Times: "Six modern pilgrimages around Britain to soothe the soul" by Gail Simmons

You don’t need to hold religious beliefs to find great joy in walking Kent’s recently rediscovered Old Way. Plus five other trails — from Cornwall to Northern Ireland

With only the rasp of the wind for company I strode over sheep-cropped pastures towards the St Thomas Becket Church. It rose from the mire like an upturned ship, floating in the vastness of Romney Marsh. Inside there was no sense of the modern world, just an aura of peace. The rain that had threatened all morning now pounded on the roof — I’d reached the sanctuary of this lonely church just in time to avoid a heavy spring shower.

This luck had blessed me throughout my walk along the Old Way, a long-forgotten pilgrimage route traced by a faint line on an antique map in the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library and recently rediscovered by the British Pilgrimage Trust...

This article first appeared in The Times, 31st March 2024.

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