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Pilgrims' Way Day 4: Lenham to Canterbury (3 Stages, 36.31 km)

February 11, 2022 Paulo Leave a comment

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"Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart.” Abraham Joshua Heschel.

In this post…

1. Introduction (this is the same as on previous posts, so skip to next section if you’ve already seen it)
2. The statistics and metrics of the day
3. Stage 13: From From the Harrow Inn Hotel near Lenham to the All Saints’ Church in Boughton Aluph
4. Stage 14: From the All Saints’ Church in Boughton Aluph to the Village Hall in Chilham
5. Stage 15: From Village Hall in Chilham to the Canterbury Cathedral

Introduction

OK, if this is the first Pilgrim’s Way post of mine that you are reading, I’d recommend you go back a little and read my Introduction to the Pilgrims’ Way blog. There are a few things I explain there that I don’t here and this post might look confusing if you don’t know these things beforehand (e.g. why 15 stages?).

This post is all about the forth day of the pilgrimage – but do take into consideration I was cycling, so if you are walking it is likely you’ll cover much less ground than me! In this one day I covered stages 13, 14 and 15. I describe them separately here. The section below provides the statistics for the full day, but in each video, there are some statistics for each one of the stages such as distance and time.

I reckon that the videos show the route and the difficulties quite well, despite being so speeded-up. You can pause them for more detail or reduce the playback speed in the YouTube interface, if you don’t mind watching it for a longer time (if you do this, don’t forget to mute the video to avoid hearing a slowed-down version of the music!).

Also, bear in mind that this pilgrimage was undertaken during the pandemic and that, although some restrictions had been lifted in the UK in August/September, many places, such as small community churches, were still closed.

Statistics and metrics of the day

All of the details below are in my Pilgrims’ Way Google Sheets Spreadsheet.

Date: Thursday, 3 September 2020.
Route: From the Harrow Inn Hotel near Lenham to the Canterbury Cathedral
Distance: 36.31 km
Departure time from Harrow Inn Hotel: Around 9:30am.
Arrival at the Canterbury Cathedral: Around 16:00h.
Duration of day’s Journey: 6h 04min (but includes several filming stops with the German TV crew). Moving time was considerably shorter = 2h 40 min
Expenses this day: Total = £63.00
- £30.00 – Food.
- £33.00 – Accommodation in Canterbury (does NOT incl. Breakfast next day)
Overnight Location: Premier Inn Canterbury City Centre, Kent, England. ✆ +44-333 321 9298
Type of Accommodation: Hotel
Walking the Pilgrims’ Way Guide (Leigh Hatts) Stages:
- 13: Lenham to the All Saints’ Church in Boughton Aluph
- 14: All Saints’ Church in Boughton Aluph to the Chilham Village Hall, Chilham.
- 15: Chilham to the Canterbury Cathedral
Physical and Body Stats: Link to the Garmin Connect Page for this ride
- - Duration (elapsed time): 6h 04min
  - Moving time: 2h 40min
  - Average Speed: 13.1 km/h
  - Average Moving Speed: 14.2 km/h
- - Max. Speed: 43.6 km/h
  - Total Elevation Gain: 358 m
  - Average Heart Rate: 133 bpm
  - Max. Heart Rate: 184 bpm
  - Calories: 1,482 CAL (Est.)
- The tracking was done by 2 Garmin devices: A Garmin Edge 810 bicycle computer and a Garmin Forerunner 235 watch. There appears to be significant differences between these devices.

Stage 13: From From the Harrow Inn Hotel near Lenham to the All Saints’ Church in Boughton Aluph

If you haven’t done so already, please watch the video first and then read this blog for more detail! I didn’t want to include all this information in the video voiceover because it would have added too much to the length of the video (which is 6’42″).

The picture below was used in the video and I hope will help you make more sense of the text below.

PW13-Google-Earth-Lenham-to-Boughton-Aluph — Map of the 13th stage between the Harrow Inn Hotel near Lenham and the All Saints’ Church in Boughton Aluph. In yellow the downloaded walker’s path. In red the path I took

Before I left the hotel in the morning I had the task of replacing the inner tube of the rear tyre. Thankfully the spare inner tube I was carrying with me worked well, but pumping a fully deflated tyre, with the little bike pump I had, took considerable time and effort.

Leaving the Harrow Inn Hotel, I turned right into the Waterditch Rd and then immediatelly right again into Rayners Hill which I had to ride for a few hundred metres to join the dirt track of the Pilgrims’ Way again on the left (which I almost missed). You’ll walk / ride a good few kilometres on these dirt tracks passing farmyard buildings with fields and often a tree line on both sides. The paths are wide, firm and easy to ride despite a bit of gravel on the ground.

It was in one of these paths I met 2 cyclists (a couple) whose intention was to tour from the southeast of the country all the way to Wales in the west, a good few hundred miles away. We’ve spent only a few minutes talking, I gave them a card, but they never got in touch and I don’t recall their names anymore.

You will eventually get to the A252, but will only have to ride / walk on it for 10-15 m in order to cross over to the Pilgrims Way (the road) on the right. The Pilgrims Way is a paved single track with farm fields on both sides at this point. Eventually the asphalt ends and it becomes a dirt track again with a denser tree line between the farm fields. Quite enjoyable to walk / ride on. The asphalted single track returns about 1 or 2 km later (still on cycle route 17).

At the T-Junction between Dunn St and Westwell Ln you’ll need to take a path that has a, sort of, “U” shaped gate (I had to lift my bike vertically to get through it) leading to a path on a farm field that appears to be part of cycle route 17 hence the curiously looking bike sign (as in bikes allowed) post. One would think cycle routes would be unobstructed paths that facilitate the life of cyclists, but that concept does not appear to be valid in the UK. You’ll ride / walk on unpaved single tracks until you get to the edge of a field where the path becomes less pronounced and when I was there the field had just been prepared for planting, so the crossing of the field wasn’t an easy / pleasureable ride. Surprisingly it all still appears to be part of cycle route 17. There is another of such obstacles on the other side of the field, but this one I was able to (barely) transpose without having to lift the bike. Curiously, this entire stretch is in Google Street View and whenever Google took these pictures it looked very different than when I was there.

As you re-join the asphalt straight ahead you’ll eventually get to a kissing gate that the original walker’s route instructed to take, but I decided to stick to the road and turn right few metres later. This road doesn’t appear to have a name, but will lead to the A251 and the village of Boughton Lees. The All Saints Church is perhaps 1 or 2 km away from Boughton Lees in a place called Boughton Aluph, which strangely does not appear to be a village at all as the only thing around it is the church and some farm buildings. To get to the church you can stay on the road or, like me, take the narrow shortcut path with barbwire fences on both sides (be careful). After riding a few hundred metres on some farm fields you’ll get to a metal Kissing Gate that leads to the church yard and where the German TV crew was already waiting for me as they wanted to shoot some scenes of me arriving at the church. The All Saints Church has a long pilgrim tradition as medieval pilgrims coming from both Winchester and Southwark would gather there to cross the (then) dangerous King’s Wood forest (which was known to be infested with robbers) together to Chilham. The origins of the church can be traced back to Anglo-Saxon times (1066), but the church itself, more or less as it stands today is from 1329. At the time I was there the church was closed due to Covid restrictions but in normal times it hosts once a year the Stour Music Festival. Its well worth a visit.

The picture gallery below shows the pictures taken by me along this stage. Click on any picture to enlarge.

I hope you enjoy the video and the photos.

Stage 14: From the All Saints’ Church in Boughton Aluph to the Village Hall in Chilham

The picture below was used in the video and I hope will help you make more sense of the text below.

PW14-Google-Earth-Boughton-Aluph-to-Chilham — Map of the 14th stage between the All Saints’ Church in Boughton Aluph and the Chilham Community Hall in Chilham. In yellow the downloaded walker’s path. In red the path I took

As mentioned in the previous stage, the German TV crew filming the Pilgrims’ Way documentary wanted to add a little acting in the King’s Wood due to the relevance it had in medieval times. As this isn’t really part of the route and the pilgrimage, I have not included it in the video.

As I left the All Saints Church in Boughton Aluph, I crossed a farm field that led me to White Hill Road. The walkers’ route I had obtained on the internet was instructing me to cross the road and follow straight on the farm’s dirt track, but as I had to meet the German TV crew I turned left and climbed White Hill Road to meet them at the King’s Wood Car Park 2 km away. After all the filming I rode back less than a kilometer to enter the King’s Wood at the point I highlight in the video. Hard for me to make a recommendation about a path not taken, but if you are doing it on a bike I would avoid the farm’s dirt track and enter the King’s Wood where I did.

The ride through the wood is very nice and easy with only a few slopes along the way, being the one at the end the more challenging (but easily done). Eventually the path I took joins the path of the walkers’ route. You’ll exit King’s Wood at the A252, not far from Chilham. You’ll ride / walk along the A252 all the way to the Village of Chilham. The walkers’ path will lead you to the St Mary’s Church in Chilham, but by mistake I continued on the A252 and missed the church, hence the reason I end the video of this stage in the Village Hall. After the Village Hall, the next street to the right will take you to the church.

The picture gallery below shows the pictures taken by me along this stage. Click on any picture to enlarge.

I hope you enjoy the video and the photos.

Stage 15: From Village Hall in Chilham to the Canterbury Cathedral.

The picture below was used in the video and I hope will help you make more sense of the text below.

PW15-Google-Earth-Route — Map of the 15th and last stage between the Chilham Community Hall in Chilham and the cathedral in Canterbury. In yellow the downloaded walker’s path. In red the path I took

If you get to start this stage from the St Mary’s Church in Chilham you will likely be on Church Hill Road. You’ll cross the A252 to take Long Hill and continue all the way to Old Wives Lees, where you’ll turn right on Lower Less Road (the road that was undergoing roadworks in the video). You’ll walk to the “triangle” intersection of Lower Ensden Rd and you should see in front (a little to the right) the path that will take you through some farm fields all the way to the Apple Orchards of Nickle Farm in Chartham. I usually eat an Apple a day (to keep the doctor away) and to me seeing all the Apple trees and their pleasant smeel was a real delight.

Nickle Farm belongs to FW Mansfield & Son and it is a big business, with many workers, mostly coming from Eastern Europe for the harvest. As I rode through the farm I got a little lost and asked for directions, but communication was a bit difficult. I eventually found the path, but when I saw the pebbles on the track up hill I got demotivated. That forced me to look for an alternative and after talking to another person in the farm he recommeded the path to Canterbury over Chartham village, alongside the Great Stour river, which isn’t really part of the original Pilgrims’ Way route (see where the yellow line and the red line disconnect on the map above).

