Gate

Each year, Christian Aid Scotland hold an event called Another Way to Remember. In the past it has involved a walk during which the participants remember a loved one (or several people close to them) who are no longer with us. At the end of the walk there is usually a short church service or act of memorial when one can, if they wish, light a candle as a symbol of remembrance.

Today was that day and, as with so much else at the moment, it took a different form this year. We each did our own walk, rather than meeting up and walking and sharing stories together, and then joined up via Zoom for the act of worship and remembrance.

I, along with my cousins, one of whom I was remembering today, grew up in Cardowan. It was a real treat for us to be taken down to Hogganfield Loch in Millerston (which is about a couple of miles away) for an afternoon out. We would go there to roll our Easter eggs, have a summer picnic, etc.

Cardowan in those days had a colliery but, as with so many similar places now, the once derelict land has been reclaimed and is now a nature reserve. One can walk from the end of our street through the nature reserve and into Hogganfield Loch Park. So that's where I went for my walk today. The gate in the photo is at the point where one leaves the area known as Frankfield Loch and enters Cardowan Moss Local Nature Reserve. Despite the weather app on my phone suggesting there was a 5% possibility of rain, that possibility came to pass although the worst of it was reserved for my 20-minute car journey down and my journey home.

It didn't help that, after all that, my laptop then decided to go in the huff for some reason, meaning that I joined the service about ten minutes late. But, hey, that's what computers do.