August 7, 2024
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
— Marcel Proust
Whenever we prepare to travel, we research the cultural and natural significance of the locations that we plan to visit, in order to better appreciate the things we will see. As we trekked the first 50 miles of the Pilgrims’ Way, we explored the historical and spiritual places that we had researched along the ancient pilgrim path to Canterbury Cathedral.
However, we have also learned to open our eyes to new discoveries that may unfold around us. This is especially true when we are trekking at a slower pace. In this case, since we had never been to southeast England before and were traveling in mostly non-touristed areas, we were sure to keep our eyes open for new discoveries in the world around us.
Encountering Thorns and Ants while visiting Churches and a Priory
After our rest day in Rochester we left the historic town via the Medway Valley Walk for our final four days and 50 miles of hiking. The route took us right along the Medway River. It is the county of Kent’s principal river and flows for a total distance of 70 miles.
We soon encountered an overgrown trail with many bushes and thorns on both sides of the narrow path. It was slow-going for us to minimize getting caught on thorns and stung by nettles. Even so, we ended up with some painful scratches and rashes.
Making our way through the obstacles on the overgrown trail
The next portion of hiking took us along quiet dirt roads. A highlight for us was a visit to the Aylesford Priory. Founded in 1242, it is England’s oldest Carmelite priory. The grounds, including a garden and several buildings, are open to the public. We found the priory to be a peaceful respite from our eventful hiking earlier in the day.
At the end of our 11.3-mile stage, we reached a small pub, where we checked in for the night.
The North Downs are a chalky ridge of hills in southeast England, stretching all the way to the famous White Cliffs of Dover. Our next stage took us into the heart of the North Downs and along the North Downs Way National Trail. It was a shorter day, with only about 10.5 miles to hike as we traversed through the villages of Boxley, Detling, Thurnham, and Hollingbourne.
Before we began the trek we picked up “passports” that had space for stamps from different locations along the Pilgrims’ Way path. At each village, we took the time to visit the local church and collect a stamp.
Pilgrims’ Way passport cover and stamps
The church in Boxley dated from the 13th century.
Views of the St Mary & All Saints Church in Boxley
Soon after we left Boxley, we came to a stile. These are found in areas that enclose animals and can take the form of steps, ladders, or narrow gaps. We had hiked through our share of stiles two years ago, especially during Ireland’s Kerry Way.
At this particular stile the wood had decayed too much to climb over it. The alternative was to crawl under some barbed wire to get through. Darren went first, taking off his backpack and propping it up against a post on the other side as he slid under the wire. As I readied to go behind him, I heard him yell out.
He had put his pack back on and then realized that it had been on top of an ant hill. His pack had hundreds of large black ants now crawling all over him. I quickly navigated the wire, and we spent about 10 minutes brushing ants off of him and the pack. Going forward, we were more careful where we set down our backpacks.
Trekking through Vineyards and Orchards and Enjoying Farm to Table Meals
The county of Kent, where we did the majority of our trekking, is known as the “Garden of England” because of its abundance of vineyards, orchards, and hop gardens. As we continued east, we began to see more agricultural areas. Our path initially took us along large fields of grapes.
Walking through the fields reminded us of our time hiking through the Central California farmland during our California Missions Trail trek last year.
We decided to spend time discovering the “farm to table” cuisine found in the area restaurants. Our short stage enabled us to stop for a leisurely pub lunch in the village of Thurnham. We had an excellent beet salad, locally sourced sausages, and a tasty kimchi chicken sandwich. After a few more miles of hiking we arrived in the village of Harrietsham for the night.
Lunch pub sign and food
Our final two stages featured higher mileage than the previous days of the trek. We spent most of a 13.9-mile stage on dirt trails along the North Downs ridge. There was a 100-mile running race going on along the North Downs Trail, and we encouraged the runners as they passed by us.
We viewed the Lenham Chalk Cross early on our stage. It is a war memorial, carved into the white chalk by the townspeople, which commemorates the local lives lost during World War I and World War II.
Late in the day we turned away from the Pilgrims’ Way route to hike an additional two miles to the village of Wye for the night. Before checking into our room at a pub, we admired the Anglican Church of Saint Gregory and Saint Martin in the center of town. A church was first constructed on this site in 1290.
We chose to stay at the Wye pub because they had excellent Sunday Roast reviews. When we trekked in the UK two years ago, we looked forward each week to the Sunday Roast, which features a traditional meal of roasted meat, potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, and a variety of vegetables.
