Category: Uncategorized
-
Day 15: Gûines to Tournehem-sur-la-hem (34 km) The way through the Woods
They shut the road through the woodsSeventy years ago.Weather and rain have undone it again,And now you would never knowThere was once a road through the woodsBefore they planted the trees.It is underneath the coppice and heath,And the thin anemones … Rudyard Kipling – The Way through the Woods My…
-
Day 16: Tournehem-sur-la-hem to Wisques (20 km) Benedictine rules
Up the long flight of stairsevery tread echoes from stone wallsas if to comment on how stillnesstells of sound its silent origin. In the quiet library, the central tablebears a careful written message:‘Silence is spoken here’.. and that’s truer than It first appears to read. Michael Shepherd – The Monastery…
-
Day 17: Wisques to Thérouanne ( 23 km) And Quiet Flows the Aa
Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day. A.A.Milne – Winnie-the-Pooh My walk to Rome to raise money to help repair the roof of St Peter’s Church, Winterbourne Stoke is going well. I’ve now completed 1/3rd of the distance (420/1236 km) that I’m aiming to…
-
Day 18: Thérouanne to Amettes (19 km) In search of the birthplace of cricket
If the French noblesse had been capable of playing cricket with their peasants, their chateaux would never have been burnt. G.M.Trevelyan Having been assured by Alain, the caretaker,that I would be the sole pilgrim staying the night at the gite d’étape ‘Eden, the arrival of Dean came as something of…
-
Day 19: Amettes to Béthonsart (27 km) Going off piste – in the footsteps of Benoît Joseph Labre
How good the Church is in this century of hatred, Of pride and avarice and all sins, To hear today the hidden of the hidden, The meek among the meek to human ignorance. Saint Benoit-Joseph Labre in Amour – Paul Verlaine It proved to be an interesting and challenging day…
-
Day 20: Béthonsart to Arras (28 km) Horse meat, Standing Stones and Andouillette
If hippophagy disappears completely, breeds of draft horses will fall into extinction. Jean-Pierre Digard By the time I came down for breakfast at 7am, Christine had left for Lille, where she teaches business management, and Pierre Yves was out on the farm with his dogs. It felt slightly strange being…
-
Day 21: Lille/Ypres – In Flanders Fields they shall not grow old.
In Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses, row on row,That mark our place; and in the skyThe larks, still bravely singing, flyScarce heard amid the guns below. In Flanders Fields – John McCrae Saturday was a day of unalloyed luxury – being driven around in a Mercedes-Benz, eating delicious…
-
Day 22: Ablain-St Nazaire/Contalmaison – in the footsteps of the fallen soldier.
If I should die, think only this of me:That there’s some corner of a foreign fieldThat is for ever England. The Soldier – Rupert Brooke Just over 10 years ago, as I was rummaging through the attic of my parents’ house after my mother’s death, I had a strangely moving…
-
Day 23: Arras to Bapaume (27 km) Pluck,Perseverance and the Belgian Connection
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…
-
Day 24: Bapaume to Péronne (31 km) Being a Good Samaritan – a day on the road with Dean
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…
-
Day 25: Péronne to Seraucourt-le-grand (31 km) All about Ch’ti and Ch’tennis
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…
-
Day 26: Seraucourt-le-grand to Septvaux (45 km) Back to basics
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…
Pilgrim's Progress - Long Distance Walks in Europe and the UK 