Category: Uncategorized

I learned something about my taste in walks today.

My route took me away from waterways, which I’ve been following for the past week, and up onto the North Downs. The North Downs are a long ridge of hills that run west to east, just south of London. They are not particularly high, or particularly dramatic, but they lift a walker above the surrounding countryside – the route runs along the south side of the downs, just below the crest.

And I loved it, mud, rain, wind, and all – and I had them all. I realized today that, as beautiful as the recent riverside paths have been, I tend to prefer walks that take you away from urban or cultivated landscapes, and ideally up into the hills.

Quite apart from the views, the Downs are replete with history. For the first time on this walk, I was following in the footsteps of pilgrims, as the North Downs Way runs near (and in some places along) the old pilgrim route from Winchester to Canterbury. The church of St. Martha, high on the ridge, would have served those pilgrims. It fell into disuse when the pilgrimages died out as there is no village near.

And there are also signs of more recent history.

In 1940, with invasion threatened after the fall of France, a line of “pillboxes” – simple fortification – was built along the North Downs. It would have been the last line of defence before London. In the event, there was a battle fought here, but it was fought in the skies above, no doubt watched from these pillboxes. And the invasion never came.

Day 27 Route: Guildford to Dorking via North Downs Way. Terrain: rolling hills, tracks. Weather: variable, from sun to heavy rain. Daily distance: 24.5 km/15.2 miles. Cumulative distance: 653.6 km/405.2 miles. Accommodation:  Lincoln Arms, Dorking.

While I left the Thames behind yesterday, today my route followed a towpath again, this one along the River Wey. It was easy going, with the path just damp enough to soften the ground. For the first time since I left home, my boots are mostly free of mud. Still, after a week of walking on essentially flat land, I am looking forward to hills again.

I was thinking today about how a walk like this changes perceptions of distance. On one hand, “small” distances become large. If I have to walk a mile off route to reach accommodation, the trip there and back adds the better part of an hour to my day’s walk, although it would take minutes at most in a car. On the other hand, “large” distances become small. It continues to astound me that England, with all its history, population, scenery, and regional diversity, is so small that an ordinary person can walk almost from one end to the other in just over a month.

More signs of spring today: trees coming into leaf …

… and frogspawn in puddles.

Day 26 Route: Weybridge to Guildford via Wey Navigation. Terrain: towpath. Weather: sunny initially, showers and hail later. Daily distance: 22.8 km/14.1 miles. Cumulative distance: 629.1 km/390.0 miles. Accommodation: Travelodge, Guildford.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wrote yesterday about the sense of power and authority that emanates from Windsor Castle. But just a few miles down the road there is a rather unremarkable-looking meadow that has its own sense of history.

This is Runnymede. Here, in the summer of 1215, King John signed the Magna Carta, accepting the principle that the Crown’s exercise of power would be subject to the rule of law. Many of the specific provisions of Magna Carta are now obsolete, but that central idea lives on.

As befits the birthplace of an idea, there are few monuments. It was a showery morning but, as I was leaving, the sun broke through and lit up the meadow. Fitting.

Day 25 Route: Windsor to Weybridge via Thames Path. Terrain: riverside paths. Weather: intermittent showers. Daily distance: 24.0 km/14.9 miles. Cumulative distance: 606.3 km/375.9 miles. Accommodation: Ship Inn, Weybridge.

Today I reached Windsor, with its famous castle.

I didn’t go into the castle, as I didn’t arrive until late afternoon, but I did get a look at it from the outside. One thing I had not appreciated how massive Windsor Castle is. Even today, it dominates the town around it – it must have been a truly imposing sight in the days when royal power had real meaning.

Like Carcassonne in the Languedoc, it almost seems too perfect an example of a medieval castle to be true and, like Carcassonne, it is. The current castle has been restored repeatedly over the years, with many of those restorations long postdating the time when there was any real need for fortifications. But, for all the renovations, there is still a sense of both authenticity and authority.

If Her Majesty ever decides to sell up, however, the listing will have to describe it as “ideal for insomniac aviation fanatic”. Windsor Castle sits only a couple of miles directly west of Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest airports, and Heathrow’s runways are aligned east and west. I had wondered why my hotel, which looks directly onto the castle walls, was so reasonably priced. I now know.

