July 2021 – Homepage

Day15 Therouanne to Amettes – Oh Sunny Day!

<Allison> It was another short day of only 20.22km (12.6mi). For the first time in many days, the sun was shining as we started off. Sunshine is so much more inspiring than rain; although to be fair other than the one day, it has mostly just been on and off sprinkles. You know, just enough rain to require us to don and doff our rain gear several times during the day. Ironically, the cool rainy days have been when we have walked the farthest. Perhaps the rain is a motivation to hurry up and get the miles/kilometers done.

Even though we had coffee and eggs for breakfast before we ventured out, we stopped about one block down the street for croissants and coffee. Yummy! When you walk every day for long periods of time, you can justify the goodies whenever possible. Seriously, we struggle to keep up the calorie count – I know…lucky us.

As I was walking today, I thought about all the surfaces we have walked on. Today we must have hit almost all of them. Every time I thought about changing from my awesome but completely fashion-challenged convertible pants and into shorts, we would begin walking through a field of waist high wet weeds including nettles. France can certainly grow some healthy nettles. So,…long pants win for the day since some sort of leg and ankle protection is needed.

We also had fun walking through a swampy wood. It was here that we saw some suspicious signs to one side of the path. None of my French lessons included phrases like “nuclear waste dump” or “unexploded ordinance” but these signs were a bit ominous. There were no incidents as we stayed on the marked VF path. Every day is an adventure. Honestly, the signs probably meant something more benign like, “restricted area”, but the warnings were pretty clear in international symbols conveying “Hey You….Stay Out!”

The only mildly interesting thing we saw – and I’m really stretching it here- were a few slag piles. This area was the coal mining Mecca in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Artificial hills of coal slags are scattered across the landscape. Most have reverted to nature, but their oddly unnatural shape (a steep solitary hill where the rest of the land is pretty flat) gives them away.

Little else to record, so here is a short clip about a slag heap!

We did walk past the village of Liettres. This village’s claim to fame is the invention of the game of Cricket. Who knew?

Walking along each day this seems to be a regular occurrence; little annoyances of pain that move around my body with no real effect other than to remind me that the miles are starting to accumulate. There’s no real pain – I mean it is all real- just minor in severity. It’s odd that it moves around, but perhaps that is just the nature of things.

<Later>. We’re staying at a farmhouse gite “The two lime trees”. They serve a farmhouse dinner, so we will enjoy that this evening. Other exciting news, another pilgrim is reportedly coming this evening. He or she will be the first other hiker we’ve seen this trip.

So on that subject of pain. It’s an odd thing, but just as we ended walking yesterday I started having an intermittent sharp hip pain. This morning it was still there. It would randomly zap me. “Well, this could make for an ‘interesting’ day!”, I thought. But sure enough, after the first hour it was gone. But by that time my left foot arch was aching. An hour later it it was my right knee, and the next hour my left shoulder hurt.

Our lodging for the night is at the Gite les deux Tuilles. It is a farmhouse. They have a beautiful garden.

This owner is retired and now raises racing pigeons…that’s right…racing pigeons. That’s a thing.

Anyway we viewed his prize pigeons and afterward had a delicious farm cooked meal of soup, roast pork, and vegetables with an apple tart for desert. Sooooooo good! Oh and we met our first fellow pilgrim. Dominiq (left) is walking to Reims.

Good night all!

Day14 Wisques to Therouanne – Groovin’

When the alarm went off this morning, it was hard to get out of my cozy sleeping bag. Our night at the Abbaye was the quietest night’s sleep we have had so far, and it was wonderful. After finishing our breakfast of fresh bread and homemade jams and fresh coffee (just like there will be heaven), we walked out of the Abbaye grounds onto the VF once again.

Our steps were lively after almost a day of rest at the Abbaye. I highly recommend staying at Abbaye Notre Dame in Wisques where you will be welcomed with smiles and amazingly generous hospitality. Soeur Lucy will make you feel at home. Mark and I both agreed that we felt restored mentally, physically, and spiritually this morning. Yesterday we were dragging our feet, but today we bounce.

We walked through a land of legends. We crossed the Aa River (a favorite of French crossword writers) .

Next we walked along Brunhilde’s Way. She was a queen in the 7th century and did a lot to restore the roads. She had a famous ferocity, but met a tragic end by being dragged to death behind a horse, tied by her hair.

In contrast to the ancient history, we walked past modern marvels as well. Our first up-close encounter with the modern windmills came this morning in Pays de Calais. The stiff breeze today made the morning refreshing up high on the hilltops. Shortly afterwards however, we came across this…no words can describe it, so you just have to watch the video to get an appreciation.

Well, after that “encounter” we finished up the day somewhat uneventfully. However at lunch, a moment transpired that is hard to describe. Sitting on a non-descript bench, next to a cemetery, alongside a country road, in no-where France, it struck me again. “How did we get HERE?” I mean, what in life brought us to be in this place at this moment? We both laughed at how content we were in a situation that few would understand.

But there we were, eating our dry tuna sandwich and partially shriveled green pepper on two-day-old bread, in mildly smelly clothes, on this less than pristine road-side bench. We knew instantly that some/most of our friends wouldn’t necessarily be enjoying this, but for us, it was just a wonderful moment. Pilgrims reading this – you know this feeling of contentment to which I am referring, but to others, you just have to trust me – there is real joy to be found here.

We had covered 21.79 kilometers by noon and surprised ourselves by reaching our end point for the day just 15 minutes after eating lunch. Our pace averaged 4.4 kilometers per hour which is pretty fast for us. We could have continued but the next lodging would have been just as far to walk so we called it a day.

The only lodging choice in Therouanne is the Gite Eden. What a fantastic place. The owners have a passion for helping pilgrims and love their city’s history. We learned from them that the route actually is shorter tomorrow than we’d expected. Alain, the owner of the Gite Eden, helped us book our lodging for the next evening. Just a step outside the door of the gite you can see a market and a bakery. Plus the gite itself has a washer and dryer and a well stocked kitchen. Yup, dinner tonight will be pasta cooked in the kitchen by us. Sometimes cooking for ourselves is such a luxury.

Well folks, that is it for tonight. I have several other videos to share and so much to say, but there is no WiFi here so videos are tough*. I will close with this final picture taken while our laundry was drying, and we had a few moments to explore the nearby church.

I did add a small story about Therouanne in the History Bits page.

* The strength of the Wifi sometimes prohibited the loading of video. However, once home I was able to add to several bits of additional footage.

Day13 Tournehem sur la Hem to Wisques – An Abbaye

This was supposed to be a long day, but we woke feeling a bit off (not sick or anything, but just still tired). Our packs just felt heavier today. It’s hard to explain.

Unfortunately this old windmill is a private residence. That would be a fun place to live.

Despite this, we marched on. After a couple miles, we ran across this Roman soldier. I have to admit I was momentarily depressed at how short of a distance we’d covered. It certainly felt like we accomplished more than this. Then I remembered we’d started in London and not Canterbury. It makes more sense now.

Normally when we are dragging, it is the result of poor diet, not enough water, or just plain old hunger. We both admitted the lack of water the previous day could be the culprit, but just in case we broke into some leftover snack bars and dried apricots. Well, ….nope, that didn’t help.

Better look fast. These were gone in a moment. Soooo good.

There was only one thing to do…find a bakery for a chocolate croissant. Just our luck, few were to be found, but eventually we did find one. And oh, what a find! They had some eclairs that were outstanding. We shared one chocolate and one cafe’ flavored one. Wow! They were so good, in fact, that we devoured them and went back for two more. I’m telling’ ya folks, one of the great joys of walking these big walks is the ability to have two cream-filled eclairs with absolutely no guilt whatsoever!!

Mr. and Mrs Longshadow, good friends from our Spanish Caminos, joined us today!

