The Pilgrims’ Way has two possible starting points: Southwark Cathedral in London or Winchester Cathedral. The two paths cross at Otford. I chose to walk from London as this is the route of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, as well as the way Becket himself traveled between the two cities.
This is the day by day, more practical experience of the journey. You can read/listen to my lessons learned from the way here.
Preparation and resources
I walk regularly so I was well-trained for a multi-day walk although I had never done six days solo before. I did a one-day navigation course to brush up on my map-reading skills, for which I was grateful. Check out my multi-day kit list here.
I used The Cicerone guide, Walking the Pilgrim’s Way by Leigh Hatts, which is excellent. I also carried OS Maps of the entire route. To reduce the amount of paper, I cut out the sections I needed and pulled out the section I needed each day.
My book, Pilgrimage, Lessons Learned from Solo Walking Three Ancient Ways, is out now.
