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

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  • Day 15: Monferran-Savès to Gariès (26km) The green green grass of home.

    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…

  • The Two Moors Way

    “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…

  • Day 1: Carswell Farm to Holne (41 km) West Country Tales of the Unexpected from the South Hams

    I have wandered over Europe, have rambled to Iceland, climbed the Alps, been for some years lodged among the marshes of Essex – yet nothing that I have seen has quenched in me the longing after the fresh air, and love of the wild scenery, of Dartmoor. The Rev Sabine…

  • Day 2: Holne to Drewsteignton (40 km) A Day of Tin,Tors and an Unexpected Encounter.

    Crowded places, I shunned them as noises too rudeAnd fled to the silence of sweet solitude. John Clare I couldn’t resist a quick sneak around Holne Parish church before I left. From the outside, there is nothing particularly remarkable about the church of St Mary the Virgin, but step inside…

  • Day 3: Drewsteignton to Witheridge (38 km) A Pirate called Black Sam Bellamy and a village called Black Dog.

    Tom Pearce, Tom Pearce, lend me your grey mare, All along, down along, out along, lee, For I want for to go to Widecombe Fair, With Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney, Peter Davy, Dan’l Whiddon, Harry Hawke, Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all, Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all.…

  • Day 4: Witheridge to Simonsbath (50 km) Back to the Barle in search of Boris

    We are human beings first and last. Our religion is faith in Humanity – and there can be no religion greater than that. Satish Kumar – No Destination – Autobiography of an Earth Pilgrim According to the Cicerone guide to The Two Moors Way, a long day lay ahead. From…

  • Day 5: Simonsbath to Lynmouth (18 km) As one journey ends, another begins.

    Suivez vos rêves, ils connaissent le chemin. French saying The day began in Stygian gloom shortly after 5am. It was an early start – I needed to be back home in Wiltshire and beat the Bank Holiday traffic by 6pm. As I was cooking breakfast of spicy cheese ramyon, a…

  • The clock is ticking

    The clock is ticking and there are now less than 3 weeks left before I set off from St Peter’s Winterbourne Stoke to St Peter’s Rome on a 1,600 mile journey into the unknown to help raise funds to repair the leaking roof at St Peter’s Church, of which I…

  • Day 3: Winchester to Alton (34 km) Divine Providence

    ‘There’s a divinity that shapes our ends Rough hew them how we will’ Hamlet Act 5 Scene 2 As I embark on the first stage of the Pilgrims Way from Winchester to Alton, here are a few more thoughts about that ‘mysterious’ incident that occurred a few weeks ago that…

  • Kit list – keeping it light

    Ok this blog post is a bit geeky – it’s about what kit I’m taking with me and what I’m leaving behind. I’m indebted to two people for most of the ideas that follow: Brian Franklin, who lives in the next village (Shrewton), is a veteran of many long distance…

  • History of the Via Francigena

    People have been making pilgrimages to Rome since the fourth century when , with the Edict of Milan in AD313, the Roman Empire became Christian, unleashing a veritable flood of pilgrims anxious to visit the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul in the city. These early pilgrims were aided in…

  • Day 1: Winterbourne Stoke to Pitton (21 km) Onward Pilgrim Soldier

    ‘ In the middle of the journey of our life, I found myself astray in a dark wood, Where the straight road had been lost sight of ‘ Dante Alghieri – Canto 1 of the Divine Comedy. Well D-Day finally arrived after 9 months of wistful musing, bouts of frustration…