Well satisfied and a little rested, the day got better from that point. We walked through the small town of Leulinghem. As we passed the church, a man in an adjacent yard hailed Allison to tell her that the church was open. The church of Saint Maurice was simple, but nice. It had a beautiful painting of Joan of Arc on one wall made by the monks in Wisque a few miles away.

By the way, at this church we discovered a website called Openchurches.EU It lists churches that are open for viewing and a little about them.

Funny story. The church was open but had a fence-like gate over the entrance (to keep birds and other animals out). This gate was meant to be closed when you leave. Allison however pulled the gate closed – clink – latch, uh-oh. The gate was now latched from the outside and we were locked in.

Looking around there were several skeletons lying around and I realized this was clearly a trap. <just kidding>. Although we couldn’t reach the latch with our hands, I was able to use the strap on our hiking poles to hook around the latch and release us! It was a McGyver moment – trust me.

After escaping from certain death, we decided to call it a short day having walked only 10.7mi and stop at the town of Wisques. Wisques has both a monastery and a convent (the Abbeys of St Paul and Notre Dame). The monastery accepts only male guests. The convent accepts only female guests but it also has a separate house for couples.

So after a morning of hills and chills (the wind was strong and chilly throughout the day whenever the sun went behind a cloud or we walked in the shade), we stopped by the Abbeye Notre Dame. We seemed to have arrived at lunch time and much to our surprise we were invited to sit down and eat. The food was simple but so good.

After lunch, we were escorted to our beds for the night in a separate house. We did our arrival routine (showers and washing) and sat in the sun relaxing in the quiet of the Abbaye. It was really nice.

We attended Vespers sung in Latin by the nuns (who you could not see of course). I don’t think I’ve ever attended a vespers service. It was beautiful, but also made me sleepy.

Vespers….it’s all about the music/prayer.

Following vespers we chatted with Sister Lucy and gave her a Key for the wonderful hospitality the nuns had shown us.

Our evening ended with dinner. At lunch two lovely ladies from France had joined us. They were both spending several days at the Abbaye to find some peace in their lives. They helped as interpreters through the day, and we had some good and fun conversations. Elia and Chloe were spending today doing every thing the nuns were doing so they were very busy.

Elia and Chloe – our interpreters at the Abbaye

Day12 Guines to Tournehem sur la Hem – Friends

We had a really mixed day today. We woke up early from our campsite and quickly packed our tent and gear, fully dressed for more rain.

Morning Update

The path out of Guines was muddy after the previous day’s rains and our progress toward lunch at Licques was slow. We were further slowed by the changing conditions requiring us to put on and take off layers multiple times throughout the day. As a result, the 10mi to Licques seemed long.

Licques however was a pleasant surprise. As we emerged from the woods the village Abbey (outsized by far for the small town), dominated the landscape. The village itself sits on a hill and by the time we arrived a wind was whipping around the square like a Tasmanian Devil. It was cold enough that I put on all my layers.

My work colleague, Emmanuel, and his lovely wife Isabel live near Paris and drove several hours to have lunch with us, walk the afternoon with us and treat us to dinner. It was so nice to spend the afternoon and evening with them. Actually Isabel took a day trip to Calais while the three of us hiked – but she joined us for lunch and dinner.

The wind died down after lunch, eventually the sun came out, and the day began to warm. Walking with Emmanuel was fun and we all walked the same pace which was nice.

The Via took a strange twist near the town of Audenfort. This was one of those strange points where the path seems to make three sides of a rectangle to avoid a short section of road. Normally we might forgo the longer path, but this time we kept true to the Via. On this occasion it would have been smarter to do the logical thing. The last leg of that rectangle turned out to be so overgrown it was impassable. To avoid a long return route, we scrambled up an embankment and took a parallel path through a cornfield. Remember, I mentioned it was windy?

Well the whipping wind was having its way with the corn stalks, and as we passed through the field we were beaten by several of the stalks. It didn’t hurt, but the ferocity of the beating made me laugh.

Wondering what this is. It’s cultivated and the “balls” at the top are about the size of a pea. It has an equally tiny blue flower. The stalks are the diameter of wire coat rod but the stalks are about 18” tall. We believe it might be used as a fabric like flax.

The most beautiful site of the day was the partially rebuilt ruin of Chapelle St Louis. It was perched atop a hill overlooking the countryside. I think we all would had preferred to linger there longer but the day was dragging on and we needed to get to the finish line of the 20mi day and get our clothes drying.

The last mile into Tournehem sur la Hem was easily 3miles long. That’s always the way at the end of a long walk. But the cute village had one last treat for us. “sur la Hem” part of the name means “on the Hem” where the Hem is a small river. Approaching town the crossed a small bridge that clearly once held a mill. It was a peaceful setting that was enhanced by the nearby remains of the town wall and gate

Closing note…this beer had a turkey wearing a pilgrim hat. No idea why, but as a pilgrim I had to have it. It was local from Licques – pretty good actually.

Day11 Wissant to Guines – Rain and Mud

Well, we awakened to a thunder storm and heavy rain. By the time we’d packed up and headed out for the day it was a steady drizzle but no downpours yet. Farewell to the sea. We won’t see you again until Italy!

Because of the rain, we took few pictures. Luckily my camera is waterproof, and we did get a little video shot.

Walking in the rain does present one danger – wet feet. We’d each brought waterproof socks. Yep, they are a thing. The waterproof socks worked perfectly, and I do recommend them. Still Allison was having some discomfort with one of her feet. One of her shoes was really uncomfortable.

History was everywhere today. At one point we climbed to a peak containing intact WWII German fortification and got to explore. It was surreal to be inside the fortification. As you might expect it was built in a strategic location and peering through the embrasure, you could easily see the sweeping coverage over the valley. It didn’t take much to just close your eyes and imagine the lives of soldiers stationed here.

And then this happened…(perhaps we’ve discovered the source of the foot discomfort)…

Walking in the rain, isn’t as bad as it sounds. We have good rain equipment except for my iPhone cord (more later). Allison and I are new enthusiasts of rain pants and waterproof socks. What great inventions they are! We stayed dry all day, and we only got uncomfortable when we had to climb “steep” hills (which made wearing the extra layers too hot) and when the rain stopped and the weather temporarily warmed.

A brief respite from the rain during lunch.

Honestly, it wasn’t bad at all…I rather enjoyed it. I felt pretty good about the equipment we’d brought. Overall we were still on a high from making it to France.

In a shocking development it poured shortly after this picture was taken.

Unfortunately 90% through the day’s walk, my phone started to die. We use it often for navigation since the signage on the VF is not excellent. There are signs, but not at every intersection. Being hunkered up in rain gear likely allowed us to miss some signs as well.

Anyway, as the battery started to die, we attempted to plug in my phone to our backup battery. However the cable must have been quite wet because we received a warning message, and the phone wouldn’t charge. Who knew that a wet phone cable could be an issue?

We had to resort to our instincts and fortunately they were good. We made it to our lodging for tonight.

By the end of the day we’d made our way to the village of Guines. Speaking of that…we found a campground that offers free camping to pilgrims. Yeah us! Not to worry, we still supported the enterprise by patronizing the restaurant on-site. It was an odd kind of place – all decorated in cartoon medieval characters. If I was to guess, the campground is used as a children’s theme adventure. Despite the odd setting the food was hearty and quite good (picture enclosed).

Our lodging tonight is our tent. This campground is what our English relatives would refer to as “posh”. The place has individual small houses to rent, a heated indoor pool, a putt putt golf course, an exercise ground, playground, and a complete laundry facility. Someone has to live the hard life. We, however, just took advantage of our small plot of grass.

Before dinner we had made a somewhat long trek back into, through and out of town to find a supermarket that sold a new charger cord. We also bought some groceries. However the extra miles after a long day really wore us out.

As I’d mentioned, we had a long day, but before we could crawl into the tent, we took advantage of the campground washing and drying machines.

The great pilgrim joy…machine washed clothes!!