The original route, on the walkers’ path and the guide will take you to the villeage of Chartham Hatch (yellow line), but I decided to override that. This was MY pilgrimage afterall and, personally, I take a river path over a single track lane any time. Again, it is probably not right for me do make recommendations over a path not taken, but I am glad I did ride to Canterbury alongside the river. The path is beautiful, very flat and very enjoyable, but you’ll have to divide it with a number of other cyclists and walkers (incl. dogs, children, etc). You’ll see magnificent river houses, trees and fields all the way to Canterbury. I think the video is much better at showing you this than I could ever put in words, but if you take the same path as I did you’ll be giving up the historical path of the pilgrimage.

The video includes some drone footage I filmed the NEXT day with Katy and some details about Canterbury with Katy’s voice. I hope you enjoy the bird’s eye view of Canterbury at the distance (at that point the Cathedral is about 3.5 km away).

Upon arriving in Canterbury, as it became the norm over these 4 days, the German TV crew was already waiting for me at the Westgate Towers for a quite intense session of filming. Honestly, I felt a bit like a movie star walking into Canterbury city centre being followed by TV cameras and a filming crew. A sensation that I wasn’t necessarily comfortable with due to all the attention it drew onto me… all for a good cause anyway.

I should consider myself lucky they were there though. I did this pilgrimage during the times of the pandemic and if it wasn’t for the TV crew I am sure a few doors wouldn’t have been open to me. Upon arriving at the cathedral I was warmly greeted by canon Emma Pennington who received us and led us first into the cript of Saint Thomas Becket and then into the high altar where I received my final pilgrim’s blessing and where Katy sang at the end of the video.

In all fairness, I must warn you, the pictures you see in the video are from the next day though as the arrival at the cathedral and all the filming for the TV crew was quite intense. I didn’t really had a lot of time to film for myself, but the experience is the same. If you ever get to watch the documentary, the final footage of me (if included at all) might likely be an aerial / drone footage at the campus of the University of Kent riding into the sunset (quite moving really) onto another challenge.

This stage concludes the pilgrimage. I hope you enjoyed this short series of videos and posts about my Pilgrims’ Way pilgrimage by bike. To me these are memories I’ll take to the grave 🙂

The picture gallery below shows the pictures taken by me along this stage. Click on any picture to enlarge.

I hope you enjoy the video and the photos.

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Pilgrimage, The Pilgrims' Way, Touring

Pilgrims' Way Day 3: Westerham to Lenham (5 stages, 70 km)

August 14, 2021 Paulo Leave a comment

<- Previous Post (Day 2)    |     Next Post (Day 4) ->

"We're all pilgrims on the same journey - but some pilgrims have better road maps". Nelson DeMille.

In this post…

1. Introduction (this is the same as on previous posts, so skip to next section if you’ve already seen it)
2. The statistics and metrics of the day
3. Stage 08: From From the Days Inn Hotel near Westerham to Otford
4. Stage 09: From Otford to Wrotham
5. Stage 10: From Wrotham to the Peter’s Village roundabout in Wouldham
6. Stage 11: From the Peter’s Village roundabout in Wouldham to Aylesford
7. Stage 12: From Aylesford to the Harrow Inn hotel near Lenham.

Introduction

This post is all about the third day of the pilgrimage – but do take into consideration I was cycling, so if you are walking it is likely you’ll cover much less ground than me! In this one day I covered stages 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 and I describe them separately here. The section below provides the statistics for the full day, but in each video, there are some statistics for each one of the stages such as distance and time.

Statistics and metrics of the day

All of the details below are in my Pilgrims’ Way Google Sheets Spreadsheet.

Date: Wednesday, 2 September 2020.
Route: From the Days Inn Hotel at the M25 Clacket Lane Service Station near Westerham to the Harrow Inn Hotel near Lenham
Distance: 70.60 km
Departure time from Days Inn Hotel: Around 8:30am.
Arrival at the Harrow Inn Hotel: Around 21:00h.
Duration of day’s Journey: 13h 03min
Expenses this day: Total = £74.77
- £17.79 – Food.
- £50.00 – Accommodation (Incl. Breakfast next day)
- £6.98 – Extras
Overnight Location: Harrow Inn Hotel near Lenham, Kent, England. ✆ +44-1622 859 846
Type of Accommodation: Hotel
Walking the Pilgrims’ Way Guide (Leigh Hatts) Stages:
- 08: Oxted (Westerham) to Otford
- 09: Otford to Wrotham
- 10: Wrotham to Wouldham, Peter’s Village Roundabout (bypassing Halling)
- 11: Wouldham, Peter’s Village Roundabout, to Aylesford
- 12: Aylesford to Lenham (via Harrietsham)
Physical and Body Stats: Link to the Garmin Connect Page for this ride
- - Duration (elapsed time): 13h 03min
  - Moving time: 4h 54min
  - Average Speed: 8.8 km/h
  - Average Moving Speed: 14.4 km/h
- - Max. Speed: 48.8 km/h
  - Total Elevation Gain: 681 m
  - Average Heart Rate: 143 bpm
  - Max. Heart Rate: 187 bpm
  - Calories: 2,853 CAL (Est.)
- The tracking was done by 2 Garmin devices: A Garmin Edge 810 bicycle computer and a Garmin Forerunner 235 watch. There appears to be significant differences between these devices. For example while the Garmin watch shows an elapsed time of 9h 56m, the Garmin Edge 810 shows 13h 3 min. Distances are also slightly different, but the Garmin Edge 810 shows a distance that matches the one tracked by the Komoot App on my phone.

Stage 08: From From the Days Inn Hotel near Westerham to Otford

The picture below was used in the video and I hope will help you make more sense of the text below.

PW08-Google-Earth-Day-Inn-Westerham-Oxted-to-Otford — Map of the 8th stage between the Days Inn Hotel near Westerham (M25 Clacket Ln Service St) and the village of Otford. In yellow the downloaded walker’s path. In red the path I took.

As I left the Days Inn Hotel I knew I was going to have to find a bike repair shop. One of the screws that holds the rack in place had become lose and fallen out (lower right screw), possibly due to all the Kissing Gates I had to raise my bike up and down vertically. I added a picture to the gallery which shows how out-of-alignment the rack was in relation to the frame of the bike.

I messaged Katy that morning and she kindly offered to search online for a bike repair shop as close as possible to the route of the Pilgrims’ Way, which isn’t easy. In case you have not noticed yet, the Pilgrims’s Way doesn’t exactly track along large populated areas, where is where you’re most likely to find bike shops. More on this later.

So, leaving the hotel I got a bit disoriented with my maps and started to ride in the direction to the motorway. Thankfully I realised this soon enough and corrected my mistake, but I was asked by a police officer on a motorcycle if I had entered the motorway, which in the UK is forbidden for cyclists and pedestrians.

Back on track, I rode on Clacket Ln until it met the Pilgrims Ln, which later becomes the Pilgrims Way. As mentioned before, many roads have the “Pilgrims Way” name along the Pilgrims Way route.

You’ll see some beautiful vineyard sights on the right as you pass by the Squerryes Wine Estate. You’ll be walking or riding on the Pilgrims Way (the road) pretty much until you get close to Chevening Park. At this point, the walking guide describes a walking path through Chevening Park by turning left at Sundridge Hill towards the village of Knockholt with the entrance at a place called Keepers Cottage. I contacted the author of the guide and even he struggled to describe the best way through Chevening Park. As this is all private property and likely footpaths I decided not to risk it and I turned right at Sundridge Hill, which becomes Ovenden Rd, and then turning left towards the B2211, which can be a bit busy in terms of vehicle traffic but still acceptable for experienced riders. At the junction with Chevening Rd I turned left towards Chevening Park as I wanted to visit the village and see the 13th century St Botolph’s Church there (where I flew the drone, with images described by Katy in the video). I am sure walking on Chevening Park would be a very pleasureable experience.

Leaving St Botolph’s Church I had to cross some farm fields to get to the B2211. I rode the short distance to the roundabout with Starhill Rd, turning left into Starhill Rd and then right into Lime Pit Ln which sort of ends in an industrial estate, but there is a kind of hidden footpath towards the A224, right by the bridge that crosses over the M25 to find yourself on, guess what? The Pilgrims Way again, not far from the village of Otford.

As I arrived in Otford, I tried to look for a place where I could get a stamp for my pilgrim’s credential and the only place I saw open was the Otford Tea Rooms and gift shop, which doubles as a charity shop. I thought it was as good a place as any to get a stamp, but unfortunatelly they didn’t have one, though they kindly signed the credential to prove I was there.

The picture gallery below shows the pictures taken by me along this stage. Click on any picture to enlarge.

I hope you enjoy the video and the photos.

Stage 09: From Otford to Wrotham

The picture below was used in the video and I hope will help you make more sense of the text below.

PW09-Google-Earth-Otford-to-Wrotham — Map of the 9th stage between the village of Otford and the Wrotham Recycling Centre. In yellow the downloaded walker’s path. In red the path I took.

Having left the Tea Rooms in Otford, I rode through the village centre on the A225 passing the entrance to the train station on the right, bridge over the track and turning right on “Pilgrims Way E” (where I can only presume the E stands for East). Eventually the “E” disappears and the road becomes Pilgrims Way again. You’ll pretty much follow this for many km / miles until the Pilgrims Way (as the pilgrims’ route) becomes a dirt track. As I mentioned at the start of stage 8, however, I was looking for a bike shop to fix the issue with the rack, so as I got to the village of Kemsing, I left the Pilgrims Way momentarily to look for a bicycle repair place that (according to Katy) should exist. I could not find it, but by the place it was supposed to be there was a car garage and the friendly mechanic solved the problem by securing the rack to the frame with a self-taping screw (which may have damaged the tread of the screw hole in the frame, but at least solved the issue).

After that detour, I continued and after crossing Exedown Rd and continuing on the dirt track, I met two pilgrims on foot and had a quick chat to them. This track will pretty much lead directly to Wrotham and at the edge of the village when you meet the tarmac again, that will be the Pilgrims Way street in the village of Wrotham itself.

The end of this stage is in the rather disappointing Wrotham recycling centre (as per the walking guide) which is just a collection of recycling bins (bottles, paper, plastic, etc) on the left and the Wrotham recreation ground on the left. There are a few benches to sit on at the Wrotham recreation ground, but the recycling “centre” has really nothing to offer (unless you have rubbish to throw away), so I don’t think any pilgrims will be spending much time there.

I was in a bit of a hurry on this day. The German TV crew filming the documentary for the Pilgrims’ Way was expecting me at the Carmelite Priory in Aylesford later on, so I didn’t stop as much as usual to take pictures and unfortunately I have no photos of this stage to show, but I hope you enjoy the video.

Stage 10: From Wrotham to the Peter’s Village roundabout in Wouldham.

