Pilgrim's Progress – Long Distance Walks in Europe and the UK

Tout vient a qui sait attendre Poem by Violet Fane You know you are getting old when you have been walking for nearly 12 hours non stop from 6 am you feel completely knackered when you reach your destination and feel like crashing out at about 8pm! With 39 km to cover and some fairly…

Read more

There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures. Julius…

Read more

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream – William Shakespeare This was a day to forget but an evening to remember. Sleeping in a one man tent is an…

Read more

Travel is fatal to bigotry, prejudice and narrow-mindedness. Mark Twain One of the great pleasures of going on pilgrimmage is that you bump into such a variety of delightful and stimulating individuals. Dan was undoubtedly one of them. As I hit the sack the previous evening I had a bit of a panic attack. For…

Read more

The hotel I was staying in at Dourgne had eight rooms. Mine was the only one that was occupied. I got chatting to the lady who served me breakfast. Yes business was very slow she admitted- due to the cost of living crisis in France people weren’t dining out or staying in hotels as much…

Read more

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. Jean-jacques Rousseau I left the Villa Caline in good spirits, fortified by the previous night’s cassoulet, 10 hours sleep and a clean pair of socks. Such simple pleasures do a a happy walker make. It was back to three hours beside La Rigole. I was still mystified…

Read more

You can’t be a successful Dictator and design women’s underclothing.’‘No, sir.’‘One or the other. Not both.‘ PG Wodehouse – The Code of the Woosters I must confess I wasn’t looking forward to the day’s walk from Villeneuve to Toulouse one little bit. After the tarmac crunching through the centre of Montpellier, I awoke with a…

Read more

Faber est quisque fortunae suae Appius Claudius Caecus A day which began well nearly ended in disaster 12 hours later, the unlikely person who saved the day, being the proprietor of a Renault repair shop. I set off from my hotel in the centre of Toulouse with the sun yet to rise and made my…

Read more

In truth this was a fairly easy day’s walk. The previous evening’s jollities had continued until well after midnight, and I didn’t start my merry way homewards the next day until shortly before 10am! Thankfully it was a fairly leisurely yomp home over familiar territory without the need to consult a guidebook, look out for…

Read more

“To be a pilgrim is to be on a path of adventure, to move out of our comfort zones, to let go of our prejudices and preconditioning, to make strides towards the unknown.” Satish Kumar – Earth Pilgrim Barely a week has passed since Lammas Day (1 August). In this part of Wiltshire, on the…

Read more