The campground was nice and quiet and we had no trouble going to sleep. I’m glad that we decided to bring our tent and camping gear although I’m really unsure that it will be worth the extra weight. But it was nice to camp today. One of our few luxury items were two inflatable insulated air mattresses. We have had these for about a year and they really increase the nights comfort.

So good night all, we’ve survived our first day of rain – I’m sure there will be many more, but in general we’re pleased. It was a good day.

Day10 Dover to Wissant – Bye bye England, hello France

The morning started off bright and early at 6 am after a less-than-perfect night’s sleep. Did I mention we weren’t staying in the “best” part of town…lots of parties and shouting at all hours.

Once awake, we quickly packed up and headed off on our bikes to the ferry. The day is quite gray but it is still dry outside. The passport control at the docks went smoothly and was timely. Our only hitch was that the on-line system with which I’d purchased our tickets, allowed me to purchase passage for multiple passengers but only allowed me to indicate a bicycle for the primary passenger. When we arrived this meant we had to purchase one additional bike pass at the last minute. It was good that it didn’t take long because we barely made it onto the boat before they’d shut the gate. Whew.

Parking bikes on a ferry apparently doesn’t happen every day. I am not sure the crew knew what to do with our bikes when we arrived. But we made it onboard. Next we headed upstairs for our breakfast. This reminds me of the ferry crossing I took as a child to travel to PEI.

Betcha medieval pilgrims didn’t get a full breakfast on their crossings…but we did.

“When we arrived in France ….”

I ask all our readers to stop here for a moment and consider all the obstacles in place that made the phrase above almost incomprehensible just a month ago. If there is ever hard evidence of my good friend Gerhard’s motto “Nichts ist Zufall” (nothing is random), consider this:

1) We had to each get results from 5 consecutive Covid PCR tests each within 24hrs after taking them. That’s 10 opportunities for “something” to go wrong.

2) All our flights, busses and trains and boats had to run on time.

3) In the 10 days since arriving in the UK, France had to lift its PCR test restrictions (there were no indications this was even in the cards).

4) France had to resist Germany’s call for tighter UK travel restrictions AND resist the urge to “retaliate” when the UK singled them out for tighter restrictions – almost unheard of.

5) We had to find bikes for sale after learning that the ferry would no longer accept foot traffic.

6). The one PCR test that got delayed ended up not mattering because France dropped their restrictions.

7) The one PCR test that got lost ended up not mattering because we took the chance for a 5day early release test.

8). I could go on ,…

But somehow we are in France.

Disembarking from the ferry was a real treat. We were directed to lead the way ahead of all the cars. I think the real goal was just get us out of the way. A pace-truck lead us out of the docking area. I think this must be because “Tourists smushed by cars leaving the Dover Ferry” probably makes for a bad headline.

Riding our bikes through the streets of Calais heading toward the center of town was an adventure. We found the Calais cathedral where we anticipated receiving our first stamp in France. But it did not open until 14:00 so we were not waiting around for that stamp. Next up we rode to the tourist office where we did receive a stamp in our pilgrim’s passport and they kindly took our bikes to donate to charity. You will all be shocked that our next stop was to purchase a chocolate pastry and a demi-baguette. The last chore was to find the local grocery to complete our lunch options.

Walking along the boardwalk in Calais was surreal but beautiful. Lots of open space, sandy beaches, a cool breeze, and togetherness. The coastline changed to cliffs fairly quickly with open fields and cows all around. Yes, I was actually glad to see cows and no sheep all day.

We left the shore for a brief trip up and inland as the Via Francigena climbed to the summit know as Le Blanch Nez (the white Nose). The sky alternated from blue to a misty white and the monument know as the Dover Patrol (commemorating the French and British patrols of WWI ) went in and out of view.

After peaking the “summit” and through the afternoon we passed relics of the Atlantic Wall – the German defensive system designed to make an allied landing difficult. To see the remains of these fortifications so intact was a chilling reminder of what a peaceful life I’ve lived.

The day ended as most days. The last kilometers into town always seem the longest. But we made it to our lodging in the touristy seaside village of Wissant (well worth a visit if you have the chance). We did the “shower and clothes washing thing” and walked about 10ft from our hotel for dinner.

And what a dinner it was. Of course being a seaside town we had to choose seafood and both dishes were tasty.

But the real star of the evening was dessert. Sorry England…France does desserts better – no offense.

We ended our evening with a quick stroll. There was a small carnival in town and we walked quickly through it and then had a romantic walk to the beach. It was a nice way to end the day.

Day 9 Dover to Dover – A Day of prep

Today began with us making quite a list of things to do. First we walked to a barber shop where we picked up two bikes we had purchased online. We needed these, not because we’ve decided to ride to Rome but because the ship to Calais has temporarily suspended foot traffic. It does allow bicycles. This seems strange to us, but those are the rules and you can’t fight them. Our alternative was to take a train back to London, then to Paris, then to Lille and then to Calais. That alternative would cost more and would take up an entire day. So buying bikes it was.

Apparently it is true one never forgets how to ride a bike but I’ve never ridden while wearing a backpack. It should be easy enough I guess.

The two helpful employees at the tourist information center in Dover assisted us with printing out the forms required to enter France. We will need these to board the ferry in the morning. Most of the required information was electronic. One form however required a real signature. The website did not provide an electronic means to do so. Old fashioned paper was the answer. These all seem to be related to Covid so if your traveling in a “normal” year perhaps you will avoid this hassle.

After returning to our lodging with our bikes, we headed out for breakfast which became brunch since it was already after 10 am. We ate at the Beano restaurant which serves breakfast all day plus other food choices. This eatery came as a recommendation from a taxi driver who we chatted with on the street. Note to self, always follow the local people’s advice! We found “great food and a cheap price” – which was exactly what we were searching for.

Early in the afternoon we decided to stop for a glass of wine after touring the visitor’s center. The visitor’s center houses 3 levels of a museum. Each floor houses one of three interesting, if disassociated, exhibits.

The History of Dover
The Miracle of Dunkirk
The Recovery of a Bronze Age Boat

Our nerdy side was satisfied for a little bit if time. Next came that glass of wine I mentioned. To be truthful we bought a bottle of wine because that is a better deal and we needed to spend the last of our British pounds as well. What a way to do so! We saved the remaining for dinner. Our little visit to the cafe was only spoiled by the expert aim of a passing seagull – yep, splat, right on my shoulder.

That’s really it. It was a walk-around day as we had to wait for the ferry in the morning. Little else to report. But we were full of anticipation. A whole new country awaited in the morning. A long continent to cross was ahead of us.

Tomorrow morning will be eventful as we cross the channel into France. One of the white buildings in the photo is our flat for the night. It may look swanky but I promise you it isn’t.

Day8 Canterbury To Dover … the Via Francigena begins.

Allison resting at lunch in Shepherdswell

Well, today is our first day on the Via Francigena.

Because all the lodging at the midway point of Shepherdswell (Siebertswold) were either full or no longer in operation, we had to convert the first two short legs into one long leg of 21.3mi. So…we are sore and tired this evening as I write this entry from the port city of Dover England.

But first is the account of our day…

We woke to thunder and rain in the forecast. The forecast, however, varied dramatically depending on which service you trusted. One said cloudy but decreasing chances of rain; the other said thunder and even hail from 70-90% chance.

So we had our hotel breakfast and then packed everything into waterproof bags and stuffed them in our backpacks*.

Next we donned our full rain gear (rain pants, rain jacket, waterproof socks etc). We said our goodbyes to Madeline and stepped out into a drizzle and under rumbling skies.

It was fun to be walking in full rain regalia for the first time, but it quickly got too warm. The rain tapered off after the first mile or two and we packed up the rain jackets.

