(Not) blogging St Cuthbert

Part of my Sabbatical plan was to get in some exercise for the body as well as for the mind and spirit, and I was hoping to do this through walking a Pilgrim Way. Preparation for this was affected by such a long and muddy winter and then falling downstairs in early March with nothing broken but a lot of sore places. I was still confident that I could manage around six miles a day, and although I hadn't yet packed my rucksack, I knew what should be going into it.

Read on to find out what happened next!

After doing an hour or more walking each day at St Beuno's, one thing became clear... my feet were not up to the 100k walk I'd hoped to do from Melrose Abbey to Lindisfarne (St. Cuthbert's Way). After a longer walk, they felt as if someone had knocked bolts through the bottom of them. And my left knee wasn't coping with the stairs or hills particularly well, despite a bit of gentle acupuncture before I left Maidstone. Even sustaining shorter distances was going to be a struggle.


Having really set myself up for this,
it's been hard to deal with the disappointment and acknowledge my limitations.
My feet still carry me around most places I need to go, so I mustn't take it out on them!
But what do we put into a vacuum?
What else should I do with this gift of time?

Thankfully my imaginative partner had a suggestion - why not visit some other holy sites, or Cathedrals? 'Have a common thread running through the visits to hold it all together, and be clear what you are looking out for,' he said.

There are 42 Cathedrals in England, and I had already visited 12 of them. Some, like Manchester (where I was ordained deacon) and Canterbury (my diocesan Cathedral) are well-known and loved. But there were many more to see. Unlike Lawrence, I didn't lick any of them (no, really - see his blog about it here!), but was visiting them as a pilgrim, albeit one in a car. With 12 million other yearly visitors (many, many of them young people on school visits), I was taking the opportunity to recognise these amazing buildings - physical and spiritual landmarks, full of ancient memory and meaning, yet with a present-day purpose of ministry and mission in their local communities. Often they are involved not simply in teaching and worship, but in hospitality to many pilgrims and in celebrating the presence of God through liturgy, music and art. And since 2001, Cathedrals have become surprising centres for an increase in church attendance both midweek and on Sundays, offering opportunities for prayer and worship on a daily basis.

I contacted my pilgrim friend Jill, who after some intensive walking in Cornwall was more than ready to give her feet a rest too! We agreed that 'The Cathedral Tour' would replace St. Cuthbert's Way and I began to hatch a plan...

Most of the Cathedrals were visited in May during the Novena (nine days) between Ascension Day and Pentecost Sunday. The weather was changeable, with many heavy showers and lots of sunshine. A rainbow lay across the road all the way from Coventry to Peterborough...

(More to come...)

The crypt in Gloucester Cathedral,
one sunny Saturday afternoon.