Trails of 2022

This year marks the completion of 3 trails:

Thames Path

A year ago, I realized that I had walked most of the Thames path in bits and pieces, and decided to make sure I had covered both sides of the river within London. My Residents’ Association was offering a month’s free ride on the Thames Clipper to help with the stretches near Putney, which is where I saw the kingfisher posing for the camera.

Then a winter break was cancelled, and I decided to walk from Goring to Oxford with two overnight stops, in Dorchester and Abingdon. Another cancelled holiday, at the end of April, took me from Oxford to the source via Newbridge, Lechlade and Cricklade. It was a dry spring, so there was no water at the source.

Offa’s Dyke

This walk also started in 2021, and was done in three sections, all with Ramblers Holidays. I started with the middle section, staying in Montgomery, as the dates were the most convenient. Then, this year, I walked the northern section in July, picking up a shell on Prestatyn Beach, and the southern in October. The end of the trail overlooks the Severn Estuary, but at low tide the water was too far to throw the shell, so I left it on the memorial block where we had the group photo.

Pilgrims Way

The culmination of a project which started in 2019, when I discovered that Friends of Southwark Cathedral were planning to walk from Southwark to Canterbury in the May Bank Holiday Week of 2020. I joined the planning group on the last few recces. Alas, Covid-19 restrictions meant that the walk was impossible in 2020, so we postponed it to 2021.

However, in August 2020, restrictions were lifted and the government encouraged us to “Eat Out to Help Out” so I decided to walk the route in a very hot week, mostly by myself but in company with Dan on one stage, and Lucy and Dan on the final one. I enjoyed it so much that I backpacked from Winchester to Box Hill at the end of the month and completed the stretch from Box Hill to Otford where the two routes meet in three daywalks.

Covid returned, and in spring 2021 the walk had to be postponed again, but this time with a difference: instead of walking every day for a week, the Friends would tackle one stage on the third Saturday of every month from January to September 2022. Apart from the penultimate stage which had to be rearranged for September 10 because of a rail strike, it was third time lucky, and we were welcomed to tea with Friends of Canterbury Cathedral, followed by Choral Evensong and pizza. I missed the second stage, being stuck in overnight in Bournemouth by Storm Eunice, but walked it backwards to compensate.

I decided to offer the same walks, with slight variations, to South Bank Ramblers. We were also affected by strikes, but completed the route in November.

Where next?

Friends of Southwark Cathedral continue the pilgrimage tradition with monthly walks: Southwark to St Albans in 5 easy stages from January to May.

My own plans for 2023 are five days solo on the Wysis Way (Wye to Isis) joining Offa’s Dyke to the Thames Path as soon as we return to British Summer Time at the end of March, and as much as I can manage of the Camino Del Norte from the French/Spanish Atlantic border (Hendaye/Irun) in the direction of Santiago de Compostella in September/October.