The picture below was used in the video and I hope will help you make more sense of the text below.

PW10-Google-Earth-Wrotham-to-Peters-Village — Map of the 10th stage between the Recycling centre in Wrotham and Peter’s Village in Wouldham, Kent. In yellow the downloaded walker’s path. In red the path I took.

For this stage of the pilgrimage I was confronted with the decision of whether I should ride to Halling or not. It would have required a ride a few kilometres north only to come down south again. I had also ascertained through Google Maps and Google Earth that the walkers’ route I downloaded from the internet appear to be inaccurate, as it led to a point at the edge of the River Medway in Snodland, south of Holborough, where there is no bridge or any discernible form of river crossing (maybe there used to be a ferry crossing at this point a long time ago). The walking guide actually instructs the pilgrims to walk north to Halling and then cross the river at the same bridge I did (quite new bridge leading to Peter’s Village). As I mentioned before, I was pressed for time at that point so I decided to skip Halling altogether in my pilgrimage, making the goal of this stage the Peter’s Village sign on the Peter’s Village roundabout (an arch metal structure welcoming visitors to Peter’s Village).

After the Wrotham Recycling “centre” you turn right to the bridge over the M20 and almost immediatelly after this you’ll find yourself on nice and quiet single track lanes with farm fields on both sides. In the T-Junction between the Pilgrims’ Way (in which the name plate actually had an apostrophe) and Nepicar Lane I decided to stop and record a short video to show the fields and document the fix on my bike.

Eventually the paved Pilgrims’ Way single track turns right and becomes the Wrotham Water Rd with the pilgrims route continuing on a dirt track to the left. This is a nice track with trees and farm fields and leads to a road called Vigo Hill where a few metres down the road you see the sign “Pilgrim House” at some residence which I stopped to take a picture of (I don’t believe it is a lodging, just a family house, but they do sell homemade preserves). Vigo Hill leads to a single track lane called (again!) Pilgrims Way that ends in a sort of cul-de-sac, with a small step at the end, and continues on a beautiful dirt track with trees on both sides. After crossing Birling Hill you’ll eventually get to a single track again called (guess what?) Pilgrims Way, a short ride for me because as I decided not to go to Halling, I turned right at Ladds Ln stopping just to take a few panoramic pictures of the impressive white ridges. I rode on Ladds Ln until the roundabout of Manley Blvd, taking the A228 to the roundabout leading to the Peter’s Bridge over the River Medway and to the roundabout of the Peter’s Village sign. I stopped on the bridge to take a few pictures of the river and then at the Peter’s Village roundabout to take a few pictures of the sign, but other than that I just continued on the way to the next stage.

The picture gallery below shows the pictures taken by me along this stage. Click on any picture to enlarge.

I hope you enjoy the video and the photos.

Stage 11: From the Peter’s Village roundabout in Wouldham to Aylesford

The picture below was used in the video and I hope will help you make more sense of the text below.

PW11-Google-Earth-Peters-Village-to-Aylesford — Map of the 11th stage between the Peter’s Village roundabout in Wouldham, and the Carmelite Priory in Aylesford, Kent. In yellow the downloaded walker’s path. In red the path I took.

I think I should mention again that, as I decided NOT to follow the instructions given by the walking guide, the end of “my” 10th stage (and start of the 11th) the Peter’s Village Sign. The distance between this point to the end of “my” stage 11 (the Carmelite Priory in Aylesford) is a short one: Just over 5.5 km. The walking guide instructs pilgrims to walk up to Halling, so “its” 11th stage is considerably longer.

This is the point where pilgrims have also the option to walk or ride north to Rochester, the point at which the Pilgrims’ Way route coming from London mets the route from Winchester. I decided not to do that because (as previously mentioned) the German TV crew was waiting for me in the Priory.

I rode through Peter’s village, but on hindsight I could have taken the path to the left of the roundabout, going under the bridge and then ride on what appears to be a nice river walk leading to the same cyclepath I took out of the village. After the cyclepath parallel to Village Rd you keep right on the fork to Old Church Rd, which leads to a closed gate, but with an open bike / pedestrian passage. I was concerned that this area was private property, but upon meeting some women walking the other way my concerns were dismissed. Whatever it is, it is a public right of passage and appears to be a nature reserve of some kind. You’ll ride / walk on farm track for a few metres until you reach Bull Ln, turning right in the direction of the Carmelite Priory, known locally as “The Friars“.

A visit or even a stay in this place is highly recommended and if you watched the video above you’ll probably get this by the number of times I said “amazing place!”. They offer Pilgrim accommodation there, but due to the Covid situation they were closed for guests. The friar told me the price for an overnight stay was £45, but better get in touch with them to confirm before you leave.

I can’t say enough how much I recommend a visit there.

Stage 12: From Aylesford to the Harrow Inn hotel near Lenham.

The picture below was used in the video and I hope will help you make more sense of the text below.

PW12-Google-Earth-Aylesford-to-Lenham — Map of the 12th stage between the Carmelite Priory in Aylesford and the Harrow Inn Hotel near Lenham, Kent. In yellow the downloaded walker’s path. In red the path I took.

What the video of the previous stage doesn’t show is the amount of time I spent with the German TV crew recording for their documentary. The Friar and I were acting for the camera to give the viewer of the documentary the impression that I was staying overnight, which I would have loved to do, if it wasn’t for the fact they were closed for guests due to the pandemic.

As we finished filming it started to rain. It was already late afternoon / early evening (around 6pm, I think) and I still had another 25 km to ride to my final destination of the day, the Harrow Inn Hotel near Lenham .

To make matters worse, there appeared to be a small puncture on my rear tyre, which caused the air pressure on the tire to go steadily down over a period of 45 to 60 min. Instead of stopping and fixing the problem, replacing the inner tube with the brand new one I had brought with me, I decided to continue stopping from time to time to pump more air in the tyre. At the time I thought this would save me more time than a permanent fix and I knew I could always fix it at the hotel later on.

As I left the Priory, I rode through Aylesford on the High St, taking the Rochester Rd until it met the Pilgrims Way (the road). After a small mistake I took the dirt track crossing under the A229 continuing on the nice dirt track among trees and fields on both sides. After that dirt track, the road you’ll get to is (again) called the Pilgrims Way (for a short while) and as it turns left it becomes a road simply called “The St”, but you’ll continue on the Pilgrims Way to the left. That is the point I had to turn my lights on as it was starting to get dark and I was still some 18 km from my final destination. I knew then I would arrive in the dark.

I crossed the A249 in the village of Detling and continued on the Pilgrims Way passing the village of Thurnham, stopping on one occasion to pump air into the rear tyre and trying to ride as fast as I could (which at that stage was already becoming a challenge as I was tired) with rainfall of varied strength.

I passed the village of Hollingbourne still with daylight, but dusk was already falling. It was a few kilometres after Hollingbourne that I had the only incident / accident of the journey and, for me, it was an unique one. As far as I can ascertain from watching the timelapse video, I must have had a sudden loss of control, perhaps due to the slippery conditions, or low pressure in the rear tyre or simply an oversight by me, and suffered a fall, apparently hitting my head on the ground or on the edge to the left in such a way that I completely lost memory of the event.

From watching the video above I concluded that I don’t appear to have lost consciousness, only memory, which is a very weird sensation. To see oneself, yet not to remember anything, is somewhat disturbing, in my opinion. Other than a few bruises and small cuts (which I only really saw after arriving at the hotel and going for a shower), not much appeared to have happened to me.

I only realised I had an accident some 10-15 min later when I stopped at the crossing with Stede Hill near Harrietsham to pump air into the rear tyre again. By this time daylight was gone and I had to continue in the dark, hence the reason I changed this portion of the video to show only a Google Earth fly-along animation.

I arrived at the Harrow Inn Hotel, checked-in, had a shower and went to the hotel’s restaurant for dinner. The German TV crew was there also and we had a few beers and laughs after having watched on my phone the timelapse video of the fall together.

As you can imagine due to the time pressures and the fact that it was getting dark I didn’t stop to take many pictures along this stage, so the gallery below is rather small.

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Mountain Biking, MTB, Pilgrimage, The Pilgrims' Way, Touring

Introduction to the Pilgrims' Way

May 13, 2021 Paulo Leave a comment

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Welcome to my Introduction to the Pilgrims’ Way blogs and video.

This post is a bit long, so if reading is not your thing I’ve also created an introduction video which contains some of the information contained here. This post, however, is more detailed and contains the high-res pictures used in the slideshow portion of the video.

If you rather watch the video before reading the post, here it is.

Still here? Good! – there is quite a lot of detail below that I had to cut out from the video as I couldn’t read it all in 10 minutes or less.

But before we move on, two things:

Classic T-Shirt – Scallop Shell Collection

I’ve created three Pilgrims’ Way collections with different designs for T-shirts, mugs, phone cases, water bottles, pullovers and other items that pilgrims might find useful, will be able to wear or use during their pilgrimage, and keep as a memento after it.

Click here to access the TeeSpring Pilgrims’ Way store
I published a post on the 25 of August 2020 (a week before setting off) in which I introduce the pilgrimage and write about my plans. It might be a good idea to read that post before this one, if for no other reason than to compare before and after. I am not going to repeat here what I’ve already written in that previous post.

Please note that this post comes to you five months after the fact – but better late than never.

Winchester Cathedral from the air (rear side) — Winchester Cathedral from the air (east side)

Although this was the shortest cycling pilgrimage I’ve done, it was also one of the most unusual. That’s because there was a German TV crew following and “directing” me, capturing all sorts of video footage for a TV documentary about the Pilgrims’ Way that will be aired in Germany and France at some point in 2021.

On Sunday the 30th of August 2020, my girlfriend Katy and I cycled from Bracknell, where I live, to Winchester, a very enjoyable ride of nearly 65 Km. On arrival in Winchester,

the German TV crew was already waiting to record some made-up scenes, as if I was starting the pilgrimage that day, whereas in fact I set off the next day, a bank holiday here in the UK. After several takes in various places, the crew invited Katy and me for dinner in a local pub and after that we went back to the B&B we were staying in that night, just a few hundred metres from the cathedral grounds.

The next morning I flew the drone up from the B&B’s garden to capture some footage of the town and the cathedral. I wasn’t authorised to fly the drone over the cathedral grounds, but the German TV crew was (unlike me, their drone operator is a qualified pilot).

Before I could start the pilgrimage, we spent nearly two hours recording a number of video “takes” that challenged my really poor acting skills. They filmed me arriving at the cathedral on my bike, being greeted by Canon Andy Trenier, and receiving my pilgrim’s credential and the first stamp. They also captured the going-away blessing and then recorded me leaving the cathedral grounds. All of this meant we left Winchester much later than we had planned. Katy also cycled with me from Winchester to Farnham that day.

