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

What is love? ’tis not hereafter; Present mirth hath present laughter;                                 What’s to come is till unsure:     In delay there lies no plenty;      Then come kiss me, sweet-and-twenty!               Youth’s a stuff will not endure William Shakespeare – Twelfth Night In May this year, Claudine Thorelle, my host at the gite ‘La Charmotte’ in Gy, had…

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Love is the foolishness of men, and the wisdom of God. Victor Hugo – Les Miserables When Louis XIV ascended the throne of France on the 14th May 1643, France was embattled by neighbouring states, impoverished by years of constant warfare and imperilled by feuding factions. When he died 72 years later, France had been…

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But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,And loved the sorrows of your changing face; William Butler Yeats – When You Are Old The day didn’t get off to the best of starts. I’d decided on an early 8am departure from the Diocesenal House in Besançon as it was 37km to Ornans which I…

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In Xanadu did Kubla KhanA stately pleasure-dome decree:Where Alph, the sacred river, ranThrough caverns measureless to manDown to a sunless sea. Samuel Taylor Coleridge – Kubla Khan There are no two ways about it, today was a tough day! My departure from the Smoking Wild Boar Gite outside Ornans was delayed by an hour by…

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Margaret, are you grievingOver Goldengrove unleaving?Leaves, like the things of man, youWith your fresh thoughts care for, can you?Ah! as the heart grows olderIt will come to such sights colderBy and by, nor spare a sigh Gerard Manley Hopkins – Spring and Fall The Hotel F1 in Pontarlier, partially redeemed itself overnight. The place was…

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O’er the hills and o’er the main     Through Flanders, Portugal and Spain.                                          King George commands and we obey                                           Over the hills and far away. English 17th century folk song adapted by John Tams I was in reflective mood as I headed out of Jougne, past the chapel dedicated to St Maurice, a 3rd century Roman…

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From the window or the door. I shall set forth for somewhere, I shall make the reckless choiceSome day when they are in voice And tossing so as to scare The white clouds over them on. I shall have less to say, But I shall be gone. Robert Frost – The Sound of the Trees I sometimes wonder what Archbishop Sigeric…

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The journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step.  Lao-tzu When I originally planned the ‘Raise the Roof’ charity walk from Winterbourne Stoke to Rome, I’d hoped to complete the walk in one go, starting in early June and finishing in late September. Covid put paid to those plans. Olivia suggested an alternative…

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The important thing in life is not to triumph but to compete. Baron Pierre de Coubertin – founder of the Olympic Movement Today was an epic day! Fantastic scenery around the shores of Lake Geneva, a blog post all nicely worked out and then a radical reworking of my planned itinerary and a hugely uplifting…

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If you asked me now who I am, the only answer I could give with any certainty would be my name. For the rest: my loves, my hates, down even to my deepest desires, I can no longer say whether these emotions are my own, or stolen from those I once so desperately wished to…

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