In 1990 I visited Santiago de Compostela as a tourist and saw some pilgrims finishing the Camino. I returned in 2016 as a pilgrim, walking from my home in Weybridge, UK along the Camino Frances. The experience was so overwhelming that I returned to the Camino in 2017 to walk along the Via Podiensis from Le-Puy-en-Velay to Pamplona. In many ways, this was even better. The pilgrimage continues…
2025 – Scandinavia. The St Olav Waterway is a pilgrimage across the Finnish archipelago from Turku to Stockholm. Pilgrims walk across the islands and travel by local ferries between them. At the end, the faithful will head to Trondheim where St Olav is buried but my pilgrimage continues on the night sleeper from Stockholm to Copenhagen. This is the start of the Danish Pilgrim Trail heading south to the German border and then onwards along the Via Scandinavica to my destination: picturesque Lübeck.
2024 – Germany. A network of German pilgrimage routes known as the Jakobsweg leads pilgrims to Spain and I will follow two paths. Starting in Cologne on the Rhine, I’ll walk south to Trier and then I’ll follow the Moselle to Schengen, counting the remaining days on my visa. The second path starts in Nuremberg and travels south across Bavaria to the familiar sights of Lake Constance.
2023 – Switzerland and France. This is the Via Jacobi, starting in Konstanz and continues from last year’s Austrian Camino across Switzerland to Geneva. From there, the Via Gebennensis takes me to Le Puy-en-Velay in France, the start of my 2017 pilgrimage. Putting all these together, I’ve now walked across Europe from Slovakia to Santiago de Compostela.
2022 – Austria. A slow amble through a country with a rich history of empire, music, philosophy and psychology. The walk starts in Bratislava and finishes on Lake Constance in Switzerland. At first it follows the Danube and then heads into the Alps.
2021 – Scotland and the Pilgrimage of St Magnus. The walk through England in 2020 far exceeded my expectations so it didn’t take long to decide to continue across Scotland to the Orkney Islands and the pilgrimage of St Magnus. My route begins with a coast to coast trek along the wild and desolate Southern Uplands, followed by the famous West Highland Way, the beautiful Great Glen Way and then the wild and ragged coastal path to John O’Groats where the passenger ferry sails to Orkney.
2020 – A Walk up England to The Holy Island of Lindisfarne. I’m staying in Britain this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. It gives me the chance to make the ancient pilgrimage originating in the 7th century to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, the cradle of British Christianity. My walk will take me along the pleasant Thames Path, then north through the Cotswolds, the Heart of England Way, across Staffordshire and then straight up the Pennine Way, over Hadrian’s Wall and into remote Northumberland. It is then just a few days to the coast where I can walk across the sea at low tide to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne.
2019- Shikoku 88 Temples. While visiting Temple 75 on Shikoku in 2015, I saw pilgrims walking this ancient pilgrimage and naturally added it to my plans. It has taken awhile to learn Japanese, chopsticks and Buddhism but the time has come to walk the 1200km around Japan’s fourth largest island. Like all Shikoku pilgrims I’ll be walking with Kobo Daishi (b 774), the founder of Shingon Buddhism, and any other characters I meet along the way.
2018- Via Francigena. Starting 28 May, I will walk from my home in Weybridge, UK to Rome. I’m fortunate to live close to the Pilgrims Way so I can follow this ancient footpath along the North Downs to Canterbury and onwards to Dover for the boat to France. The route from Canterbury follows the pilgrimage undertaken by archbishop Sigeric in 990. The archbishop kept a blog of his 79 stages and I will do the same.
2017 – Via Podiensis. I will walk the Path of Power, one of four Camino routes in France, from Le Puy-en-Velay down to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, the start of the Camino Frances. I’ll continue over the Pyrenees to Pamplona where I joined the Camino last year. The distance is about 820 Kms over mountainous and often desolate terrain, with climbs and descents equivalent to climbing Everest twice. I’ll be following in the footsteps of Bishop Godescalc of Le Puy who walked to Compostela in 950AD, the first recorded pilgrim from beyond the Pyrenees.
2016 – Camino Frances. I’m walking from my home in Weybridge to Santiago de Compostela. It’s been my intention for many years to undertake this pilgrimage about now. The time has come…
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