Four days later and many experiences and obstacles behind me, I found myself in Canterbury, again being greeted by the German TV crew for a series of takes of my arrival, receiving the blessing and the final stamp from Canon Emma Pennington, and recording some drone footage of cycling up the hill in the campus of the University of Kent at sunset. It wasn’t until the next day that I was able to fly my own drone up to capture some footage of Canterbury – and I did so over waters of the Great Stour river and over the fields of the river side trail between the village of Chartham and Canterbury, to minimize the potential of breaking any rules.

So, in this post, I’ll provide a summary of what these 4 days added to my life and I am going to divide this into 4 categories:

Places
Challenges
People and
Moments

OK, starting with places, before starting the pilgrimage I bought Leigh Hatts’ “Walking the Pilgrims’ Way” guide book as, as, to my knowledge, there isn’t a Pilgrims’ Way guide written specifically for cyclists, and it turns out there aren’t that many pilgrims who have done this pilgrimage by bike either. During my planning I also searched and downloaded a few GPX files I found online with walking routes taken by a few pilgrims.

The route of the Pilgrims’ Way typically follows a major landscape feature of southern England, the North Downs. This is part of a chalk ridge extending from the Ridgeway in the west to the white cliffs of Dover in the east and the major towns along the route are found where this ridge is broken by rivers such as the Itchen in Winchester, the Wey in Guildford and the Mole at Dorking. For the most part, the Pilgrims’ Way is on a terrace on the south of this ridge, where you’re going to come across several typical English villages, churches and pubs.

The spelling of many of the towns or villages is a bit of a tongue twister for a foreigner and, as it is often the case in England, you don’t pronounce the names as they are written. I dare you to try and then compare to what I say in the videos to come (I had to do my own research to try and get it right): Winchester, Alresford, Alton, Farnham, Guildford, Mertsham, Oxted, Otford, Wrotham, Halling (which I skipped), Aylesford, Harrietsham, Boughton Lees, Boughton Aluph, Chilham and Canterbury.
There are, however, stages that start or end in places other than a town or village, such as Box Hill

(although there is the village of Box Hill to the east of the summit as well). Box Hill is considered an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty by the National Trust of England and, at its peak, the 224m elevation is the highest single-day climb you’ll have to face on the entire journey, which is made more difficult by the stepping stones crossing over the River Mole and the 275 steps going uphill (not all of which were necessary to climb, thank God!).

Adding together all distances outlined in the guide results in a total distance of 222km (incl. Halling), but I rode a total of 244km on the four pilgrimage days. The additional 24km is due to detours where I could not get through with the bike or for route changes and various other reasons. There were several stages where my route took me close to the suggested start or end points given in the guide, but not exactly there. I’ve also had to skip the village of Halling, as I decided to ride straight to the Aylesford Carmelite Priory as the TV crew was waiting for me there . The picture below highlights the differences between the walkers’ route I dowloaded from the internet (in yellow) and the one I did (in red).

PW00-Intro-Pilgrims-Way-Route — Pilgrims’ Way Route: In YELLOW the walkers’ route I downloaded from the internet before I started the pilgrimage, in RED the one I actually took.

I created a time-lapse video for each stage I rode and will write at least one blog post for every day of the journey covering the stages I did that day.

As mentioned before, part of my plan was based on a GPS track I found and downloaded from the internet. It provided the route taken by a pilgrim on foot and from that I planned my four-day ride using an app called Komoot, making the changes for some of the deviations from the walking path that I already anticipated, but… oh, boy… if only I knew.

For me personally my ‘places’ highlights were:

The start and end points, i.e. the cathedrals in Winchester and Canterbury.
The Nuns Walk trail leaving Winchester
The crossing of the river Itchen in Itchen Abas
Cycling on natural corn field “corridor” towards Ropley
The view from the Church of St Martha-on-the-Hill few Km from Guildford.
St Barnabas Church in Ranmore
The view of Dorking from the vineyards of Denbies Wine Estate.
The Box Hill Stepping stones over the river Mole and the natural staircase (a challenge as much as a highlight)
The sunset view from the Inglis Memorial near Reigate.
St Botolph’s Church at Chevening Park near Otford
The forest trails between Wrotham and Holborough.
The Aylesford Carmelite Priory and my brilliant piece of acting for the TV crew cameras.
The history behind the All Saints’ Church in Boughton Aluph and the ride through the, once dangerous, Kings Wood, just before Chilham.
The final ride to Canterbury from Chartham alongside the Great Stour river.

Challenges:

Having met Leigh in Canterbury the year before, I was fortunate to get in touch with him for some advice and support for my adventure. I was told (and already knew) this wouldn’t be an easy route to cycle on due to the existence of many Kissing Gates and stiles (something that those who live or have lived in the UK are probably familiar with). These are intentional barriers to contain livestock, but have

the unintentional result (one would presume) of being serious obstacles for bicycles also, even on tracks where riding a bicycle is allowed… yes, there are tracks exclusive for walkers where bicycles aren’t allowed and they’re are aptly named “footpaths”. I tried to stay away from these, but there were moments where the deviation was simply too big to justify, so I dismounted and pushed the bike. This gave me the idea of writing my own Pilgrims’ Way cycling guide… watch this space!

Still, even with all obstacles and the demands of a TV crew, I managed to cycle all the way to Canterbury more or less according to plan.

The most challenging day of the four was without a doubt the second day. I left Farnham around 9:00am and had planned to ride roughly 75km. I knew it would be challenging, not only because of the greater distance, but because I had two hills to climb: Box Hill and Reigate hill, both over 260m elevation.

Still, I thought it was doable, as it would be a day entirely dedicated to riding, with no filming scheduled.

What I didn’t know was that the climb on Box Hill would be made pushing my bike up at least 150 steps. I also had to make several detours, as there was a larger number of kissing gates and stiles that I wasn’t able (or willing) to cross on my own and that would lead to footpaths, where cycling is not allowed anyway. All of this contributed to the fact that, after nine hours, I had ridden only 55km, little more than two-thirds of the way, trying my best to keep on the original walkers’ path. Of these nine hours, however, at least three hours must be taken off as time I used to take pictures, fly the drone (twice) and lunch, since I had no breakfast that day. As I got to the Inglis Memorial near Reigate the sun was already setting and I still had over 20km to ride to my final destination. I definitely didn’t want to ride on the gravel paths and dirt-tracks in pitch-black conditions, so at the car park after Reigate Hill, I had Komoot re-route the remaining third on an urban route on roads, but still I arrived at my destination (the Days Inn Hotel in Westerham, by the M25 motorway) in the dark at around 8:30pm that night.

The kissing gates and stiles were no doubt the biggest challenges along the way, even more than the hills. I have not counted the number of them, but they were numerous. Luckily, I was able to get through (or over) most of them, but there were a handful that were simply too narrow and I didn’t feel like throwing my bike over them by myself, so I had to stop following the original pilgrims’ path and find alternative routes in these situations.

I also had a mechanical fault on the bike, which meant I had to go looking for a bike shop to try and fix it. I lost one of the screws that fastened the rack to the frame of the bicycle, probably due to the fact I was lifting the bike vertically all the time (to overcome the kissing gates) with the load still attached the rack. Katy indicated a bike shop in Kemsing to me, but I couldn’t find it (it appeared to be a home workshop with no signs), but I found a car garage and they were kind enough to provide a temporary fix by screwing the rack to the frame with a self-tapping screw, which might have damaged the frame, but it was better than a lose rack. This also meant a little detour and extra time, but gave me also the opportunity to get to a pharmacy for some lip balm for my dry lips.

Even with all the detours and challenges, my route closely matched the walking route for perhaps 85-90% when compared to the GPS track I downloaded from the internet and to Leigh Hatts’ guide. If my Pilgrims’ Way Cycling Guide becomes a reality, I will make sure the suggested route is appropriate for cycling and provides an enjoyable experience, because some of the walking paths are clearly unsuitable, or not even allowed, for cycling.

People:

Some people were constant presences before, during and after this pilgrimage. Particular thanks to Katy for her help and support during this experience. She rode with me from Bracknell to Winchester, then did the first day to Farnham and after that kept in constant touch advising on possible alternatives and providing help to find a place to fix my bike problem (and, later, helping me work out how to pronounce some of the place names). Also, thanks are due to my good friend Fernando, who came to pick us up in Canterbury two days later.

PW00-Intro-111 — From left to right: Izzy, Sven (sound), Mareike and Michael (cameraman)

Then there were the four members of the German TV crew: Izzy (who is actually Welsh and not German), Michael the cameraman, Sven the audio guy (and drone operator) and Mareike, the producer of the documentary. They are professionals, of course, with a specific job to do, but we were in constant contact through these days and we had some good laughs together, mostly as a result of me goofing around and my bad “acting” skills. My thanks also go to Canons Andy Trenier and Emma Pennington at Winchester and Canterbury cathedrals respectively, for their lovely blessings at the start and end of the pilgrimage, which isn’t something every pilgrim can benefit from. Joe Bailey is a member of the Winchester Cathedral staff and was coordinating with the TV crew, and videoed a reflection moment with Katy and me and posted it to the Cathedral’s YouTube channel. Then there was Christine Chantal and her husband, the owners of the B&B we stayed in Winchester the night before we started the journey – they are really lovely and warm-hearted people, and I hope they managed to do their planned sailing in Greece, despite Covid.

I encountered numerous people on the paths or roads of the Pilgrims’ Way, but very few pilgrims. To all the people that laughed at this crazy guy with a loaded bike struggling to get up Box Hill steps, when even on foot they were struggling… the laughs were on all of us, but trying to do that with a loaded bike made me feel very “special”. I encountered two gentlemen walking in Alton and I immediately knew they were pilgrims, not only for the rucksack and stick, but also because one of them was carrying Leigh Hatts’ Pilgrims’ Way guide. I also encountered two women pilgrims on a gravel patch after Otford and a couple touring on bikes (not pilgrims) whose destination was the west coast of England / Wales (still hundreds of miles away). Compared to the Camino de Santiago and other pilgrimages I’ve done, the Pilgrims’ Way is largely a lonely one, which might be something some pilgrims particularly enjoy.

