About this Event
' I loved this memoir with all my heart and soul' -Raynor Winn .
An old map. A lost pilgrimage route. A journey in search of our walking heritage.
When Henry VIII banned pilgrimage in 1538, he ended not only a centuries-old tradition of walking as an act of faith, but the chance to discover the joy of walking as an escape from the burdens of everyday life.
Much was lost when these journeys faded from our collective memory, but clues to our past remain. On an antique map in Oxford's Bodleian Library, a faint red line threading through towns and villages between Southampton and Canterbury suggests a significant, though long-forgotten, road. Renamed the Old Way, medieval pilgrims are thought to have travelled this route to reach the celebrated shrine of Thomas Becket.
Over four seasons, travel writer Gail Simmons walks the Old Way to rediscover what a long journey on foot offers us today. In the age of the car, what does it mean to embrace 'slow travel'? Why does being a woman walking alone still feel like a radical act? In an age when walking connects the nation, can we now reclaim pilgrimage as a secular act?
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Waterstones, 6-8 Rose Lane, Canterbury, United Kingdom
GBP 3.00 to GBP 12.00