The trail between Canterbury and Dover is clearly less travelled than earlier sections. It is marked well enough I suppose, but we never would have made it without GPS or a good map. At points we even reverted to dead reckoning when the proposed path took us diagonally across a newly plowed field. The tractor, I suppose, had obliterated any signs of the footpath. Folks, I’m not talking about a 2acre field here but an enormous one that took us about 15min to cross. (See video). Other times we were in chest-high hay, the path all but obscured in a sea of waving sheaves.

It was odd to be walking without Madeline. She’d quickly become a part of our routine. But the length of the day and the terrain would have made it very hard for her damaged toes.

We passed the cute church at Womenswold but it was closed and we couldn’t find the keys that were described as available. As a result we didn’t get a pilgrim stamp there.

We made it to the mid way point that is typically the end of the first stage, Shepherdswell, and stopped there on a shaded bench on the village green.

Shepherdswell is the perfect tiny village. The village green sits right in the center of town with the church across the street, the pub and inn across the green from the church, and a few small businesses. But what made it perfect was listening to a wedding service taking place while we ate lunch. Mark really wanted to be able to get a pilgrim’s stamp there but we could not crash the wedding ceremony. So far, no stamps for the day.

Near Ethorne we left a brightly lit field and entered into some gloomy woods. As our eyes adjusted do the dark we found and odd site. In the overgrow grass was a tall tombstone. It stopped us in our tracks because it was such a surprise to see. A few steps farther through the tall grass we found others and then many others. Clearly we were in a graveyard but the darkness of the wood and the unkept grass made it eerie. Soon enough an old parish church came into view.

Some of the trail markers we’ll be following for the next 90 days.

We had been thinking that it was a shame to have allowed the gravesite to be become so unkept. But then we saw a sign on the parish church board said that the gravesites were being intentionally left overgrown for a season to establish some environmental purpose and would be tended at the end of the summer.

Still the setting was apocalyptic. We took a moment to look at a few of the stones. One near the church entrance was particularly interesting for two reasons. The first was the inscription on the grave marker below. The second was the angle of the tree just above the grave i.e. horizontal trunk hovering inches above the headstone as if to keep it from rising!

Along the way we love to stop and chat with people we encounter. And today we were blessed to meet Nigel and Diane who are farmers. They enjoyed telling us that many years ago the Archbishop of Canterbury came to walk the Via Francigena trail. In preparation, the town had to spruced the trail up. Diane said it has never looked as good since. And Nigel jokingly added that even the grass was mowed because no one wanted the bishops’s cloak to get wet or dirty while he was walking. We had to say goodbye as we still had several miles to go or at least 4 miles.

Finally, after cresting a little hill we could see Dover Castle. Dover is a steep city and after a long day it was a painful a downhill entry. To make life more interesting we had a little trouble finding our place of lodging at East Cliffs Road, Dover. We had to knock on a door to ask for assistance. The woman who came outside to help was not completely in touch with reality and wanted to know if we were reporters. My honest streak took hold and I said “no”. But I wonder what her reaction would have been if I said “oh yes”. She did point us in the correct direction. Another local couple helped us out by explaining that there were actually two East Cliffs Drives – an inner and an outer – who knew. Anyway, just around the corner the road continued and our place of lodging was just 3 buildings down.

Allison, ready for the runway in her “Rain-ready” line of fashion.

Climbing the steeps steps up to our room was pretty much torture to our aching body parts. Our host Narata was very kind. She is from Lesotho and was sweet enough to wash our laundry for us. We will have to hang dry but that is better than smelly clothes. The little blessings are certainly adding up.

I know this is getting to be a long post but the evening just ended with a bang. Narata just knocked on the door brining up our twice spun clothes. She was also carrying tea service including some chocolate cake she had made. She said, “I know what it is like to be a pilgrim. I wanted to do something for you like I always wished for.” – Wow. Mind blown.

Narata’s Gift. I’m almost without words.

* For this pilgrimage neither of us brought pack covers. We’ve found they just don’t work well. If you are interested in what gear we brought with us, check out our Gear Review below:

Day7 Canterbury to Canterbury – Rest Day

Today is a rest day. This was always in our plan but it feels pretty luxurious to take a rest day this soon. Then again, resting on the seventh day is also quite appropriate. It’s just not something that the EU visa time limits will allow once we hit France*.

Today we have a few items on the schedule, laundry, cathedral tour, Evensong and touring in general. The purpose of the day however, is to stay off of our feet for as long as possible.

In the end we postponed laundry day, and basically spent all day at the Cathedral instead. After a heavy Continental breakfast with toast, fruit, cereal, jam, Nutella etc., we went for a paid tour of the Cathedral-proper (entry was free, but the tour had a charge).

Afterwards, we took some time to shop for a few things (improved inserts for one of our pairs of shoes, soap, etc) as well as lunch supplies. We consumed our lunch and popped back to the Cathedral for our fourth and final official blessing. This one marks the start of the Via Francigena.

For those that think that we’ve gone overboard with these “blessings”, you may well be right. All I can say is that each one has been special in some way. In addition to being a gift offered to us, we have been introduced to several wonderful people, and we have chosen to be participants, and not just observers, in history.

After this gift, we walked around for a bit before attending an Evensong service. These music-focused services are beautiful and ancient. I’ll not attempt to describe them here. They are plentiful to see online if you are interested. In fact, Canterbury Cathedral broadcasts theirs on line if you are interested:

(ref: https://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/worship/our-services/choral-evensong/ )

Madeline and Allison at the VF marker in Canterbury

We ended the evening with a dinner and a decision – mainly driven by the lack of available accommodations and weather considerations – to forgo the intermediate stop at Shepherdswell and walk straight through to Dover tomorrow. It will be a tough day.

Because our ferry is already booked, we can’t leave Dover any earlier and will have another rest day in Dover. I’m afraid we’re going to lose our “edge” with all these rest days.

Anyway, good night all.

* For US Citizens there is a 90day VISA limit for a stay within Schengen countries. The UK is not within the Schengen region so any time here in England doesn’t count toward the 90days. Switzerland, although it is not part of the EU, is part of Schengen, so once we board the ferry for France, the clock starts. Making the voyage across the continent in 90 days is do-able, but it won’t be easy. We will have some long days and rest days will be few and far between. But we also have several options to shorten the trip if necessary. We can make days longer, we can cut out some longer sections in favor of a “shortcut”. We can take a ferry across Lac Leman in Switzerland in lieu of walking around the lake. We can take a bus or train if needed. And finally, other than a personal challenge, we have no mandate to make it all the way to Rome in the first place. We could always stop short and pick up the trail some other year. It is all just too far in the future to be too concerned about.

Day6 Boughton Lee’s to Canterbury – Becket

What a beautiful day. The weather was dryer and just a bit cooler. The fact that we will arrive in Canterbury after a short 12mi walk also makes me feel happy. Better yet, we have a rest day planned there. And to top it all off, we will get to wash our clothes in a proper washing machine. Oh, the simple joys of pilgrim life.

Worn this morning to keep my ever growing coiffure dry.

As we started off from the Flying Horse, we walked through a wheat field of which I couldn’t stop taking pictures. The morning light and the sun played with the field in such a way that I just wanted to soak that moment in. I looked up after a bit and could barely see Allison and Madeline up ahead in the distance. I guess this moment was just for me. It was glorious.

<Allison> The first village we encountered was Chilham. There is even a castle here! Yes, you guessed it , Chilham Castle. The castle is actually privately owned and it’s for sale. Sorry, the price is no where near something that anyone I have ever known could afford. The village however was beautiful and quaint and friendly.

Just reflecting on our trip together -near Chilham

The next village we entered had a beautiful church and and a friendly lady to chat with She kindly showed us around Saint Mary’s church in Charlton. After she heard about our adventure, I think she was almost ready to pack her bags and travel with us. She promised to ask for prayers for us in the church’s newsletter. I thought that was really sweet.

The walk toward Canterbury was serene. For the latter half of the day we walked alongside the River Stour. It was crystal clear and flowing along in a very British way; fast, but not overly so, gentle but purposeful.

