Day 2 - Towerhill
With all the walk’s this week remember to take care, looking out for cars, vans, buses, mobility scooters as you go. Please also park sensibly if you are taking your car to the start point. Most of all we hope you enjoy yourself and learn a little bit about some Bible stories along the way.
Welcome to the second walk of Walktober. We hope you enjoyed the first walk round Eden Park. Today’s walk is slightly longer but has some special surprises to keep you going! If you do the whole walk today it should take around 40 minutes (there is a shortcut if that’s too long for you though) and will be on grass as well as pavements. You might even end up on sand so think about what shoes you should wear.
The walk starts at the Lido Car Park on the South Road and you don’t even need to pay to park there 😊
Leave the car park heading left (towards Aberdeen but we’re not going that far) Carry on across the small road that takes you down to the beach (we’ll be going down that hill later on but not yet)
Now you can turn left following the barriers. As you go along you can enjoy the beautiful view across the South Bay towards the town. We’ll find out about another name for the bay at the end of the walk.
As you head up the hill you’ll see a bus shelter on the other side of the road. If you did Walk 1 can you remember the Bible verse from Psalm 61 about a shelter?
Well done if you did remember it!
Hopefully the weather will be as nice for you as it was when we planned the route so you won’t need to shelter from rain or wind today. The Bible explains that God offers you a shelter to keep you safe for eternity. That place is called Heaven and we'll find out later how you can be sure you'll be there.
We’re now heading towards the big tower. Stay on the left side of the road until you are past the opening for Monument Close then look out for a small entrance that looks like this:
Cross the road safely here and go up this lane which takes you to a small car park.
At the small car park you’ll see an opening to the right of the bin. Go through it and follow the grass path up to the tower.
It could be a bit windy up here but you’ll get a great view right over the whole of Peterhead. Take to time to enjoy the view and try to think of a story in the Bible where people started to build a big tower. Do you know it?
That tower in the Bible wasn’t in Peterhead but at a place called Babel. God did something amazing there to stop those people building their tower; He changed their languages so that they couldn’t understand one another and they didn’t manage to finish their tower.
You can read the whole story about the Tower of Babel in Genesis chapter 11 or click on the picture to watch a short video telling the story.
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​The tower you are beside now didn’t get properly finished either but that’s probably because they ran out of money. The original plan had been to build an observatory here as well but that never happened.
Before we get going again here's a verse from the Bible which reminds us that towers in history were often places where people were kept safe and that believing in the name of the Lord is the way you can be kept safe for eternity.
Once you’ve had time to look around the tower and the view start to go back down the same path but now you a choice:
If you want to take the short way back then you can go back the way you came to the car park and head back to the Lido area.
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Hopefully you’ll still have lots of energy and want to finish the whole walk 😊 If you do then instead of turning left here you should go straight ahead.
While you’re deciding you could look at the shape of the paths and see that they look like a cross. That might remind you about another cross on a different hillside – the cross that Jesus died on at Calvary.
If you’ve taken the shortcut we’ll meet up again soon. If you are carrying on it might look like you are heading for dead end on the path but once you get down to the bushes the path will turn right and I think this is much more exciting than walking on a pavement.
After the path has turned right keep going straight ahead up the slope and you’ll arrive at houses and the Towerhill road.
Head down the road for an exciting surprise 😊
When you get to the Towerhill shop you can take your guide book or phone in (remember to wear a mask) and show them that you are taking part in Walktober. The first 30 people to do this will get a pack of sweets 😊😊😊 free of charge. You’ll then be able to enjoy your sweets as you go on the rest of the walk.
Once you’ve left the shop you can look across to the old and new prisons. Maybe you know the story of when Paul and Silas were in the prison at Philippi and how the jailer asked “what must I do to be saved?”
The answer Paul gave can be found in Acts chapter 16 verse 31 “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved”. That’s the same for us today, if you decide to believe in Jesus you will be saved (being saved means your sins are forgiven and you’ll get to Heaven at the end of your life)
We’re now heading back along the pavement towards the Lido car park again and this is where those who took the shortcut can join in again (don’t tell them they missed out on sweets!)
You’ll go passed the bus shelter again but instead of heading straight to the car park turn right down the hill towards the beach.
You’ve done very well to get this far and as a treat for the grown-ups Symposium café will give you 15% off your bill if you want to have a tea or coffee or even lunch! If your children are still hungry after their sweets they can get the discount too. They are open from 8am to 5pm and the discount is available all day but only for today (13th October) so make sure you don't miss out on this great offer! Just show them your guidebook or phone to let them know you're doing Walktober. Thank you to Paul and the team for being so kind and helping with this. There’s a fantastic swing park beside the caravan site where the children can play as you enjoy your refreshments.
As you enjoy the view, a final fact for our walk is that the South Bay is also known as the Bay of Refuge. It is a place where boats can be safe from storms. Isn’t that just like believing in Jesus and having a refuge, a safe place, for eternity?
There's one final challenge for today; as you climb the steps back to the car park can you count the steps to see how many there are? (count the bigger steps as 1 step)
Send us a private message through the Ask about the Bible Facebook page with your answer and
if you've taken any photos on your walk feel free to share them in the comments section 😊
Join us again tomorrow for Walk 3. Just before you head home take one more look at the Bay of Refuge and give thanks to God for the beautiful place to walk round and remember that God can be your refuge and your help in times of trouble.
Well done for completing today's walk. Look out for Walk 3 tomorrow. If you have any questions about the walks or the message of the Bible you can get in touch with us here