Our meal that night lived up to our expectations. The pub’s pork and beef brisket roast that we ordered were both delicious.
Sunday Roast dinner at the Wye pub
To begin our final 14.9-mile stage the next day to Canterbury, we retraced our steps from Wye back to the main trail. This stage had the most elevation gain of the trek, as we alternated hiking between fields and small villages. At the top of an especially steep climb we came to a bench made from old apple crates. It was a perfect place to take our final lunch break. We had a nice view of the hillside as we ate food purchased from a grocery store earlier in the day.
Soon after we started walking again, we entered a large apple orchard growing a variety of red and green apples.
As we continued hiking the final miles to Canterbury, we began to see distinctive buildings called oasts. They were originally built to dry grown hops as part of the beer brewing process. The structures we saw had been converted into dwellings.
Oasts that we encountered along the trail
Interspersed with the fields and orchards were a series of quaint villages. Our favorite of this stage was the historic architecture in the village of Chilham.
Getting closer to Canterbury, we saw signs, murals, and sculptures depicting pilgrims and the way toward the cathedral.
Arriving in Canterbury and Exploring the Cathedral
As we left the rural areas behind and turned on busy streets, we caught our first glimpse of the Canterbury Cathedral.
Finally, we entered Canterbury’s historic center through its west gate.
The center of Canterbury was crowded with tourists, with the most people we had seen since leaving Greenwich.
Soon after, we reached the Christ Church Gate leading to the cathedral and the end of our 100-mile Pilgrims’ Way trek from London.
Christ Church Gate entrance to the Canterbury Cathedral
After taking a few completion photos, we briefly visited the cathedral’s interior before deciding to explore it more thoroughly in the morning.
Founded in 597, Canterbury Cathedral is the oldest in England. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The cathedral in Becket’s time was completely rebuilt between 1070 and 1077.
We were impressed by the sheer size and scale as we entered through the church’s nave. We had to crane our heads to look up to the top of the 80-foot high ceiling.
Influences of Saint Thomas Becket can be seen throughout the cathedral and completing the trek brought it more alive for us. Walking to the north transcript, we came upon the location of Becket’s murder in 1170. A sword sculpture marked the exact spot. In 1982 Pope John Paul II and the Archbishop of Canterbury prayed together at this site.
The location of Saint Thomas Becket’s murder in the cathedral
We continued further into the cathedral and up some stairs to the former shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. In 1180–1184 the present Trinity Chapel was constructed to house the shrine. Historically, this was the location that pilgrims visited after their long journey.
During the reign of King Henry VIII the shrine was removed in 1538. All that remains of the shrine today is a single candle. There were docents throughout the cathedral, and one gentleman gave us a detailed explanation of the shrine site and showed us a rendering of what it would have looked like in the pilgrims’ time.
In the Trinity Chapel are a series of restored 13th century stained glass windows. The windows depict pilgrims traveling to the cathedral, as well as those seeking prayer and healing at Saint Thomas Becket’s shrine.
Stained glass with pilgrims seeking prayers and healing
Our trek on the Pilgrims’ Way provided us with great insight into an important part of history as we walked along a spiritual path and visited two of the oldest cathedrals in England at Canterbury and Rochester. The time at both cathedrals would not have been the same if we did not understand the significance of Saint Thomas Becket and the pilgrims who traveled to visit his relics.
In addition to the ancient places that we saw, we also enjoyed our more modern discoveries along the North Downs range and in the fertile land and delicious food of the county of Kent with its beautiful fields, vineyards, and orchards.
This 100-mile hike was also a precursor to our longer journey – a 700-mile trek on the historic Via Francigena to St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, adjacent to Rome, Italy. The path, signifying the route to Rome taken by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 990, actually starts at the Canterbury Cathedral and totals about 1,200 miles.
We are not able to complete that entire distance in one European visit, so we have chosen to hike the last 700 miles from Montreux, Switzerland to Rome. Nevertheless, we were excited to view the trail waymarkers just outside the Canterbury Cathedral as we left the area.
Waymarkers at the start of the Via Francigena to Rome
To reach Montreux, Switzerland, we will travel across the English Channel and through France over the next two days.
As the sun began to set and most of the tourists had gone, we couldn’t resist seeing the cathedral’s exterior one last time and reflecting on the discoveries we made while trekking the Pilgrims’ Way.
Take a look at our recap video from the trek: