Watling Street Pilgrims Way to Canterbury

[onwayhome]

I was reminded of my first Camino (in the mid 1980's) last week while walking from Rochester to Canterbury along the old Watling Street route. This would have been the most likely direct way from London and was the basis for the fictional journey of Chaucer's pilgrims.

Trouble is, the route grew up around the remains of a Roman Road which, over the years has become a busy highway, railway and focus for a string of towns and cities along the way. This means that there's no longer a single, recognisable walking route (if there ever was one in the first place) and a bit of creative navigation is necessary to seek out a way that follows the old paths where possible but avoids risking life and limb when the route becomes a truck filled major transport link with Europe.

There is, however, something very refreshing about being on a lesser travelled path. I really appreciated the librarians who disappeared into back offices to unearth redundant rubber stamps for my passport, the church group that invited me in for communion, tea and chocolate biscuits and the couple that spontaneously bought me a delicious Lebanese buffet lunch.

I didn't meet any other pilgrims though did receive a warm welcome at Canterbury Cathedral. For anyone contemplating this route, I started planning with a copy of 'In the Steps of Chaucer's Pilgrims' by Jack Ravensdale, and GPX tracks from the British Pilgrimage Trust and Saxon Shore Way long distance footpath. Pilgrim passports are available from Canterbury Cathedral.

 

[MLB]

My husband and I and 6 others walked the pilgrims way from Rochester to Canterbury, organized by the British and Irish walks company for 5 days at the end of April and beginning May. We had a week of rain. The path laid out for us was to follow the North downs way which overlapped with the pilgrims way. We found that following the pilgrims way markings was less dependable than following the northdowns way markings. It was a beautiful path with lovely views of farmland lover looking the valleys. It was a very different experience than walking the Camino de Santiago with Inns at the end of the day instead of Albergues. It is the kind of walk where you gain weight. The Cathedrals were inspiring and beautiful. We were treated to the beautiful music of the choirs for evensong. We enjoyed our “pilgrimage” immensely.

 

[onwayhome]

Sounds lovely, apart from the continuous rain. The NDW route sounds very attractive, I guess this is a major reason why people choose it over Watling Street. And yes, very different to the Camino Frances though in its day Canterbury was a major pilgrim destination like Santiago.