What next?

Where I've walked so far: 

I took my first Long Walk in 2015: 600 km in 28 days on the Via Francigena from my home in Chiavari to Rome. 

Between 2016 and 2019 I walked in the other direction, from my home to Santiago de Compostela. Then I walked from Porto to Santiago on the Camino Portugues with my Dad in September 2019.

In 2020 I walked from home to Florence, and in the spring of 2021 I continued on the rest of the way to Assisi along Italy's second most popular pilgrimage route, the Way of Saint Francis, shown in blue on the map above. 

Then in September/October 2021 I went back to the Via Francigena, the southern part this time, walking from Rome to Santa Maria di Leuca, almost 900 km, in 37 days, with the Road to Rome 2021 project.

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot the Annandale Way in Scotland and Hadrian's Wall Walk in England in 2018! (That accounts for the little red line across the thinnest part of the UK in the photo above.)

So what next?

How about walking all the rest of the Via Francigena, to the north of where I live? From Canterbury, through France and Switzerland, over the Alps and through northern Italy back to my home, the point where I started my first walk 7 years ago?

Sounds great! 

But wait - why start in Canterbury? 

Canterbury Cathedral itself is a traditional pilgrimage site, and there are paths converging on Canterbury from all over England. 

I was born in England, in the city of Leeds, Yorkshire. Though I left at the age of three weeks... it could still be a starting point of particular significance for me!

So went my train of reasoning over this past winter. Looking into the practical feasibility of this project, I discovered the existence St. Bernard's Way, a 1573 km long distance walking route from Rievaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire, founded in 1132 by twelve monks from Clairvaux Abbey. to Citeaux Abbey, founded by St. Bernard of Clairvaux south of Dijon in France. The route retraces the path that the monks of the Cistercian order would have taken from the monastery at Rievaulx to attend the general meeting of the Cistercian order in Citeaux Abbey; in France, the route follows the Via Francigena before branching off toward Dijon.  

But I won't have to worry about getting all those difficult French names mixed up, at least not this year, because I will be starting in Leeds and walking as far as Canterbury, and then Dover, for the present! 

St. Bernard's Way

The British portion of St. Bernard's Way was traced by Tony Maskill-Rogan, whom I had the pleasure of meeting when he and two friends walked through Chiavari in January (courageous walkers!) of 2018. At that time Tony was researching a possible route for a new Way of St. Augustine. The three walkers stopped overnight in Chiavari, and though they had already booked their accommodations I did invite them over for supper, and we spent a fun evening together which was immortalised in Tony's blog! 

It was 2014 when Tony traced St. Bernard's Way, and I'm not sure how many people have walked it since then, but I intend to find out if it's still there, and still walkable! 

My plan is to start with the UK portion of St. Bernard's Way, beginning with Stage 6 in Leeds and walking from there to Canterbury and then to Dover. The interactive map on Tony's web site shows the route. 

Stay tuned!