Moments:

It is not easy to select a few over so many in four days, and obviously “moments” are connected to places, people, experiences and challenges. So, in order not to repeat myself, the very first moment of note is when, months before the pilgrimage had even started, I decided I was going to do it and all the activities that followed that simple decision, like buying and reading the guide, the exchanges with the author and countless other people, and looking for information that could be relevant for a cycling (as opposed to walking) pilgrimage. Other moments – many of which I would not have been able to experience (because of Covid), were it not for the fact that I was taking part in a documentary:

Leaving Winchester Cathedral and arriving at Canterbury cathedral as mentioned before.
My visit to the Carmelite Priory in Aylesford, the history lesson I had from the friar, and seeing the room I would have stayed in, if they hadn’t been closed due to the pandemic.
The blessing from Canon Emma at the cathedral’s high altar, right under the dome of Thomas Becket shrine, the spot he was murdered.
The singing Katy did there, filling the place with her wonderful voice.
The veggie burger at the Compasses Inn in Gomshall, at their riverside beer garden just before the climb to Box Hill.
The many moments of introspection riding by myself in the middle of the many forested pars of the North Downs way.
The drone-flying moments – with my continuous fear of messing it up and crashing causing a degree of stress.
The moment, a few kilometres before Lenham, that I realised I had fallen of my bike and hit my head, which I have no memory of (it’s a complete blank for about 10–15 minutes!).

As I said, moments are numerous and associated with all three other categories, so it’s hard to pick just a few.

So there you go: something about the places, challenges, people and moments of the Pilgrims’ Way.

To finish, you may be curious about things like detailed stats and cost. I’ve put a Google Sheets spreadsheet

together, containing all my expenses itemised by day and type, as well as the telemetry from my Garmin Edge 810 cycling computer (distances, heart rate, calories, elevation gains, etc.

You can access it in Google Sheets directly or download it as an Excel spreadsheet (or CSV, etc), but altogether I rode 244.29km in four days between Winchester and Canterbury,

with an average heart rate of 143.75bpm, at an average speed of 13.10km/h, and there was a total 3,330m elevation gain. I also spent £290.34 in the four days – an average of £72.59 per day – and £478.43 in total when the overnights before and after the pilgrimage are included, making an average of £79.74 per day.

I hope this provides you with a good introduction about my experiences along the Pilgrims’ Way and entices you to keep following the series of videos and blog posts that will come over the next weeks.

I wish you all a “Buen Camino” – and stay safe!

Picture Gallery of the photos used in the introduction video

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

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Pilgrimage, The Pilgrims' Way, Touring

The Pilgrim's Way

August 25, 2020 Paulo Leave a comment

Yes, it’s been a while since I wrote anything here…. Writer’s block, you ask? No, just lack of time and of course we’ve all been stuck in lockdown and have been unable to go on long trips!

But this is about to change now, as in a weeks’ time I’ll be cycling the Pilgrims Way here in the UK (going abroad is unadvisable due to the still-lingering coronavirus pandemic).

So, I decided… why not write something about this journey before I set off? Would be good for a “before v. after” comparison.

In this post…

1. Why the Pilgrims’ Way?

I first became aware of the Pilgrims’ Way during the Canterbury Pilgrims Festival last year (2019). I was invited to participate as a panel member to talk about my cycling experiences – and also on the panel was Leigh Hatts, who has written a guidebook (for walkers) about the Pilgrims Way and is one of the leading experts on this pilgrimage. Since listening to his presentation, I have had the Pilgrims Way on the back-burner for when I had a few days off work (the route begins only 70km from my house – I could even drive to Winchester, ride for a few hours, drive back home and continue some other day from the point at which I stopped). Given what has happened in 2020, it is now a route that I am planning to do at a rather slow pace but in one trip, with time to visit other places in Kent (considered by some as the garden of England).

As usual, what attracts me in these cycling pilgrimages is not just one thing, but a combination of many. The route roughly follows the North Downs, known for its beautiful views. There are some challenging hills along the way, such as Box Hill in Surrey, and also some places where I might have to get the bike up some stairs (to cross railways and other obstacles), so there is the physical aspect of the challenge. Then there is the history… this route has been in use by human beings for at least 3,000 years, well before it became a pilgrimage route. For me it is also an important time for reflection and thinking, with a personal spiritual component in there as well.

2. What is the Pilgrims Way ?

This ancient route has existed for at least 3,000 years. It has probably been a track since the Stone Age (archaeological finds have shown it to have been in use at least since 600–450BC) and the Romans used it as one of the main traffic arteries to the West. It became a place of pilgrimage after the canonization of Thomas Becket in 1173. Becket, formerly a close friend of King Henry II, was assassinated on 29 December 1170 by four knights who apparently interpreted the King’s famous words ‘Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?’ as a royal command to kill him (which was allegedly not the King’s intent). Soon after his death, the faithful throughout Europe began venerating Becket as a martyr, and on 21 February 1173 (little more than two years after his death) he was canonised by Pope Alexander III in St Peter’s Church in Segni, Italy.

… and so, a pilgrimage route is born!

One important aspect of this pilgrimage is that (according to Leigh Hatts’ guide), as with the Camino de Santiago, there is more than one route. Leigh’s guidebook has walking instructions for those starting in Winchester Cathedral (the more traditional route), but also for those starting in London (Southwark), with the destination always being Canterbury Cathedral. The latter route was made famous by Chaucer’s pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales, studied by generations of English literature students!

3. How long is the Pilgrims Way?

The route from Winchester Cathedral to Canterbury Cathedral is about 220km (137 miles) on foot (give or take a few kilometres/miles). I am still planning the cycling route as I write this post, but I can already tell you that the walkers’ route includes tracks there are impassable on a bike – either because of obstacles that would be very difficult to surmount, or because cycling is forbidden on certain stretches – so I expect the cycling route to be about 10km longer than that taken by walkers.

4. How many days will it take?

Well, I am planning to do it in four days, which is a comfortable average of around 57km a day. I will NOT, however, do an equal distance every day:

Day 1: From Winchester Cathedral to Farnham, about 53km.
Day 2: From Farnham to Westerham, about 73km.
Day 3: From Westerham to Lenham, about 60km.
Day 4: From Lenham to Canterbury Cathedral, about 35km

5. How much is the pilgrimage expected to cost (budget)?

My budget is about £460. I have already booked accommodation for all four nights, including the night before in Winchester and two nights in Canterbury. That is a total of £270. I have not selected the cheapest possible accommodation: this is not a “Camino de Santiago” type of pilgrimage where there are pilgrim hostels in every little village. I expect to spend an average of £35 a day on food over four days: A total of £140. Adding another £50 for extras, this comes to a total of around £460. I’ll provide details, after the pilgrimage.

I am sure this can be done with a lot less money!

6. Conclusion

Well, that’s it for now! I think I covered the basics, but there is more to tell you. I’ll keep that for the next blog post though.

If you like to comment or ask questions I will try to answer with the information I have at the moment – but keep in mind I have not done this ride yet, so the answers might be complete bollocks 🙂

7. References:

Wikipedia on the Pilgrims Way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrims%27_Way

Wikipedia on Saint Thomas Becket: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Becket

Pilgrims Way Page on the British Pilgrimage Trust: https://britishpilgrimage.org/portfolio/pilgrims-way-to-canterbury/

Pilgrims Way Page maintained by the Canterbury Cathedral: https://www.pilgrimswaycanterbury.org/

Page I got the Pilgrims Way GPX file from (walking route): https://www.walkingenglishman.com/ldp/pilgrimsway.html

Leigh Hatts’ Pilgrims’ Way Guidebook (Cicerone Press): https://www.cicerone.co.uk/the-pilgrims-way

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Pilgrimage, Touring, Via Francigena

Via Francigena, Day 9/29: From Arc-en-Barrois to Langres

June 26, 2020 Paulo Leave a comment

Via Francigena, Day 9/29: From Arc-en-Barrois to Langres [GPX File]

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"As I make my slow pilgrimage through the world, a certain sense of beautiful mystery seems to gather and grow". A. C. Benson.

In this post…

1. Introduction

Blog post about the 8th and 9th day published during the journey on the 2n August 2016

This post complements the post I published on the 2 of September 2016 in which I described the experiences I had on the 7th of August 2016 while riding between Arc-en-Barrois and Langres, in France. I am not going to repeat the content of that post in this one again, but I will try to add a few highlights for each one of the stages below. I encourage you to read the previous post before continuing on this one.

2. Statistics and metrics of the day

Date: Saturday, 7th of August 2016
Route: From Arc-en-Barrois to Langres in France
Distance: 46.29 Km
Departure time from Arc-en-Barrois: Around 12:00 noon.
Arrival at Langres: Around 15:45h (+ ~ 1h to find the tourism Information office and then ride to the pilgrim’s hostel).
Duration of day’s Journey: 4h 49min
Expenses this day: Total = € 22.54
- €12.54 for food.
- €10.00 – Accommodation
Overnight location: L’Abri du Pelerin (The shelter of the pilgrim), Tel: +33 03 25 87 11 48
Type of accommodation: Pilgrim Hostel
Lightfoot Guide Stages:
- 33 (2/2): Arc-en-Barrois to Mormant (stage 33 is between Châteauvillain and Mormant)
- 34: Mormant to Langres
Physical and body Stats: Link to the Garmin Connect Page for this ride
- - Duration (elapsed time): 04h 49min
  - Moving time: 3h 25min
  - Average Speed: 10.1 Km/h
  - Average Moving Speed: 13.5 Km/h
- - Max. Speed: 46.2 Km/h
  - Total Elevation Gain: 568 m
  - Average Heart Rate: 122 bpm
  - Max. Heart Rate: 164 bpm
  - Calories: 1,468 CAL
  - Number of Pedal Strokes (Cadence sensor): 11,166

2. Most memorable moments and thoughts:

As I mentioned in my earlier Blog Post, I had a terrible night in the tent and ready struggled to breath. I presume it was the humidity that built up inside the tent during the night that triggered my asthma and prevented me from falling asleep.

In addition to a bad night sleep I also left the camping ground quite late as the tent was completely wet on the inside, so I turned it inside-out and let it dry under the sun for about 30 to 45 min before packing it in the bag.

Goggle Maps guided me to a forest and other than having to lower the bike closed to the ground once to go under a barrier, it was an easy ride. I did have a strange encounter with what I believe was a small lost dog (a Dachshund “sausage” dog) in the middle of that forest, but as I explained this encounter in the earlier Blog Post, I am not going to repeat it here again.

It was the right decision to stay in Arc-en-Barrois the night before as when I arrived in Mormant I confirmed that it is a tiny village with just a few houses. There used to be an Abbey there where Sigeric allegedly stayed during his pilgrimage, but it is now in ruins. There are some historic plaques telling the story of the site.

There is nothing to do in Mormant, so after taking a few pictures I resumed the ride and a few kilometres later I met Nicholas from Lancaster, the very first Francigena pilgrim, after more than 600 Km and 9 days into the journey. I was so happy to see I wasn’t alone in this journey 🙂

He had left Canterbury on the 11th of July 2016 (nearly 3 weeks before I did) and expected to arrive in Rome by the end of October.