Day 24 Route: Marlow to Windsor via Thames Path. Terrain: riverside path. Weather: warm, mix of sun and cloud. Daily distance: 22.9 km/14.2 miles. Cumulative distance: 582.3 km/361.0 miles. Accommodation: Harte and Garter Hotel, Windsor.

 

Today took me along the Thames again, and through the posh and popular riverside town of Henley-on-Thames.

There were quite a lot of people out walking near the town, and I ended up chatting with a few of them. One of the first questions I always get is where I am going, and the inevitable follow-up question is “why?”. My usual answer is to the effect that I wanted a project, which generally seems to satisfy people, but it did get me thinking about my motivations for this walk.

It is not a religious journey for me – I have always described the walk as “following a pilgrimage route”, rather than “going on a pilgrimage”. I have wanted for years to do a long walk in Europe. When I found out about the Via Francigena it seemed to be a good fit in a number of ways: it was long, it was through countries that I have enjoyed walking in, it had a unifying historical theme, and unlike the Camino del Santiago in Spain it was relatively unknown and so attracted few walkers. Adding the walk from my own home to Canterbury only seemed logical: it seemed incongruous to take a train to the start of a long walk, and walking would let me see parts of England that would be new to me.

But why a long walk at all? I enjoy long walks, particularly in the countryside: getting outside, being active, experiencing new places and revisiting familiar ones, dealing with the practicalities of navigation and the constraints of weather, terrain, and time. And there is something particularly satisfying about a long walk, where you can see footfalls on the ground turn into progress through the landscape – updating the map on the front page of this blog is always one of the high points of my day. There is satisfaction, too, in facing the challenges of a tired body and aching feet and simply carrying on, mile after  mile, hour after hour, day after day.

Ultimately, I suppose it comes down to challenge: setting an ambitious goal, seeing if I can achieve it, and learning about myself in the process.

Day 23 Route: Reading to Marlow via Thames Path. Terrain: riverside paths. Weather: sunny and warm to start, clouding over later. Daily distance: 29.6 km/18.4 miles. Cumulative distance: 559.4 km/346.8 miles. Accommodation: National Sports Centre, Bisham Abbey.

 

Today was my third day along the Thames, and once again there were gorgeous vistas along the river, helped by the fact that the landscape was more rolling this morning.

While I might have grumbled a bit yesterday about the sameness of the scenery along the Thames, there is no doubt that the river passes through some very attractive countryside.

That fact was brought home to me, rather forcefully, when I arrived in Reading at the end of the day. The Thames Path runs very close to the centre of Reading, but they are worlds apart. I’ll admit that I’m spoilt, as for the last month I have not seen any cities up close, just country villages and market towns. But Reading, or at least its core, has a rather gritty feel to it. I suspect I’ll be seeing more such places over the next few days, as my route passes through the western periphery of London. I also suspect that I’ll be very glad when I find myself back out in the countryside.

Day 22 Route: Streatley to Reading via Thames Path. Terrain: riverside paths. Weather: initially sunny, clouding over later. Daily distance: 18.8 km/11.7 miles. Cumulative distance: 529.8 km/328.5 miles. Accommodation: Hotel Ibis, Reading.

 

I decided to take today as a shorter day. I’ve had some long days recently, and I wanted to give my body a chance to recover. I still managed to rack up some progress, but I suspect that I had an easier day than these two, who were heading against the flow of the river.

One thing that this walk has taught me is how lucky I am to live where I do, in the Yorkshire Dales with the South Pennines, Forest of Bowland, and the Lake District all within a short drive from my doorstep. I’ve only spent two days walking alongside the Thames, and have a few days more to go, but the sameness is starting to wear on me. The Thames Valley is rich farmland with pretty villages and a long history, but the opportunities for walking are quite limited and there isn’t a lot of variety in the landscape. At home there are attractive villages and farms, but also high fells, wild moors, lush valleys, limestone, gritstone and volcanic rock, and a seemingly endless range of opportunities to enjoy it all.

“The North” is often characterized as a disadvantaged part of England. Economically that may be true, but not when it comes to spending active time outdoors. I’m glad I’ve now walked in this part of England, but I won’t rush back.

