Road to Home 2022 Day 29: Canterbury - Shepherdswell

18 km

My dearly beloved sons, it would have been better not to have undertaken a noble task than to turn back deliberately from what you have begun: so it is right that you should carry out with all diligence this good work which you have begun with the help of the Lord. Therefore do not let the toilsome journey nor the tongues of evil speakers deter you. 

- Pope Gregory, to St. Augustine and his monks when they returned to Rome, daunted by the task of travelling to Britain to convert the entire nation to Christianity, AD 597

I'm in Canterbury: so now what? 

I set out to walk from my birthplace, Leeds, to Canterbury, traditionally the top pilgrimage destination in the UK. But, like Santiago de Compostela and Finisterre, Canterbury comes with the option of a bonus hike to the sea: Canterbury to Dover, 31.5 km. This coincides with the first stage of the Via Francigena. It can be divided into two easy days of hiking with an overnight stop in Shepherdswell, just over halfway. 

I will complete this portion of the Via Francigena and/or St. Bernard's Way on this trip, so that I can pick it up directly in Calais when I resume walking the next section in France at a later date. 

But first, I wanted to make the most of my morning in Canterbury. I began by attending matins at 7:30 in the Cathedral, followed by a full English breakfast at my lodgings within the Cathedral precinct. By the time I had finished, the morning services were over and Cathedral was open to visitors, so I went in again to wander about freely. At 9 am there were practically no other visitors there; the only other people about were members of the Cathedral staff, construction workers involved in the restoration work, and uniformed students from nearby King's School, the oldest school in England, on their way to classes after attending the 8 o'clock communion service.

The Pilgrims' Window at Canterbury Cathedral 

I then returned to my room for a cup of tea while enjoying the view of the Cathedral from my window one last time.

Then I checked out of the lodge and returned to the Cathedral to attend the brief daily Bell Ceremony in honour of the fallen in war. As I have dedicated this walk to the memory of my great-grandfather, who was killed in France at the age of 28 in 1916, and to his first wife, who died in childbirth at only 19 years old in 1906, I wrote out a prayer in their memory on a post-it to be placed on the altar during the next communion service.

Then I picked up my bag and left the precinct of Canterbury Cathedral, for the first time since arriving in the city the previous afternoon! It was quite a shock to leave behind that oasis of peace and sanctity and find myself out on the street, back in the real world, where teenagers may be found drinking beer out of cans at 11 o'clock on a Monday morning... 

I followed the Via Francigena from its starting point at the Cathedral to the ruins of St. Augustine's Abbey, built on order of King Ethelbert of Kent following his conversion to Christianity by St. Augustine in the year 597. St. Augustine and forty of his monks were was sent by Pope Gregory I to convert the pagan English, after the Pope had seen pale, blond English children for sale at the slave market and pitied them, making his famous comment "these are not Angles, but Angels!" But when St. Augustine disembarked in France, he lost courage and turned back, returning to Rome to tell the Pope he couldn't do it. Gregory insisted, and  Augustine set off again, sailing to France and then travelling overland, it is believed. 

He started from the top, preaching to the King, who was converted. His wife, Queen Bertha, probably had something to do with the success of Augustine's mission, as she was already a Christian. The evangelised King then appointed St. Augustine as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. 

The original Anglo-Saxon church of St. Augustine was destroyed by the Normans following their 11th-century conquest of Britain; they rebuilt the Abbey in grander style, as large as the Cathedral and even more important than it, as Anglo-Saxon kings and archbishops were originally buried here. 

But following Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries, it was destroyed, taken apart, using the stones to build the King's new summer palace. 

What the abbey once looked like, and the ruins today

My next and final stop before leaving Canterbury was St. Martin's, the first church established by St. Augustine upon his arrival in England and therefore the oldest church in the English-speaking world. Unfortunately, it was shut. Or perhaps fortunately - otherwise I would never have got out of the city and back onto the trail!! 

The Via Francigena starts outside Canterbury Cathedral, but it's definitely more than 1800 kilometres to Rome as the sign says!! 

Between Canterbury and Dover the Via Francigena coincides with the North Downs Way, and with St. Bernard's Way which I have been following all the way from Yorkshire. 

Today's stretch was fairly monotonous once it left Canterbury, crossing vast fields of barley and never-ending expanses of grass and wildflowers. The only excitement was spotting the sea, far off in the distance, from the top of a low hill! For as I mentioned the other day, Kent is not flat. I am now walking in the Kentish Downs, and downs inevitably come with ups!! 😅

The ancient church in the village of Patrixbourne was open, and though there was no-one there, a do-it-yourself pilgrim stamp was on the table. Mysterious markings beside the south door turned out to be sundials, of use to a population without pocket watches to know when to expect services to be held in the church, and lines and crosses, possibly made by pilgrims on tbeir voyage out, and then back home. 

There was nothing to eat in any of the villages along the way, and I had foolishly failed to pick up supplies before leaving Canterbury, still stuffed with my Full English Breakfast. So I sat down in a grassy field and ate the last of my peanuts and raisins and an energy bar. Then I hiked the rest of the way into Shepherdswell, where I am accommodated chez Susanna, who rents her three upstairs rooms to pilgrims and other visitors. Here I finally met some other pilgrims!! Two ladies from New Zealand, on their first day on the Via Francigena. They intend to walk all the way to Rome, 90-day Schengen visa restrictions permitting. We dined in our hostess's kitchen, on pasta dishes purchased from the local co-op, and I gave them my pocket knife, since I won't be able to take it on the plane with me when I fly back to Italy!