<Allison> For lunch we found a sweet place by a lake in a grassy shaded field. We ate with the ducks who keep begging for food. It was a perfect spot, and the temperatures at mid day were actually enjoyable for the first time since we started hiking in England. Heat waves seem to follow us.

We walked past a drake and a pen and seven signets along the Stour. We also met a nice couple on a bridge in Charlton just before Canterbury.

<Allison> Today’s hike was a short one at about 13 miles. Having a cooler day, plus a short one in mileage, was perfect! We made it into Canterbury!!!

The point we’re the North Downs way splits. One route to Dover and one to Canterbury.

As we approached the city, all sorts of signs emerged to indicate this city’s Roman and Pilgrim past. History “popped”, as it were, and we felt the excitement of approaching a milestone.

<Allison> And the first thing we did was get our pilgrim passports stamped. Doing so has the side benefit of free-entry into the Cathedral. Being a pilgrim has side-benefits. So we will come back tomorrow for another official pilgrim blessing and to tour. Our next pitstop was to find a place to get a cold drink.

A cold drink was excellent. But more memorable were Martin and his friend. These two gentlemen had already spent some significant time at the bar before we’d arrived. Martin was of particular interest to me. He was an Irishman by birth and had a good soul. He had had a recent tragedies in his family’s lives and seemed quite devastated by it. He seemed truly touched by the gift of a key and promised it would be treasured.

His friend was younger but also had had a tough childhood. Upon receiving his key, he told me no one had ever given him anything. He also seemed genuinely happy to have our simple gift.

Attempting to find our lodging turned out to be more difficult than we anticipated. We were actually following directions via google maps. But as we all know, the Google maps app is not infallible. A local gentleman heard us chatting while on his walk home. He interrupted his walk and led us to the entrance of our hotel. I am thankful for small blessings today.

Well I’m closing this blog entry at nearly 1am and I’ve made the decision to greatly scale back the entries. You’re all probably tired of reading all this content anyway. But for my own sanity and to enable me to function. I have to stop this.

I’ll still post, but it will be less content. The video compilations etc will have to wait for post-pilgrimage editing. I’m glad I did it through Canterbury at least. I’ll post one last compilation below.

Day5 Thurnham to Boughton Lees (Ashford) – Missing Ned

<musings over an English breakfast> Sitting for a late breakfast after drying all our gear. Mark is having a having a proper Full English (Sausage, Bacon, Fried Bread, Field Mushrooms, Tomaahto, Black Pudding, Egg); I’m having “Eggs Royal” which includes smoked salmon, poached eggs, hollandaise sauce over English muffins. Yum! <end musings>

Our hiking started with another series of ups and downs and ups on the Downs. There always seems to be one more up than down…did you notice that? We sure did. There was a major tragedy in the area today. Apparently Ned was lost. All the sheep were looking for him – they were VERY concerned – (inside joke…see the video).

The day was already going to be a strange one but in true pilgrim spirit we were really winging it today. We didn’t have a specific stopping point. We had a lot of trouble last evening finding lodging anywhere along the route – not over-booked, just nothing around. Our original plan was for three shorter (11mi each) days. But we all felt like we should do more and compress the time to Canterbury to two 16.5mi days. This would allow us a rest day in Canterbury.

Madeline flirting with this contemplative monk.

The most promising spot along the way was a pub, “The Flying Horse” in Boughton-Lees. We made it to the pub and found out that they didn’t respond because they were having internet issues. But to be safe, we’d alread booked a room in nearby Ashford and decided to taxi’d into town. Have no fear, we’ll taxi back to the Flying Horse in the morning. I’ve long since left my disappointment in a necessary “cheat” like this. It is purely the nature of things when you’re flying (or in our case walking) by the seat of your pants.

We are following in the tradition of millions who have gone before us.

Madeline unfortunately has continued to have foot issues – blisters – and she hasn’t been as comfortable as she’d like. We both know how painful it can be and we’ll both undoubtedly will have issues at some point as well.

Still we are all in good spirits as we’ve plodded along the Pilgrims way. It seem odd to me somehow to be arriving already into Canterbury tomorrow. It’s a major milestone. A silly wave of “it’s going too fast” swept me this afternoon. “Silly” because we’ve just finished day 5 of 100. But such is the treasure I assign to each day on Pilgrimage. They are all so precious.

Three special acts of kindness tended to us today. First our host for breakfast couldn’t make us a take-away lunch but did give us three free-of-charge bags of crisps (chips). It was a small thing, but it was what he could offer and I could tell he wanted to do more.

Second, about midday we passed a patch of grass at a trail junction. There we found three bags of chips and a chocolate bar. These were trail angel gifts left for pilgrims. We took one of the bags of chips. I hope we can miraculously touch base with this angel someday to say Thank you.

Lastly we walked past a man called Jeff who was sitting beside the Pilgrim’s Way having a lunch. A few minutes later he overtook us and we started talking. Jeff is from New Jersey and had a nice story (see video). Jeff led us through to Broughton Lees, taking us across newly mown hay fields to the Flying Horse. He had heard about an old well inside the pub and asked the proprietor to show it to us. Jeff then spent some time with us at the pub before beginning his walk back.

Before he returned he heard us struggling to find a cab into Ashford. He gave us his phone number and invited us to call him if we got stuck. He’d come and fetch us with his own car and get us where we needed to go. So nice.

After a quick grocery store stop for food and medical supplies (blister treatment) we arrived at our lodging for the night. I’m processing the days videos – boy they are a lot of work! Haha. It has been a wonderful journey so far. My legs are heavy but Madeline informed us that were averaging 4.6k/hr which is right about where we thought we’d be at this stage. We’ve done multiple 18+ mile days in a row and are now confident in our strides.

I’m true authentic pilgrim tradition dating from the 1100’s, Allison chose pre-prepared Sushi for dinner tonight. Remember- this blog is a judgement free zone. 🙂

We hope your enjoying the blog. Thanks for all your questions and feedback. I love being in touch with the “other world” through this blog.

Day4 Wrotham to Thurnham – Ups and Downs

“Up and down the Downs through woods and fields” pretty much sums up our morning. We’d left The Bull after accepting a gift of picnic sandwiches for our lunch and we made good progress through the warming and humid day.

After crossing the Medway (at Peter’s Bridge – irony), a major obstacle for both ancient and medieval pilgrims, we took a shortcut that avoided yet another trip up the Downs but carried us along major roads. It was harrowing! The cars were zooming past in close proximity. However I did find that if I stuck my hiking pole out a few inches cars gave me a wide berth. I think some odd thought process goes through a driver’s mind – “Ah, there is a hiker. Hikers are soft. I’ll try not to hit him, but I can get pretty close without too much damage.” vs “Oh wow, that hiker has his pole sticking out into the road. That could scratch my car! I better move way over.”

At a divided highway we really needed to get of onto a side path but none were available and we had a precarious 10 minutes of hugging the nettle infested hedges as cars flew by. Actually most of the cars slowed and moved over as best they could to give us some room….most.

An opening appeared and we quickly dodged into a field that just happened to be a vineyard. Finding a bit of shade we stopped to enjoy our lunch. I had been give a hearty brie sandwich and Allison a ham sandwich. As is our habit, Allison and I swapped lunches halfway through.

Four miles from our evening destination, thunderstorm clouds began appearing. Three miles away we saw rain in the distance. Two miles away the skies let loose but we trudged-on like true pilgrims. Actually we had few options. One mile from our destination we scampered into the Cock Horse Pub – drowned rats coming in from a storm.

<musings from inside the pub> The Cock Horse is a typical English pub. It has a white plaster exterior and inside the floor has 8 or 9 steps all less than 2in high. The bar is well stocked and the proprietor stands behind the taps and despite our appearance welcomes us in. Instantly the oak floor, stained with hundreds of years of life, is soaked by 3 pilgrims.