Route: Dorchester to Streatley via Thames Path. Terrain: riverside paths, meadows. Weather: warm, partly cloudy. Daily distance: 17.3 km/10.7 miles. Cumulative distance: 511.0 km/316.8 miles. Accommodation: The Bull, Streatley.

Today, and for the next several days, my route runs alongside the Thames.

I haven’t taken many detours off the route so far, but I made an exception today to visit the ancient churchyard at Sutton Courtenay, just south of the Thames.

Eric Blair, better known by his pen-name of George Orwell, is buried here. While he is best-known for Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, it is his non-fiction and essays that I enjoy most. His best writing is characterised by close observation, careful analysis, and clear and precise language. It’s also lightened by a love of nature and of the simple pleasures of everyday life. A good example is his essay “Some Thoughts on the Common Toad”, which is one of my favourites.

Orwell once wrote that “good prose is like a window pane”. I think what he meant is that the best writing allows the meaning to come through so clearly and simply that the reader becomes unaware of the writer’s craftmanship. It’s a demanding standard.

He has a simple headstone in a quiet corner of the churchyard.

If you look closely you’ll see that someone, in a fitting tip of the hat to one of his most famous essays, has left him a nice cup of tea.

Day 20 Route: Oxford to Dorchester via Thames Path. Terrain: riverside paths. Weather: mix of sun and cloud. Daily distance: 30.4 km/18.8 miles. Cumulative distance: 493.7 km/306.1 miles. Accommodation: George Hotel, Dorchester.

There are no pictures of gleaming spires to accompany today’s blog. I had planned to take some when I reached Oxford. However, as I approached the city, the rain that had started earlier was getting heavier. Even the goslings were taking shelter.

By the time I arrived in Oxford, the rain was bucketing down – the hardest that I’ve had so far on this walk.

It struck me, afterward, that I must have looked a slightly odd figure on the very urban streets of Oxford. I was dressed for grubbing around in the countryside: walking boots, gaiters, cargo pants, travel shirt, and today a mountain waterproof, liberally spattered with mud. I was carrying a big pack, complete with drying socks hanging off it, and the various bits of kit that are always close to hand – camera, map case, hydration tube, and trekking poles. And I was no doubt wearing the look of grim determination that is generally my mindset by the end of a long day.

If people were wondering if I were lost, they were kind enough not to ask. Or perhaps the look of determination put them off.

Day 19 Route: Charlbury to Oxford via Oxfordshire Way and Oxford Canal Path. Terrain: field paths, towpaths. Weather: initially sunny, but raining increasingly hard later. Daily distance: 34.2 km/21.2 miles. Cumulative distance: 463.3 km/287.2 miles. Accommodation: Ridings Guest House, Oxford.

Today was a milestone day for three reasons.

First, sometime today, I passed the halfway point between my starting point and Canterbury. While the English leg of my trip is the shortest leg, the fact that I am now more than halfway through this leg still feels significant.

Second, I turned left. Up to today, my journey had taken me generally southward. Today, and from now on, I head generally eastward, aiming more directly for Canterbury.

Third, I passed the test. Today was a very tough day. Not only was it the longest day so far, but the going was tough. Most of the day was spent going along a broad river valley that had clearly had a lot of rainfall in recent days and weeks. At best, the ground was wet and slippery – there were any number of times that only my poles kept me from taking a tumble. For long stretches, the trail had deteriorated into bog, with the mud ankle-deep or worse.

In some places the trail had completely flooded (yes, that is a trail marker).

But partway through the day I realized, with some surprise, that I was coping physically and mentally in a way that I could not have done even a couple of weeks ago. This journey is changing me, making me both fitter and more resilient. No doubt there will be tougher challenges along the way, but I can face that prospect with more confidence now.

Rome suddenly seems much closer than it did a day ago.

Day 18 Route: Stow-in-the-Wold to Charlbury via Heart of England Way and Oxfordshire Way. Terrain: river valley; field paths , tracks and roads. Weather: sunny with blustery winds. Daily distance: 34.5km/21.3 miles. Cumulative distance: 429.1 km/266.0 miles. Accommodation: The Bell, Charlbury.