One Last Trip

Our travels are slowing down a bit as it is, and this weekend was our last real trip outside of London.  We took the opportunity to travel up to Garstang (just north of Liverpool and Preston at the southern edge of the lake country) to visit a friend.  Sherry, Hope and I boarded an early train and headed up to Preston.  Our friend Marcie is a minister at the Free Methodist church in Garstang.  She's been on the mission field for quite some time and we hadn't seen her since she came to help us do a drama revival when I was pastoring in Louisiana (1993, we think).

Sherry and Marcie on the obstacle course

Traveling by train is quick and pleasant, though it did get a tad crowded on the way home.  The short range trains are willing to overbook and allow people to board without a seat.  So there were people sitting on the floor around the edges of the coaches on the way home.  Still, we had a comfortable seat, so it wasn't a problem for us.

Garstang was beautiful.  We got to meet Marcie's new husband Clive and stayed with them overnight.  We spent Saturday seeing the sights in the area, including the farm that Clive's daughter's family helps run.  That brought the opportunity to feed the baby lambs and pet the calves.  We also toured the area by car (our first time in a car since January) and climbed the "big rock" -- a huge boulder apparently randomly distributed by a glacier sometime in the past.

On top of the big rock

You know you're on a back road when there are buffalo in the way

On Sunday morning we visited Marcie and Clive's church, then had a traditional English roast for lunch (wonderful).  We followed that with a walk down to feed the ducks before catching the train back to London.