We ordered two bitter lemons (lemonade to us Yanks) and tap water. Despite our drenching we were thirsty from the days walking.

In the corner is a young family having dinner; in the other are two friends chatting over a beer. The latter strike up a conversation with us, curious what we were doing walking in a storm like this. Like most people, these two were shocked to hear Rome as our destination – at first disbelieving us, next thinking they’d misheard and finally staring slack-jawed at the thought. Honestly, I still feel that way too sometimes. <end musings>

The rain started to ease up, and assured that we only had a mile to go, we said farewell to the Cock Horse. No sooner had we thrown on our soaked packs and stepped outside when the skies let loose with round two. We hesitated, and I think we all thought about going back inside, – but we just couldn’t. Not only did we want to get to our lodging up ahead, but we just couldn’t soak the floors of the pub a second time.

So on we plodded down a small a lane. The oncoming traffic tried miss the puddles and thus avoid splashing us with muddy water, but it was impossible. With each car that passed another sheet of dirty storm water lifted itself from the road and coated us again. Not that it mattered. You can only get 100% wet. The storm had brought a chill to the air. At first it was welcome. There’s few things worse than wearing rain jacket in the heat. But in that last mile it got just a little chilly.

Needless to say, we made it safe and sound. We’ve all showered and our room is filled with clothes and packs hanging from every conceivable object. Life remains good.

Day3 Dartford to Wrotham – Rivers and Downs

What a beautiful morning following the River Darent through small villages and peaceful meadows. THIS is more like it.

First a catch up story from last night. The proprietress at The Fulwich gave us a nice gift. Our rooms were so hot from the days sun. We have asked if she had any fans available. “I do, she replied, but they are not assembled.” We were able to assemble them we replied and we’d do so after dinner.

After our rather extravagant dinner at the Turkish restaurant Efes, we came back to the Fulwich to find our host had gone ahead and assembled the fans herself. What a kind act and it made all the difference in cooling the room and allowing us to sleep.

The kindness didn’t stop last night. We stopped for coffee and a breakfast Turners Cafe at South Darenth. It was great timing for a good coffee and breakfast fare. But with our packing back up we accidentally left without paying our bill. Miles later this fact occurred to me and we immediately phoned them to apologize and arrange a payment over the phone. “Not to worry” they replied, consider it our gift to you on your long walk. Yet another blessing.

We took a detour into Eynsford for a pilgrim stamp at a local shop and enjoyed watching the children play in the water near a beautiful old bridge. At Eynsford we ran across a beautiful old church with an arched brick entry way lined with fir trees. The entrance to the church was of particular beauty…particularly to a woodworker like me.

The next stage toward Otford took us past a beautiful lavender field bursting with color. The beauty was only disrupted by the growing heat. We’re well into Kent now and this huge agricultural region is covered in hops, wheat, rape, corn, in addition to garlic and lavender.

We met a wonderful couple as we left a Roman Villa historical site. They chatted with us a bit and told us about their adventure. See the video below.

Judith and Paul’s Story

Lunch at Otford was a nice break; I have to admit I have been feeling the heat today. The pack seems heavy; I mean, it is heavy and has grown since we’ve left since I’m carrying the food supply. It’s what we do and I’m sure that’s not the issue, it is just the heat today, and Day 3 is always tough.

After Otford everything changes. The route we’ve been taking joins the north Downs Way and makes a steep climb up to the Downs. Gone are the villages and you on a series of hills and pasture land. The soil changes to chalk and temperature goes down about 1 degree… but at least there is a nice breeze.

A major change as we join the North Downs Way “follow the acorn”

Martin: Proprietor of The Bull- awesome dinner. Mushroom Tagliatelle recommended with a wine suggested by this owner/sommelier.

Today was long – 19.4 miles and my feet felt it. The heat created some minor chafing issues but easily managed. The shower tonight felt exceptionally wonderful. We ended in Wrotham (pronounced Root-em) at a lovely pub – The Bull – and treated ourselves to a nice dinner.

May I introduced you to a “friend”…actually an enemy… the Stinging Nettle. Although we have them in the US they aren’t common in NC where I live. In the UK however they are prolific. They give you a sharp sting when touched and the sting lasts about 7min. It’s painful but not overly so.

Unfortunately we have to walk through fields of these sometimes. Ouch!

Our path is right through these nasties!

Ok. So we’re staying in a pretty nice place tonight, but we’re still pilgrims.

Our nice four poster bed with drying laundry hung from the testers.

Well that’s it for today. Thanks, in summary, enjoy my first attempt at a collage video. Tell me what you think.

Day2 Woolwich to Dartford – Commons

Yesterday we completed 1/100th of our entire pilgrimage! It’s not much of a milestone but it is a milestone nonetheless, because every journey must have a start.

After a fabulous night’s sleep in the Travel Lodge in Woolwich we hit the sidewalk/pavement at 7:15 am. This takes some getting used to for someone who prefers a cup of coffee first thing in the morning. Winding our way through the city streets alternating with some nice shady wooded areas, and commons* was a pleasant change from the fast fading London bustle.

We eventually found ourselves following a trail along the river marsh area to our left. Unfortunately a very ugly industrial area was on our right so basically, we just kept looking to the left!

Click here for a cool 3D image of our last view of the Thames

The day felt hot and muggy to us. I can only imagine how poor Madeline felt. It seems to be an unwritten rule that when we decide to begin a pilgrimage the temperatures must take a drastic rise. That makes all our friends want to come hike with us, right?!

Currently we are enjoying a beer and juice in the Tiger pub in the little town of Dartford. Pub life is a beautiful thing in England. I love that the locals are cheering-on formula one races.

For us we are just enjoying the cool air inside and out of the sun. We are finally cooling down.

The proprietress at our lodging is just wonderful. She is fun to chat with and very helpful. Our rooms are little, but wonderfully clean plus a mini fridge and microwave. These may sound like simple things but part of being a pilgrim is living simply. Small unexpected things like these when you’ve booked very economical lodging is a treat. This, The Fulwich is an economical price pub/hotel that we’d highly recommend for someone satisfied with simplicity.

A very boring shot…but this is what we do!

How to summarize today? Well, honestly it wasn’t the best of days in terms of scenery or history, but even the mundane is part of pilgrimage. The woods and commons were nice and the few times in the afternoon that we found shade were wonderful. For example, we sat under a tree adjacent to a shopping center adjacent to a busy road for lunch…but it was nice because of the shade, a nice breeze, and lunch. Simple pleasures.

Tomorrow will be a tougher day. We have to cover over 18miles to Wrotham. We plan on an early 6am start to help beat the heat but we will still end up walking well into the afternoon regardless.

* a Common is an open grassy area that is reserved for the public. Originally these were “common” areas whereon anyone could graze their sheep.

Day 1 London to Woolwich – The Thames

“The Thames is liquid history”
John Burns

Well we did it, we’ve finally begun. We are on Pilgrimage.

We were in no hurry to leave this morning. A final ritual remained before I felt I could leave on this journey.

The route from London to Canterbury is know by many names, but it is most commonly called Becket’s way (see History Bits). The route became the top pilgrimage route to Canterbury and was immortalized by Chaucer in “The Canterbury Tales”. The pilgrims in this epic start their journey at Southwark Cathedral on the south bank of the Thames River….and so should we.

So we arranged to attend another Eucharist service and we were offered another pilgrims blessing. We also received our second Stamp. Those that have offered us these blessings, at our home church Revo, St Paul’s, and Southwark likely don’t realize how much they mean to us. We are so grateful.

Canon Andrew Zihni offering us a pilgrim blessing at Southwark

Southwark is a true Pilgrimage Cathedral in its Architecture (ask me if interested).

Then off we went in the growing heat of the day; our first step was documented as is now our tradition.

