossington.  Walking boots on, we set off.  Following our route, we had walked for only about 10 minutes or so when we spied Goscote Nurseries.  What was of much more interest was a sign for "The Tea Garden", advertising home made cakes etc!  Having done so much exercise by then(!), we all decided that we had earned some refreshment.  We sat down and enjoyed a cuppa, together with a delicious cherry and almond scone, still warm from the oven.  Duly replenished, we set off once more (with an invitation from the lady running the shop to stop by for lunch after we had finished our walk!)

We soon found the canal, and enjoyed walking along the towpath.  It was such a beautiful, peaceful spot.  After some time we came to a road.  The walk book instructed us to cross the road, then descend to the towpath on the other side of the road to continue our walk.  It was at this point that we hit a problem!  Our route down to the towpath was barred by some metal fencing; and the remains of an old sign suggested that the towpath had been closed for some time.

Now of course any sensible person would have taken that as a clear indication that either an alternative route should be found, or we should retrace our journey.  We, however, decided that we knew better!  We eventually managed to make our way onto the "closed" footpath (by a rather tortuous route, it has to be said).  For some way, although the towpath was far from easy, it was manageable.  Until, that is, we came to a mass of tall and tangled plants which blocked our way.  Sadly, we had to admit defeat and go back the way we had come.  Defeated but unbowed, we made our way back to the village.  Despite our sadness at not being able to complete the full route, we had enjoyed our walk, and were much comforted by a delicious bowl of hot vegetable soup at the Royal Oak in Cossington!

Clearly the "towpath closed" sign had been put there for a reason.  We thought we knew better, but discovered that we didn't.  Yesterday I took a church service for Remembrance Sunday, when we remembered and prayed for all those who had suffered through war.  One of the points which came across from our Bible readings was the truth that in life we have a choice: we can live in God's way, or we can chose to ignore what God says and go our own way.  So much of what we see on society and in the world today reminds us of the consequences of ignoring what God says and thinking that we known better!