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

Sweet are the uses of adversity which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head. As You Like It – William Shakespeare It isn’t every day that you have breakfast in a water mill dating back to Roman times! I couldn’t help staring at the giant kernstone and the…

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If music be the food of love, play on                        That surfeiting the appetite may sicken and so die. William Shakespeare – Twelfth Night I’ve never been a great fan of techno music with its mind numbing repetitive beat. So when I woke up in the middle of the night to the distant pounding of techno music…

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An army marches on it’s stomach Napoleon Bonaparte I was amazed that more pilgrims hadn’t stayed with Jean-Philippe and Blandine Mignot over the last few years. Their hospitality was most generous and the church was well worth a visit. Ah well, their loss was my gain. Jean-Philippe had suggested that I might encounter a mobile…

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When troubles come, they come not single spies but in battalions Hamlet Act IV Scene V- William Shakespeare Sometimes in life things go pear shaped. Today was one of those days. I should have been alerted when I passed a street sign saying ‘ Ruelle des Grandes Ouches’. It turned out to be a day…

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You wish me to tell you why and how God should be loved. My answer is that God himself is the reason he is to be loved. Bernard of Clairvaux After yesterday I was looking forward to a relaxing day on the road. An amble over to Clairvaux to visit the medieval Abbey followed by…

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It is the encounters with people that make life worth living. Guy de Maupassant There is much to be said for walking the Via Francigena in a more leisurely way. Namely having a one hour nap at lunchtime, arriving at your destination in the early afternoon, enjoying a refreshing glass of Grenadine with your host…

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Let’s be ‘avin’ you! Delia Smith – 28 Feb 2005 In the 1970s and 80s, Delia Smith was a national treasure among middle England cookery enthusiasts  who eagerly awaited her weekly recipe updates in The Times and bought her cookery books by the millions. My mother was a Delia fan and consequently I spent much…

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It is only one step from fanaticism to barbarism Denis Diderot I spent last night in Langres having supper with my Belgian friend, Claude, at the Le Foy Restaurant in the centre of Langres, over looked by the imposing9 statue of Denis Diderot. It felt slightly surreal to be sitting down with Claude in the…

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Life is full of opportunities. The problem is to recognize them when they present themselves, and that isn’t always easy. Mine, for instance, had all the marks of a curse: ‘Beware! You run a grave risk of dying in 1993. You mustn’t fly that year. Don’t fly, not even once,’ a fortune-teller told me. Tiziano…

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But I have come to realize that the true meaning of pilgrimage is to live free from any attachments, habits, prejudices. Free from physical and mental clutter. Making an outer journey is a reminder of an inner journey, and I discovered that I am always on a pilgrimage. Life is a journey. I want to…

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