The route today was bathed in the influence and history of the Thames River. The dockyards of the mighty British Empire, the HMS Belfast, the launch point of the Mayflower, the Cutty Sark Clipper ship and Prime Meridian of the world at Greenwich all lie along the banks of the river known as the “Artery of the Empire”.

For 70% of the day we zig-zagged along the Thames Path, only occasionally blocked by construction or commercial enterprise. The River was alive with ships, tourist boats and pleasure craft; the sound of seagulls competing with the industrial noises of this living city of London.

Even though the day was hot (by English standards) we were well enough in shade to make the walk pleasant. Walking however was difficult only because of the combined effect of two weeks at home without hiking, and a week in quarantine. I’m glad this was a short day.

We stopped for a picnic lunch in the shade of a Catholic Church steps after stopping in a market for some supplies. The “hit” of my lunch was a guacamole condiment. That stuff was quite good and had a little kick to it.

After lunch we only had a bit of walking left before we arrived at our hotel for the night, still in the London suburb Woolwich. Next began the routine which will be repeated without a break for most of this trek (shower, wash clothes, hang them out to dry, head off for a beer or wine and dinner). More on that at another time.

Well, that’s it. It was a beautiful day and an excellent start. Getting to know my cousin Madeline and of course spending time with my wife is precious. Actually starting this journey after 3 years of planning is surreal.

I am happy.

Day0 Quarantine to London – Negative is Positive

Buckle your seatbelts … this will be a long post.

Well let’s start out with the great news this morning that both our Day5 Covid tests came back negative and we are officially released from quarantine. Yay!

That means that this morning we boarded a bus for London Victoria. On the agenda included a few bits and bobs (Underground to our hotel to drop of bags, etc) and a short walk to St Paul’s Cathedral to make an unofficial start to our pilgrimage. (more later).

The weather is sunny and warm this morning and other than my back (which is acting up again) we are in good spirits but eager to get going. As I write we are still on the bus to London. It’s a 2-3/4hr ride, the last part of a quarantine-extended arrival to our first hotel.

I guess because I’ve been to London many times it doesn’t feel strange or exciting to be here. In some ways I’m used to it. It’s a wonderful city, full of history and art; it is very much alive and thriving; but it’s also almost too familiar. Still as we drive past the Fullers brewery and Cadbury chocolate adverts, trains and brick homes stained with vestiges of old coal soot, memories of past adventures fill my mind. … I’m in England.

<Later> Our first order of business after dropping our bags off at the Hotel was to head to St Paul’s Cathedral. Why? Well somehow it seems right. It seems fitting to start our experience (if not our actual walk) with a visit to St Paul’s London knowing that we will end at St Peter’s Rome.

The symbol of St Paul are the crossed swords. As a Citizen of Rome he was entitled to a more civilized martyrdom and was, by tradition, executed by beheading. The crossed keys, as I’ve already written are the symbol of Peter and thus Rome. So we will be walking from cross to cross as it were. Probably just me, but I find that kind of neat.

The next big event is one you will see repeated literally hundreds of times. Those of you that have been on the Camino will understand the emotion and impact of this moment. But at St Paul’s we received our first Stamp on our Pilgrim Credential. This beautifully clean and empty book will slowly get filled with stamps from Gites, Tourist Info Booths, Churches and Albergos as we March south. If you want to know more about the Credential etc, check out the History bits page.

We arrived at St Paul’s in time for a Eucharist service and the Anglican priest (Chaplain Giles) called us forward just before the end of the service to recognize us and offer a pilgrims blessing. It was pretty surreal to stand there under the dome of St Paul’s and experience that, I must say.

After a bite to eat (we were pretty hungry) we swung back to the hotel to check in. And then made a quick purchase at an outdoor store (stopper for Allison’s hiking pole).

So here we are, winding down our Via Francigena Day0. Wow!

We had a nice seafood dinner near Covent Garden and then headed back to the hotel to crash and get ready for the start of our Via.

Are you Ready? After all this build up are you ready to start on a pilgrimage? Are you tired of all the preliminaries. Well we are. Let’s GO!

Quarantine Day5 – Early Release Test

Just a short update…

Today we completed our 5th day of quarantine and became eligible to take advantage of the Day5 Early Release Scheme. Madeline drove us into town (the first time we’ve been out of her home and back garden) for the administered Swab. The results are expected between 3am and 8am tomorrow.

Allison at the Day5 administration pharmacy.

In expectation of a negative result, we’ve booked our bus ticket to London for the morning. The excitement is mounting.

Tonight we’re being treated to a proper Fish and Chips dinner. The excitement is mounting for this as well!

As I said, just a quick post today. Tomorrow should be an eventful day!

Quarantine Day4 – Looking forward

www.gaiagps.com/public/bXUlUOkRUuOHaAQJcnCdwzLH

I’m just trying this out so, let’s see what happens. This link is our intended route out of London for Day 1 of our pilgrimage.

It departs from Southwark (pronounced Suthuck) and travels along the Thames past the Tower of London and tower Bridge among other wonderful iconic sites. Next you’ll see the path turning briefly away at Greenwich where we will cross into the Eastern Hemisphere. From there we make our way a bit further East ending in the suburbs of Woolwich.

It’s a short day to kick off a very long walk.

But mainly I’m just trying this Gaia link out to see how it looks on the blog. 🙂

Mark

Quarantine Day3 – Walking in place

Allison’s thoughts

Today is Tuesday and day 3 of our required down time. I am sure you are wondering what we do to entertain ourselves.

Besides completing crossword and sudoku puzzles, route planning for our hike, eating and sleeping, we do exercise. But creativity is key! So here is little clip of what has become one of our daily habits.

We really had to find a way to stay in shape! Aaaaaand Action:

Mark is getting really good at plotting our journey too. The GPS map of one of walks should give you some idea of what we’re going through. It’s kind of funny.

Quarantine Day2 – Life In Quarantine

Well, just a brief report about life in quarantine.

We spent days 1 and 2 of quarantine getting used to our surrounds and being quite pampered by my 2nd cousin Madeline and her husband Mark who are hosting us. Because of the isolation rules we feel a little helpless at times and wish we could do more to help.

Madeline’s Neighbor has an interesting shrub.

We’ve attempted to do a few hundred laps around the back garden and Allison spent some time making a game of it as we walked in multiple patterns one afternoon and then hand in hand the next. It’s been quiet and fun in that regard.

We did have the opportunity to be part of the hype – albeit virtually – of the England v Italy European Cup Championship. Disappointingly, the Three Lions club weren’t victorious but they played a good match and the game went into and through extra time and was finally settled by free kicks.

Today I was given a much requested assignment. Mark asked if I could design and build a workbench for his shop. This, of course, was eagerly agreed to and now with the design drawn up I’m looking forward to building something.

In the meantime Allison and I (mostly Allison) have gotten some lodging research completed for the first few stages in France.

Last of all, we took and posted our mandatory Day2 Covid swabs. These mark the beginning of the end of our quarantine. Assuming these are negative we would only await a similar result from the Day5 early-release test.

So, there’s our report. Thanks for following along and being patient. Know that we are as eager as you (likely more so) to get moving and get the quarantine faze over and done with.

More later…likely as we await or get our Day5 tests or perhaps an update on the workbench to pass the time.

Quarantine Day 0 – Seagulls

There will be little to write about for the next few days as we’ve now made it safely to our quarantine home in Christchurch UK. Thank you again Madeline and Mark!

The journey was uneventful overall. Our daughter Sarah drove us to the airport in Greensboro, NC and we were able to take off before the thunderstorms and landed just before flights were temporarily held at Dulles Airport due to lightning. We were quite late leaving Dulles but flew across the pond and landed only about an hour delayed.

The lightening passed, we await our gate-checked bags at Dulles.

Immigration was a breeze and we made it to our bus to Bournemouth and train to Christchurch like the traveling pro’s that we are.