He told me that after his brother died, a few years earlier, he walked from Lancaster to Canterbury in his memory and there was when he heard of the Via Francigena. He was dedicating the pilgrimage to the memory of his niece, who 40 years ago was abducted (or went missing) right after birth. He says that even after all this time, his sister is still grieving for the loss of her girl, so he was taking her little hospital blanket with him to Rome. Just one of the many interesting stories along the way.

If you watch the video of my ride after Mormant you’ll see that Google guided me to a point where the path was closed, so I had to make a “U-Turn” and that also meant I wasted some time.

As I arrived in Langres there was (obviously) a substantial hill to climb to get to town and I was already feeling very tired from the bad night sleep, so I looked for the Tourism Information Office and asked if there were pilgrim accommodation in town and they sent me to the “L’Abri du Pèlerin” (the Pilgrim Shelter), offered and maintained by the Catholic church, located nearby the Cathedral. It is a small place, only 2 rooms (although in the web site it says there is only 1). One room has 2 beds and was already occupied by a couple, the other 1 bed (the one I slept in). It has a bathroom and a kitchen and it cost €10 a night. There was no WiFi there.

It was Sunday and those that have been to France know that trying to find anything open on a Sunday is a challenge, but thankfully, as I arrived quite early, after a shower there was still time walk to the town centre where I found a mini-marked opened and buy some food which I prepared in the hostel.

As I was leaving the hostel to walk to the town centre that evening, the bells of the Cathedral started to ring and this is what they sound like.

I had a good night sleep there. It seems camping isn’t really my cup of tea.

I hope you enjoy the videos and the photos.

3. Video of the 2nd part of Stage 33, from Arc-en-Barrois to Mormant

Video Length: 4 min 42 sec

4. Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 34, from Mormant to Langres.

Video Length: 8 min 53 sec

5. Pictures of the day.

Click on any picture for full detail

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Bike Rides, Pilgrimage, Portuguese Way, Touring

Portuguese Way: Introduction (Camino de Santiago)

April 24, 2020 Paulo Leave a comment

This post is "natively" only available in English.

Between the 25th of August and the 4th of September 2019 I cycled nearly 660 Km on the Portuguese Way of the Camino de Santiago, from Lisbon to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

Map of Paulo's Camino Portuguese — Map of Paulo’s Camino Portuguese

I recorded a short vlog about this trip a week before I left. In this video I explained my motivation to do this pilgrimage, so I will not repeat myself and go straight to the point with this introduction.

Upon my return, I’ve asked a few friends that have, and have not, done pilgrimages before, what would they find useful in this introduction and they asked me 7 questions in return.

I have answered all 7 questions in the video below, together with a photo show of the 210 pictures I liked most out of the thousands I took during the journey. I’ve added them to a photo gallery on the bottom of this post, in case you want to see them in a higher resolution.

If you don’t like to read, I essentially talk through these questions in the video, but in the text below I added a little more detail.

The 7 questions I got were: (Click to jump to the answer)

How long did the pilgrimage take? (Time)
How much did you spend? (Expenses, Cost)
Was finding the way easy? (Navigation)
What were the worst experiences you had on the Camino?
What were the best experiences you had on the Camino?
How Safe is the Camino?
Where did you sleep? (accommodation)

Click here to jump to the picture gallery.

1. How long did the pilgrimage take?
  For me it took 11 days! Started from the Sé Cathedral in Lisbon on Sunday, the 25th of August, around 12 noon and arrived in Santiago on Wednesday, the 4th of September, around 4:00pm.
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2. How much did you spend?
  I spent €685.42 in the entire journey. That includes all expenses from the moment I arrived at London Heathrow Airport, on my way to Lisbon, to the moment I left Santiago de Compostela. It also includes the fees I had to pay to the airlines (TAP and Iberia) for transporting my bike. As you may not live in London, or in the UK, your journey to Portugal and from Spain may be quite different than mine, so if you only count the pilgrimage days, the total expense was €451.14 and as it took me 11 days to reach Santiago, the average per day was €41.01.
  I’ve created a Google Sheets page containing all my expenses, as well as the telemetry from my Garmin Devices, such as distances travelled, altimetry, average heart rate and so an.
  I believe it is entirely possible to do the Camino spending much less than I did, but perhaps you’ll have to limit yourself to eating only 2 meals a day, cook your own food and just walk and sleep. If you plan to do the Camino with as little as possible, I would recommend that you reserve a minimum of €30 a day for your journey.
  If you are looking to stay at “Donativos” (hostels where you pay just as much as you can) or accommodation under €12 a night you will find it somewhat challenging, especially in Portugal, as the number of beds in such places is small and fills up quite quickly. The cheapest albergue I stayed in these 11 days charged €6 a night. It was in Briallos (ES) and it was a publicly owned “Xunta de Galicia” albergue. Keep in mind there is a price rise expected for all “Xunta” albergues in 2020 (I think they’ll go up to €9 a night). I am not aware of any accommodation under €12 a night in Portugal. The “Casa do Sardão” hostel, was one of the most typical and attractive albergues I stayed in Portugal and it charges pilgrims €12 for a bed (well worth it though).
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3. Navigation: Was finding the way easy?
  The answer to this question is not a yes or no. In Lisbon there are very few signs pointing the way. I found only 3 and 2 were very faint. Signage improves after Coimbra, but you’ll still find stages where signage is excellent and others where signage is poor. After Porto, signage tends to be very good, however, if you are cycling you have to keep in mind the original Camino is meant for walking, not cycling, so there are signs pointing to ways you cannot (or should not) ride on your bike.
  I am also almost certain there were arrows pointing to disused paths of the way as the Camino appears to have changed over the years. I frequently stopped to ask for directions and some locals said a few times, pointing with their fingers, “it used to go that way, but now it goes this way”. Remember that, generally, walkers go against traffic and cyclists move with traffic. That means if you are cycling, most signs will be on the opposite side to you and they are typically small and not always easy to see. Taking into consideration you have to be aware of the traffic around you, finding a little sign, sometimes 20 – 30 m away, takes a lot of attention and good eyesight. It becomes a game of “find the yellow arrow”. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Considering the number of times I got lost and had to rely on Google Maps or the Map loaded on my Garmin Edge 820, my route was actually pretty close to the “official” route of the Camino, if there is such a thing.
  My recommendation is that you search for the GPX file of the Portuguese Way (I found this one wich became my reference route), download it, open it with Google Earth (or other such software) and study the way. That helped me find the way out of Lisbon with relative ease. I will also post copies of my own route in the blog, but they will contain the mistakes I’ve made. There is a gap of about 10 Km in my GPX route, as having the navigation feature always on in the Garmin caused the device to consume a lot more battery and that caught me by surprise as I was about 10 Km from Azinhaga on the 2nd day of the Camino and the Garmin Edge suddenly “died” (my Garmin Forerunner watch had already died earlier that day). In my usual bike touring rides the battery of the Garmin Edge 820 I use lasts for at least a couple of days, but without the use of the navigation feature.
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4. What were the worst experiences you had on the Camino?
  There were moments of frustration, no doubt, but I honestly cannot complain. I have not suffered any injury, nor had a mechanical fault that prevented me from continuing, nor was a victim of any “bad intentions” like theft, aggression, etc. I think if any of these things had happened, I would have a good reason to highlight them here.
  With that in mind, some of the lighter frustrations came from…
  – The airlines that damaged my bike in transportation and charged me extra to transport them on top of what I had already paid for luggage;
  – My own mistakes;
  – The amount of urban traffic in some places and
  – The poor signage in others.
  
  I also found it difficult to find pilgrim accommodation in some places after 4:00pm and had to resort to staying in more expensive places, but that would only have been a real problem if I could not afford them. Since I gave myself a comfortable budget to do this pilgrimage, this was not an issue for me. I was, however, committed to try to do the Camino as much as possible in a “pilgrim’s honoured” way.
  Some frustration also came from the challenging type of terrain I had to face with a heavy bike and the fact I was somewhat unprepared for that level of difficulty. Again, this is no one’s fault, but my own. The Camino, following the yellow arrows, is very challenging for cyclists. It’s absolutely not meant for touring bikes, so I would recommend you evaluate this well before you leave. If you plan to follow the yellow arrows on a bike, a sturdy mountain bike is highly desirable. Also, from Lisbon to about Coimbra, the Camino is very urban in most parts. Done on busy roads and going through industrial areas. Not exactly the notion of nature’s paradise one would expect.
  This was also one cycling trip in which I got very frustrated with my tech, much of it due to my own fault as well. These include video recording hiccups, which meant I have no footage for a portion of the Camino or when both my Garmin devices ran out of battery as I explained before (“Strava cyclists” will understand the frustration).
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5. What were the best experiences you had on the Camino?
  Honestly, just doing it! It’s not the destination, it’s the journey. I loved the views of the many places I’ve been through and the people I met with whom I had a chance to have a conversation with, in the hostels I stayed and even if just cycling very slowly alongside them for a few minutes. If any of them is reading this, I am so grateful for the opportunity to get to know you, hear your stories, your reasons for doing the Camino and other experiences you had as pilgrims.
  Some of the best experiences also came from the most challenging ones. The times I looked up a hill and thought I would not be able to climb it up, but then I did. Obviously hills are supposed to be hard to climb, but the reward when you get up there is not just the feeling of accomplishment, but the visual delights of the views. Other worthwhile experiences include things like the sounds and smells of the forests I cycled through or the coastal paths I cycled by.
  And then, there was also the simple culinary delights of a 3 course pilgrims menu, typically for less than €10 in some places, which often included excellent local wines. In Carreço, Portugal, the pilgrim’s menu at Sergio’s included a starter, a main course, desert and a full bottle of white all for €8.50. A pilgrimage is certainly not a dream holiday for many, but then a pilgrimage is often only a holiday in the sense that those who, like me, live busy professional lives, can only do them during their holidays, hence the reason young people on a gap year and retired people seem to be dominant on the Camino.
  People go on pilgrimage for a multitude of reasons, but certainly not to lay down and relax. It is quite demanding physically, even if you are fit and in a good state of health. The paths are more often than not full of sand, gravel, stones, mud and boulders which becomes especially difficult if you are climbing up or even going down steep hills.
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6. How Safe is the Camino?
  All I can tell you is that I had no issues whatsoever in my Camino. There were moments I left my bike completely unattended with almost everything on it (with the exception of my documents, money and the more expensive electronic equipment). In some of these moments I locked the bike, like when I entered the Sé Cathedral in Lisbon and then at the Paroquia Dos Martires church as I was looking to buy a pilgrim’s credential which I had forgotten back home. In these moments the bike was outside on a very busy central location for at least 30 min and nothing was missing when I came back.
  I also felt safe cycling on the roads, despite the heavy traffic in places. There were a few exceptions in which I thought some drivers drove a bit too close for comfort, but in the vast majority of times the Portuguese and Spanish drivers respected a safe distance. I cannot stress enough though that some roads are really busy and you should always be careful, regardless if walking or cycling the Camino. Walkers will have to walk on roads and hard shoulders in several occasions too.
  Despite all of this, I can’t think of one moment in which I felt like I was in serious risk.
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7. Where did you sleep? (Accommodation)
  The network of pilgrims’ hostels, or Albergues as they are known, is not as extensive in the Portuguese Way as it is on the French Way (from Saint Jean Pied de Port), yet that doesn’t mean it is not sufficient.
  I used 2 resources to find accommodation:
  
  1) Gronze.com: Probably one of the best online resources for all Caminos to Santiago. One catch is that the site is only available in Spanish, but you can use Google Translate to automatically (machine) translate the site. The site gives you all stages for all Caminos and a list of accommodations for each stage, which include not only pilgrims’ hostels, but hotels and other types of accommodation as well (camping areas, etc).
  
