Where in the world has David been today? Pitsmoor (Sheffield)

Another outstanding day, and a lovely day of camaraderie, but it is late and I am tired, so you may have to excuse either a short post, or one that has lots of spelling and grammar errors contained within it. Or both.

The morning was beautiful. There was a little bit of approximation around our arrival times at the church (Christchurch Harpurhey), and then we had trouble unlocking the vestry that contained our bikes, so that we didn't set off quite as early as intended, but we got off reasonably, sent on our way with prayer, and tootled off on a revised route. Revised in order to pass the velodrome in Manchester, a place of awe for many cyclists. No photo, sadly, but there it was. The potter out to Stalybridge was a bit tedious, but we stopped there at the church to be joined by Jenny's twin sister Judy. Refreshments were provided - including jelly beans - and we chatted with church members and Judy's husband, Tom. Judy, it has to be said, is a real twin to Jenny in sporting ability and fitness - not so much so in personality - and having only been out for a short ride previously on her borrowed (and not especially fine) bike she romped up the hills with no problem.

The pull up from Stalybridge to Glossop was fine and Costa coffee's branch in Glossop did some good trade with us. After that, we rapidly hit the bottom of Snake Pass, and that's where it got tough. They may say it is an average gradient of 1 in 16 or 17 (6 to 6.5%), but my bike computer indicated more like 7% most of the time, and 8% a lot of the time. The thing is, we had been warned to expect really cold conditions at the top, so we had mostly put on a layer, and that led to some overheating. Still, the summit was reached with a rest or two, but no walking. That's what matters. Just one participant took the wise decision to hitch a lift in the support vehicle. I didn't witness it, but some of us saw snowflakes in the air at the top, another, who waited a long time at the top, reports that the snow was settling on him. I am inclined to believe him.

From there it was a magnificent swoop down to Ladybower Reservoir, though with a headwind that both slowed my maximum speed to 37mph and chilled the bones to the marrow! The headwind continued as the road kicked up and down along the reservoir, but it was a fantastic run to the dam and picnic site and I had caught up all the time lost as we climbed. That felt good. And my sugar levels hadn't 'bonked' again. Did really well with nutrition and hydration management today. At the picnic site we were met by Patrick and Gill from St Polycarp's in Malinbridge (Sheffield) - the only church with that dedication in the country. Patrick is a trustee of CMS, and Gill makes a mean picnic, with soup (lentil and vegetable - a masterstroke) and sandwiches galore. It was a lovely lunch, greatly improved by the fact that our asthmatic rider, who had dropped out on the climb, recovered well as lunch went on.

From Ladybower, there was another good climb up, but not as severe as Snake Pass - quite! Peter had rather undersold Snake Pass to us - as being about the same as Stalybridge hill but longer. This hill was a bit undersold too, and we had lunch freshly in our stomachs - both a good thing and a bad thing. With that conquered, Sheffield lay beneath us, but hidden from view, and there was an awesome (and long) downhill run through the woods to reward us for our hard work and a cup of tea at the bottom. At that point we discovered our first mechanical problem - a puncture on Judy's borrowed bike. Sadly the attempted repair didn't take, so Judy joined Julie in the support car for the last few miles into Sheffield and thus avoided a) the horrible traffic system and tram tracks, b) the dreadful cycle lanes, and c) the steepest hill of the day to get up to the church.

Tonight I again managed to miss the service, but that has had its compensations. I have stayed on the other side of Sheffield with Tina and Jasper Hodges. Tina and I trained for ministry together and it has been wonderful to catch up. It has been equally special to meet Jasper, and I was so glad to have time with him in 'get-to-know-you' mode before Tina got home. I really admire what they are doing in the Arbourthorne area where Jasper is Vicar and Tina is Associate Minister. They are linked with St Thomas' Philadelphia in Sheffield and the Order of Mission, their work includes Beacon and the first Eden Project outside Manchester. Please read about it, and support them in prayer. It was also lovely to discover that they are in a learning community together with our friends Dave and Caroline Hammond, ex. of a parish in Stockton Deanery, and now involved in pioneering church work in Nottingham, where we head tomorrow.

Still, enough rambling, here's something I have been chewing on this evening. Let me know what you think. It was probably inspired by someone pointing out that the eight of us who have been riding together have collectively done about 1500 miles in the last three days. I suddenly thought about how many miles I have done: about 180. That's already nearly 10% of my entire pilgrimage distance. What occurred to me was that if someone had pointed that out to me, I would have felt really encouraged. On the other hand, if someone had been standing a tenth of the way up Snake Pass and had called out "Go on, you're 10% of the way there" I would have probably given up there and then (and possibly also given them a hostile response of some variety). Why the difference when the full pilgrimage is actually the much greater challenge. I think it might have to do with horizons we can see, and horizons we can't, but I am not sure. For now it is just an interesting thought but I am intrigued.