The sky’s were stereotypically English grey and there were fits of rain as we approached our destination but fortunately stopped as we walked the short distance to our temporary home. But the cool seaside air was lovely and the sound of seagulls occasionally breaks the stillness. Everything is so green and growing.

Madeline met us and showed us to our room right off the back garden and we met the family including Molly the Spainerpoo. As we sat in the back garden the clouds broke and the sun turned the cool air quite warm. It was so warm in fact that even a nice cup of tea wasn’t enough to hold back the sun and jet lag induced haze. Sleep was about to overcome me. A short nap was in order.

Anyone who has done this route knows that the best way to overcome jet lag is to hold-out past supper time before lying down. But since we literally have no plans for the next several days we are in no hurry to get on the right clock. Still we both kept our nap short (about 45min….I think).

In order not to bore you we won’t be posting very often for the next few days. Quarantine life will undoubtedly be slow and unchanging…a welcome respite after the hectic nature of planning and training over the last several weeks. But you’ll hear from us soon with at least an update regarding our Day2 and Day5 Covid PCR tests and any other fun items that come up.

For now…Arrivederci, Au Revoir, and Cherrio

Pre-Flight Day0 – It’s Travel Day!!!

Despite the 90% chance of thunderstorms at 3pm (yep, our flight is scheduled for 3pm), we are excited to get this boat on the road so to say.

I did one last weight reduction exercise following a tradition from our previous Pilgrimages. In many ways it is also historical (and you guys know how much I like history). Shaving your head would help with cleanliness of course but was also a sign of humility and a Nazarite vow.

Lastly, enjoy this clip of our packing routine. Make sure you watch to the end and unmute your sound is on to enjoy the music.

Via Francigena Gear Review – What is in those packs?

For all you hiking geeks…check out my gear review. Find out what we’re bringing on our 1500mi trek from London to Rome.

Pre-Flight Day1 – Are we REALLY doing this?

So much has happened in the last 48hrs. This may be a long post.

First, Tuesday evening ended with some really great news. As some of you know, the Ferry from Dover to Calais no longer allows passengers on foot. After investigating several other options for getting to France (all more expensive and awkwardly long) we started looking an option of buying a bike in Dover and then just donating it to a charity in Calais. It seemed like such a nutty idea to buy a bike just to ride it on the ferry, but such is the tale of two pilgrims during Covid.

Well, it seems there is some major biking event the week we are to be in Dover and no one had a bike. But Tuesday evening I was able to purchase not one, but two used bikes from a chap in Dover via Facebook marketplace. Even better…he lives right on the High Street on our way into town.

It may sound odd, but just that one thing opened up so many doors for this trip. Almost more importantly, it closed several others.

Wednesday was a day of crossing off to-do items from our to-do lists. Covid day 2 and day 8 swabs were preordered (proof of purchase required before boarding the flight to the UK); Covid day 5 (early release scheme) booked; Pre-France Covid Swab kits purchased; Bus and Train tickets purchased – Heathrow to Christchurch – our location for the quarantine period; and emails sent to both St. Paul’s and Southwark Cathedral to ask for details about Evensong, Eucharist, and Pilgrim blessing opportunities. I felt very productive.

Wednesday was also the day of our pre-flight Covid Swab tests. This is the first in a series of 5 that we have to have. I’d preordered these through a link at the United Airlines site. It was run by Quest diagnostics via a Walmart drive through pharmacy window. Now to appreciate this next bit you need to know a detail.

The regulations for this pre-flight swab are that it be a PCR test and that it be taken no more than. 72 hours from when you land. However you must have your results in-hand before your board about 8hrs beforehand. So…follow this… we land in London at 6:30am Saturday. That’s 1:30am on the East Coast. Back off 72hrs from that and you get Wednesday at 1:30am as the earliest we could get the swab done. Well clearly no one is open then so let’s say you get the first available appointment on Wednesday (9:30am). Well that’s 8hrs subtracted from the 72 leaving 64hrs. Well, every place we could find would only guarantee 2-3 day turnaround for results starting from when the sample arrived at the lab. Ok so best case the sample taken on Wednesday morning gets to the lab Thursday morning.

Are you starting to see the problem inherent in the system?

Well we arrived at Walmart and the kind attendant leads us through taking the swabs and as we are depositing them into the box she says….Thank you…we will email your results to you in 3-5 days! “WHAT!!”- I replied. “Oh yes, she replied …it often takes that long.”

So in my reeling mind I’m unwinding three years of preparation and gobs of reservations and prepaid plans.

This video is rated PG since it shows me sticking a swab up my nose. Allison didn’t want hers posted…can you blame her?

But then she kindly whispers….” You didn’t hear me say this, but CVS will get you much quicker results”.

So we zoom home and immediately book two additional swab tests at CVS. There we repeat the routine with a statement …” you should have your results in 24-48hrs”. Doing some quick mental math that means we will get our results after our first leg to Dulles and before our check in for London……IF something doesn’t go wrong and of course assuming the results are Negative.

Story ends here….. Woke this morning to two texts from CVS with negative Covid results (less than 20hrs after the swabs were taken). What a great start to the day.

Folks….It looks like this is really happening!

Pre-Flight Day3 – Things are happening fast

Things are happening fast now. Our list of to-do’s is getting ticked off quickly and things are falling into place. But I’m eager to start walking. There will be days in the near future that I’ll undoubtedly wish for a down-day, but for now I just want to get moving. Anyone that is already following this blog is probably ready too!

All but the final sets of pre-Flight and Day 2, 5, 8 and pre-France Covid tests are booked and paid for ($660 worth of q-tips so far with two left to purchase). Crazy. But it’s done.

The ferry to France no longer allows foot traffic so we need to secure a bike somewhere in Dover just so we can ride onto the ferry. Facebook marketplace has been a good source of contacts.

I am going to produce and post a final gear review tonight both for my record and so that you will all have something to look at other than just my musings.

Hey check out the Maps Tab. Scroll to the bottom and you’ll find an link to an interactive map of our intended route. It’s google maps so you can zoom right in. If anyone knows how to get it to google earth instead please let me know.

So…in the meantime…what questions do you have?

Pre-Flight Day6 – Permethrin Party

Hard to believe that we’re less than a week away from our trip and the date may yet change (but maybe only by a day). Due to some funny math involving Day0 vs Day1 of quarantine in the UK we might end up moving up our flight by a day.

We’re still heading out this week and today’s news from the EU was encouraging. Germany (who has been pressing for tighter entry rules for travelers coming from the UK) is now considering an accommodation for those with two jabs (like us).

Meanwhile today was our Permethrin party. We had about 15 folks come by to share a pot luck. Each person brought either an English, French, Swiss or Italian dish. It was beautiful weather with some good friends…but I ate too much! 🙂

Permethrin Party

Also the very last items came in the mail (an underwear option for me and some classic keys). I was hoping the underwear would be lighter but they were identical so I’ll not likely bring them.

The keys are a bit more difficult to explain. On our previous Spanish Caminos we brought small wooden crosses to hand out as gifts to those who played a special part in our journey. This year we were given keys. Keys are the symbol of St Peter in Rome.

This comes from the Bible in Matthew (see below). Unfortunately the keys we were given were kind of heavy but I loved the idea and symbolism. So I found some cool looking lighter ones. If you’re following our journey look for these keys to be part of our story.

Matthew 16:13-19 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do the people say the “Son of Man” is? They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others say Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?”, he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Pre-Flight Day7 – The UK it is

Mark

7 Seven Days til we fly out to London. We made the decision to forego the easy/safe option and take a chance on the UK.

It was a real relief to get that behind us. Now the flurry of activity begins as we make our final plans.

Garbage pickup and internet service is postponed; mowing of the grass scheduled, mail forwarded, savings transferred to the international debit card, freezer nearly empty. There is so much to do! But it’s getting real now.

Oh! And guess who came home from Grad School for the weekend? Bonus!