  2) A Google Sheet list of (currently) 536 places along the Portuguese Way of the Camino (all variants: Lisbon-Porto, Coastal, Central and Spiritual), created by a user named “Anonymous Goose”.This is a great resource, maintained by volunteers and frequently updated based on information received by pilgrims. The list gives you the phone numbers for all the places, in addition to estimated cost, number of beds, type of accommodation, website (when available) and physical address as well as recommendations. The list is extensive, but I printed it and used it together with the printed Gronze stages (only carried in my handlebar bag the sheets for the stages I was planning to do for that day).
  
  As far as my own experience goes, the places I stayed are all listed in the Google Sheets page I mentioned in question #2. I can only say that they were all clean, comfortable and functional, some even luxurious for pilgrimage standards. I am not going to say more than that as what you expect for your Camino might be very different from mine, but if you choose to stay in the same places I did, I can recommend all of them to you. Few important things to mention for cyclists, although this wasn’t an issue for me, not all places I stayed had a space to store the bike. I think I was lucky that in the places where that could have been a problem, I was the only cyclist that night, so it was always possible to find a little corner to leave the bike. For example in Coimbra I left the bike at the reception by the exit door of the hotel I stayed. If there were more bikes that night, that would have been a problem as the space was quite tight.Back to Top

So these are the 7 questions I received, but if I missed something you want to know, or if you have other questions or want more detail about my experiences on the Portuguese Way of the Camino de Santiago (while you wait for the Blog posts to be written and the videos to be published), just get in touch by leaving a comment here or message me through the contact form in the Blog.

Bom Caminho! Buen Camino!

Picture Gallery.

Click on any picture for full detail

Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night? (Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give). You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly.

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Bicycles, French Way (Camino de Santiago), Pilgrimage, Touring

Camino de Santiago: Here I come again (Portuguese Way)

August 19, 2019 Paulo Leave a comment

Hello everyone!

For a while I’ve been wanting to record a video and write a post about my upcoming cycling pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago, this time the Portuguese way to Santiago.

I’ve done the so called French Way between Saint Jean Pied de Port and Santiago de Compostela (and further to Fisterra) in 2015. As there are several “ways” to Santiago, there is still plenty to be explored and, as I have not done any touring in 2018, it was about time to get on the road (or track) with a bike again… for longer than the usual day trip.

I am not going to extend the writing here in this post too much, as I think I’ve said everything I wanted to say (and more) in the video below. it would be redundant, I think, to also write it all again here.

In the video I mentioned I was going to leave links to some online resources on the Portuguese Way, but I decided that, following the “index pages” I created for my previous 3 pilgrimages, I will also create an “index page” for the Portuguese way this week and put the links and online resources there. This post will be the first of hopefully many in that page.

I am travelling to Lisbon on Saturday, the 24th of August, and starting the journey by bike on Sunday the 25th. According to the web sites I looked, the distance varies depending on the path you take (even in this way of the Camino there are several options to choose). The most traditional way is apparently 620 Km long (385 miles), but I am still undecided if, from the city of Porto, I will follow the inland / central way or the coastal way (inclined to try the coastal way). In any case with my legendary navigation skills I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up doing closer to 700 Km on the bike to get to Santiago.

I am hoping the journey by bike will take 10 days and then have 2 days to rest, visit the wonderful city of Santiago again and pack my bike for the flight back to London.

It is very unlikely I will be posting here in the Blog during this journey. I am thinking of not even taking a computer with me, and I really hate having to type a lot in the small virtual keyboard of a phone. I will make every effort to post pictures in Facebook (or Instagram, if I learn how to use it properly by then) and perhaps even the odd video during the journey, so please follow the journey there if you want to know how I am doing.

It’s nearly mid-night here, and its already way past the bed time of this “child”, so I’ll end this post here.

Ultreia!

Edit: If you like the settings / environment where I recorded the video, I have writen several blog posts about the Swinley Forest already. Links below:

Blue and Green Trails (also available in Portuguese AND German)
Red Trail (English ONLY)

Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night? (Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give). You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly.

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Bicycles, Bike Rides, Pilgrimage, Touring, Via Francigena

Via Francigena Day 8/29: From Brienne-le-Château to Arc-en-Barrois, France

June 11, 2019 Paulo Leave a comment

Via Francigena Day 8/29: From Brienne-le-Château to Arc-en-Barrois, France [GPX File]

1 file(s) 10.38 MB

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"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities", Stephen Covey.

In this post…

Introduction
The statistics and metrics of the day
The most memorable occurrences, moments and thoughts
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 29, from Brienne le Château to Dolancourt
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 30, from Dolancourt to Bar-sur-Aube.
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 31, from Bar-sur-Aube to Clairvaux
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 32, from Clairvaux to Châteauvillain
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 33 (1/2), from Châteauvillain to Arc-en-Barrois (Mormant)
Pictures of the day.
Pictures of the Guest Book pages in the pilgrims hostel of Brienne le Château.

Introduction

Blog post about the 6th and 7th day published during the journey on the 23rd August 2016 — Blog post about the 8th and 9th day published during the journey on the 22 of September 2016

This post complements the post I published on the 22nd of September 2016 in which I described the experiences I had on the 4th of August 2016 while riding between Brienne-le-Château and Arc-en-Barrois, in France. I am not going to repeat the content of that post in this one again, but I will try to add a few highlights for each one of the stages below. I encourage you to read the previous post before continuing on this one.

Statistics and metrics of the day

Date: Saturday, 6th of August 2016
Route: From Brienne-le-Château to Arc-en-Barrois, in France
Distance: 80.52 Km
Departure time from Brienne-le-Château: Around 10:30h.
Arrival at Arc-en-Barrois: Around 17:30h
Duration of day’s Journey: 7h 44min
Expenses this day: Total = € 26.36
- €23.00 for dinner.
- €3.30 – Accommodation (Camping Municipal Le Vieux Moulin, Arc-en-Barrois)
Overnight Location: Camping Municipal Le Vieux Moulin, Tel: +33325025133
Type of Accommodation: Camping
Lightfoot Guide Stages:
- 29: Brienne-le-Château to Dolancourt
- 30: Dolancourt to Bar-sur-Aube
- 31: Bar-sur-Aube to Clairvaux
- 32: Clairvaux to Châteauvillain
- 33 (1/2): Châteauvillain to Arc-en-Barrois (stage 33 is between Châteauvillain and Mormant)
Physical and Body Stats: Link to the Garmin Connect Page for this ride
- - Duration: 7h 25min
  - Moving time: 5h 22min
  - Average Speed: 10.9 Km/h
  - Average Moving Speed: 17.7 Km/h
- - Max. Speed: 56.5 Km/h
  - Total Elevation Gain: 449 m
  - Average Heart Rate: 115 bpm
  - Max. Heart Rate: 161 bpm
  - Calories: 2,224 CAL
  - Number of Pedal Strokes (Cadence sensor): 14,944

Most memorable occurrences, moments and thoughts:

This was another long day in the pilgrimage, despite leaving Brienne-le-Château a bit later than I wanted to. I had opened the house in the morning to let some fresh air in and prepared my breakfast, so prior to leaving I had to make sure everything was the way I found it and then ride back to the tourism information office in town to return the key.

This day was a bit atypical in relation to the entire journey as I did not complete (or finished) a stage of the Lightfoot guide. That stage was stage 33, that according to the guide is between Châteauvillain and Mormant. Reason being when I arrived in Châteauvillain, around 4:30pm, I had to take the decision to stop there or continue to the next village in the guide (Mormant). I knew Mormant was a tiny village and looking at the list of accommodations, I also knew there would not be a lot of options of places to sleep. If I couldn’t find a place to sleep in Mormant, I would either have to wild-camp (not really my cup of tea) or ride another 30 Km to Langres, which would mean I would get there quite late in the evening. So I decided to take the safe route of riding to Arc-en-Barrois and, if upon getting there I couldn’t find or didn’t like any of the places to sleep I would then decide if I wanted to continue or not. I believe it was the right decision.

As I already wrote about the experiences of this day in the post I published on the 22nd of September 2016, I don’t think it would be productive to write the same thing here again. Some of the highlights of that post were the theme park in Dolancourt, the beautiful Clairvaux Abbey, the fact that the stamp for Châteauvillain in my pilgrim’s credentials was obtained from a news agent in town (the only business I could find open), the ride to Arc-en-Barrois through a beautiful forest and the arrival there (getting lost and riding 6 Km more than needed again) as well as setting up my tent, which is all captured in the videos below too.

So, before continuing on this post, I invite you to take a look at the post mentioned above (opens in a new tab) and come back to this post when done.

Oh, before I end this section of the post, when I arrived in Arc-en-Barrois, thankfully the Tourism Information Office was still open (which is quite unusual in France, considering it was a Saturday) and I was able to get my pilgrim’s credential stamped there. Right across the road from the office there is a very cosy hotel called Hotel du Parc, which I decided not to stay, as the rate there was above €60 for the night (against the €3 I was told I would have to pay in the camping site), but I end up going back for dinner that night as I could not find anything else open and I was starving. The meal and the beer were fantastic and the price was reasonable (€23).

Just as an unrelated footnote on this section, I have already published all the photos of this day’s ride in a Flickr album (link in the post mentioned above), but the pictures in that album are in a lower resolution because the computer I had with me during the pilgrimage struggled to process the watermark and get them uploaded. At the time I thought I would just upload them again when I came back in full resolution, but Flickr is no longer free now, so I have created an album in the EyeCycled Facebook page with the pictures (Facebook pictures and not high res either, but it is still free) and that is the picture gallery you will find down below.

You will also find below the pictures for every page in the Visitors’ book of the Pilgrims Hostel in Brienne-le-Château. I enjoyed reading the messages previous pilgrims left in the books and I thought so would you.

I hope you enjoy the videos and the photos.

