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

God is with those who persevere; Persevere and never fear. Belgian proverb When I was a child, my mother used to bribe me. I was easily corrupted. I was apparently a very talkative child before being packed off to boarding school in England aged 7, so my mother devised a clever way to keep me…

Read more

By a Spring day, By Picard clay. Show me the two so closely bound As we, by the wet bond of blood, By friendship, blossoming from mud, Two Fusiliers – Robert Graves When I reached Odile Samain’s house in Bapaume the previous day, I’d been expecting to spend the night in a tent in her…

Read more

The magpies in PicardyAre more than I can tell.They flicker down the dusty roadsAnd cast a magic spellOn the men who march through Picardy,Through Picardy to hell. Magpies in Picardy -T.P. Cameron Wilson It was raining when we left Péronne this morning. We didn’t hit the road until shortly after 10am, largely due to the…

Read more

Water, water everywhere         And not a drop to drink. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner – Samuel Taylor Coleridge I won’t claim that last night at Seraucourt-le-grand was the best night’s sleep I have ever enjoyed but at least I survived without being predated by the large number of flying insects that were hovering around…

Read more

All good things come to those who wait. English Proverb The day got off to a bad start. The owner of the Ferme de Brellemont was charming, but she obviously hadn’t heard on the bush telegraph that I hadn’t eaten for the best part of 24 hours. Breakfast was extremely meagre – some orange juice,…

Read more

They shut the road through the woods Seventy years ago. Weather and rain have undone it again, And now you would never know.  The Way through the Woods – Rudyard Kipling Mme Tordeux-Bremard gave me the perfect send off this morning – three blasts on her boar hunting horn which hung in her hallway. She showed me a…

Read more

Champagne. In victory I deserve it. In defeat I need it.’ Winston Churchill Today was a bit of a red letter day. I’ve now been walking for a month, have chalked up nearly 800km/500 miles and I’ve reached champagne country. I’d love to break open some bubbly at this point, the only problem being that…

Read more

Champagne is the wine of civilisation and the oil of government. Winston Churchill Its not everyday that you get to sit outside the front of Reims Cathedral writing your blog! This wasn’t part of my original plan but what I hadn’t reckoned on, was that France shuts down on Mondays or at least until 2pm.…

Read more

Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven,Whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine,Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,And recks not his own rede. Hamlet Act 1 Scene 3  – William Shakespeare Somebody on social media asked me on Sunday if I planned to make it up…

Read more

My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky. So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I grow old, Or let me die! The Child is father of the Man; And I could wish my days to be Bound each…

Read more