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 29, from Brienne le Château to Dolancourt

Video Length: 3 min 50 sec

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 30, from Dolancourt to Bar-sur-Aube.

Video Length: 3 min 59 sec

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 31, from Bar-sur-Aube to Clairvaux

Video Length: 3 min 20 sec

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 32, from Clairvaux to Châteauvillain

Video Length: 4 min 20 sec

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 33 (1/2), from Châteauvillain to Arc-en-Barrois (Mormant)

Video Length: 5 min 49 sec

Pictures of the day.

Click on any picture for full detail

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Pictures of the Guest Book pages in the pilgrims hostel of Brienne le Château

If you did the Via Francigena and been to this hostel, will you find your note in them? (August 2016)

Click on any picture for full detail

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Short rides, Touring

EyeCycled to work on a cold December morning

December 9, 2018 Paulo Leave a comment

As this post comes just two weeks from Christmas, I think it is appropriate to start by wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2019! I wish you a happy, prosperous, healthy and very happy new year with a lot of cycling activities, be them for pleasure, commute, travel or sport.

Since about September I’ve been cycling regularly to work. September and October I’ve managed to cycle to work and back in average 3 times a week, but as this is the UK and the weather is not one of the best points here, that has gone down to mostly 1 time in the week, occasionally two.

The distance from my door step to the office is of just under 17 Km (just over 10 miles) and it usually takes me just under an hour to get there. I then, obviously, have to cycle back in the evening, so each time I do it, it adds about 33 Km to my Garmin / Strava mileage and, best of all, lets me eat about 5 equivalent Big Mac burgers that day (not that I eat that much or that I eat McDonalds at all, but it should give you an idea – about 1,600 C calories against 300 C for a Big Mac apparently).

Some friends and colleagues have asked me about the ride, so in the cold, but beautiful morning of the 4th of December I decided to mount my Sony Action Cam on my helmet and record the ride.

Hope you enjoyed the video and the music.

I am very grateful to everyone who I shared my life with this year and for all the love, care and learning experiences we were able to exchange. God bless you all!

Thank you!

The Little Things by Loveshadow

Now the Summer’s gone
And December’s here
And you’re looking back
At all the things you’ve done this year
And it’s cold outside
‘Say it’s going to snow
So be thankful that you’ve somewhere warm to go

Cause when you stop to count your blessings
It’s The Little Things
Oh the simple things that money just can’t buy
There’s always someone who would be grateful for
The Little Things
Oh the things we take for granted in our lives

Free to feel the sun
Warm upon your face
Just to walk outside
Knowing you’re still safe
Food enough to eat
Water clean and a bed
Four walls around you
And a roof overhead

Just a warm embrace and a smiling face, just a place to be with enough to eat, to be free from pain sheltered from the rain , just The little things.
To be given care, with enough to share, just hear you say you’re not far away.
Free to walk or run watch the rising sun, It’s The little things.

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Pilgrimage, Touring, Via Francigena

Via Francigena Day 7/29: From Châlons-en-Champagne to Brienne-le-Château

August 9, 2018 Paulo Leave a comment

07/29. Via Francigena, Châlons-en-Champagne to Brienne-le-Château [GPX File]

1 file(s) 12.46 MB

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"Teaching is only demonstrating that it is possible. Learning is making it possible to ourself.", Paulo Coelho, The Pilgrimage.

In this post…

Introduction
The statistics and metrics of this day
The most memorable occurrences, moments and thoughts
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 24, from Châlons-en-Champagne to La-Chaussée-sur-Marne
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 25, from La-Chaussée-sur-Marne to Vitry-le-François
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 26, from Vitry-le-François to Saint-Remy-en-Bouzemont.
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 27, from Saint-Remy-en-Bouzemont to Lentilles.
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 28, from Lentilles to Brienne-le-Château.
Video tour of the Municipal Pilgrims’ hostel of Brienne-le-Château.
Pictures of the day.

Introduction

This post complements the post I published on the 23rd of August 2016 in which I described the experiences I had on the 5th of August 2016 while riding between Châlons-en-Champagne and Brienne-le-Château, in France. I am not going to repeat the content of that post in this one again, but I will try to add a few highlights for each one of the stages below. I encourage you to read the previous post before continuing on this one.

Statistics and metrics of the day

Date: Thursday, 5th of August 2016
Route: From Châlons-en-Champagne to Brienne-le-Château, in France
Distance: 87.84 Km
Departure time from Châlons-en-Champagne: Around 08:54h.
Arrival at Brienne-le-Château: Around 17:56h
Duration of day’s Journey: 8h 53min
Expenses this day: Total = € 45.33
- €35.33 for food, incl. items bought in a market for breakfast next day.
- €10.00 – Accommodation (Municipal Pilgrims’ Hostel of Brienne-le-Château)
Overnight Location: Pilgrims’ Hostel. You need to first go to the Tourism Information Office to pay the fee and get the key to the hostel. The office is located at 34 rue de l’Ecole Militaire
10500 Brienne-le-Château. Tel. : +33 03 25 92 82 41
Type of Accommodation: Hostel
Lightfoot Guide Stages:
- 24: Châlons-en-Champagne to La-Chaussée-sur-Marne
- 25: La-Chaussée-sur-Marne to Vitry-le-François
- 26: Vitry-le-François to Saint-Remy-en-Bouzemont
- 27: Saint-Remy-en-Bouzemont to Lentilles
- 28: Lentilles to Brienne-le-Château
Physical and Body Stats: Link to the Garmin Connect Page for this ride
- - Duration: 8h 53min
  - Moving time: 5h 22min
  - Average Speed: 9.9 Km/h
  - Average Moving Speed: 16.57 Km/h
- Max. Speed: 39.2 Km/h
- Total Elevation Gain: 193 m
- Average Heart Rate: 117 bpm
- Max. Heart Rate: 162 bpm
- Calories: 2,643 CAL
- Number of Pedal Strokes (Cadence sensor): 17,814

Most memorable occurrences, moments and thoughts:

This was a long day in the Via Francigena. I covered several stages of the Lightfoot guide and rode almost 90 Km. It wouldn’t be productive to write again about something I have already written in this blog post, therefore if you didn’t have a chance to read the previous post click on this link, read the post and jump back here as that post does not include any of the videos for this day.

I will however mentioned again that if you are cycling this route using Google Maps for navigation, it is possible that the cycling route Google Maps will propose is the same one it did for me, in other words, along side the railway tracks after the tiny village of Arrembécourt (see video of stage 27). If you are travelling light and on a mountain bike, then that should be no problem, but if that isn’t the case and like mine your bike weights 50 Kg and is a hybrid or touring bike with touring tyres, then I would recommend that you continue the journey on the D6 towards Chavanges and take the D2 to Lentilles (the same one I took after the train track adventure). It’s a longer route, but stone free.As you arrive in Lentilles be sure to factor in some time to visit the 16th Century church built of wood and clay; the Church of St Jacques et St Philippe. Personally that small church had a bigger impact on me than many of the ostentatious cathedrals I have seen along the Via Francigena.

Another thing I want to mention before I finalize this text is the municipal pilgrims’ hostel in Brienne-le-Château and also how nice the lady in the tourism information office was to me. First of all, to stay in the pilgrims’ hostel you need to arrive in town at a time that the tourist information office is open, as you have to pay the fee and collect the hostel’s keys from there (although the hostel itself is about 2 Km away in the perimeter of town). Second, before going on the pilgrimage, like most people I did a lot of research about the route and the places to stay. I read in some blogs that some pilgrims thought the house to be haunted. I must confess, being the only pilgrim sleeping there that night made me apprehensive. The house is indeed a little spooky, but if there were other spiritual entities sharing the house with me that night they did not bother me. The house is old and used to be a hunters’ cabin so my guess is that, if there were to be any ghosts there, they would have been those of the animals that were killed (incl. the two deers whose heads are at the front wall of the house, assuming they are real)

If you want to see more pictures from this day, please take a look at my picture gallery (down below) from Flickr.

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 24, from Châlons-en-Champagne to La-Chaussée-sur-Marne

Video Length: 5 min

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 25, from La-Chaussée-sur-Marne to Vitry-le-François.

Video Length: 4 min 21 sec

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 26, from Vitry-le-François to Saint-Remy-en-Bouzemont

Video Length: 3 min 43 sec

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 27, from Saint-Remy-en-Bouzemont to Lentilles

Video Length: 5 min 7 sec

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 28, from Lentilles to Brienne-le-Château

Video Length: 4 min 19 sec

Video tour of the Municipal Pilgrims’ hostel of Brienne-le-Château

Video Length: 7 min 30 sec

Pictures of the day.

Click on any picture for full detail

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Statistics and metrics of the day

Stage 13: From From the Harrow Inn Hotel near Lenham to the All Saints’ Church in Boughton Aluph

Stage 14: From the All Saints’ Church in Boughton Aluph to the Village Hall in Chilham

Stage 15: From Village Hall in Chilham to the Canterbury Cathedral.

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Statistics and metrics of the day

Stage 08: From From the Days Inn Hotel near Westerham to Otford

Stage 09: From Otford to Wrotham

Stage 10: From Wrotham to the Peter’s Village roundabout in Wouldham.

Stage 11: From the Peter’s Village roundabout in Wouldham to Aylesford

Stage 12: From Aylesford to the Harrow Inn hotel near Lenham.

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Welcome to my Introduction to the Pilgrims’ Way blogs and video.

Picture Gallery of the photos used in the introduction video

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2. Statistics and metrics of the day

2. Most memorable moments and thoughts:

3. Video of the 2nd part of Stage 33, from Arc-en-Barrois to Mormant

4. Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 34, from Mormant to Langres.

5. Pictures of the day.

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Picture Gallery.

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Statistics and metrics of the day

Most memorable occurrences, moments and thoughts:

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 29, from Brienne le Château to Dolancourt

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 30, from Dolancourt to Bar-sur-Aube.

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 31, from Bar-sur-Aube to Clairvaux

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 32, from Clairvaux to Châteauvillain

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 33 (1/2), from Châteauvillain to Arc-en-Barrois (Mormant)

Pictures of the day.

Pictures of the Guest Book pages in the pilgrims hostel of Brienne le Château

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Statistics and metrics of the day

Most memorable occurrences, moments and thoughts:

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 24, from Châlons-en-Champagne to La-Chaussée-sur-Marne

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 25, from La-Chaussée-sur-Marne to Vitry-le-François.

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 26, from Vitry-le-François to Saint-Remy-en-Bouzemont

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 27, from Saint-Remy-en-Bouzemont to Lentilles

Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 28, from Lentilles to Brienne-le-Château

Video tour of the Municipal Pilgrims’ hostel of Brienne-le-Château

Pictures of the day.

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Seeing the world one pedal stroke at a time