As our Youth Pilgrimage comes to an end tomorrow, we just wanted to share some of the highlights of the week so far.
The weather hasn’t quite been our friend, with some of the highest temperatures of the week, so we’ve had to adapt. We still have walked a long way and we’re so proud of all six of the young people who came along with Claire, Olivia, Jaime and me.
Monday
We started by taking the train out to beautiful Goring and with a eucharist in St Thomas’ Church. Claire led us in a beautiful service before we set out reflecting on the Woman at the Well. We were very glad to also be joined by David who helped us with the musical side as we sang out pilgrimage hymn, “To be a pilgrim”.
Then the hard work started, an 8.2 km walk mainly following the Thames towpath. We stopped at St John the Baptist Church for lunch on the way which was a welcome break. The church is not usually open but we found some of the lay people there caring for the beautiful inside. The offered us use of their toilets and a cup of tea.
Soon we reached Cholsey and after a quick detour to Agatha Christie’s grave, we were able to make the train in time for our dinner at Pizza Express. Day one had been a success!
Tuesday
Tuesday was a smaller group, but it felt like the hottest day. We again caught the same (early) train to Cholsey to take up where we had left off. We tried to get as much done as we could in the morning when the air was cooler and actually made record time on the walk to St Nicholas to meet Lucy and Dan.
We found this church shut, as many now are during the day, but the churchyard was busy with volunteers clearning the ground of invasive species. they were pleased to have met us and I hope we helped their work with our Taize chant of “Ubi Caritas”.
One part of great part of pilgrimage, apart from those who join us and who we meet along the way, is the annual Murder Mystery. This is something that has been happening for over thirty years, including last year. Yesterday, David* had been unfortunately done away with on the train. Today was Dan’s* turn to be run over by a pram. Who is the murderer? All will be revealed on Friday.
After we said goodbye to the Kent family, we made our way to Benson’s Lock. After a quick adjustment to the risk assessment, as the bridge to the side where our bus stop was impassable, we took a rather lovely trip part way down the Thames on the Ferry Boat. By now the sun was high, so we treated ourselves to an ice cream before catching the “River Rapids” bus back for dinner at Cosmo.
Wednesday
We paused our walk along the Thames today in order to travel to Wantage to spend a day with the Community of St Mary the Virgin. The bus there from Osney Island took a good 40 minutes, but this allowed some rest as we had had an early start.
At the convent, Sister Elizabeth-Jane welcomed us and showed us to the chapel were we were all able to share in the Eucharist. We had arrived on the Feast of St Ignatius, so following a cup of tea and biscuits, we made our way to the St Mary’s Church on site where we explored a formed of Ignatian prayer and reflection together before joining the nuns for their midday office, Sext.
After a very hearty lunch of lasagna and baked apples, we rolled out of the grounds on a walk around Wantage, again flowing a stream. The murder stuck again, poisoning Catherine* and Eleanor*. We also had to revise our risk assessment again when we found the way blocked but all made it back safety for the Terce service. The nun who had arranged our visit with the site managers, is called Sister Lizzie-Ruth. She is the youngest nun who has only lived onsite for five years and hasn’t yet taken her final, forever vows. Sister Lizzie-Ruth patiently answered all the young people’s thoughtful questions about her calling and vocation. All the nuns made us feel so welcomed and seemed very happy to see us.
We finished with our delicious light supper before taking the long bus ride home.
Thursday
It was a later start today, and some had a longer lie-in than expected. We had opened this leg of the pilgrimage, along the Thames path towards Binsey, to our whole church family. We had quite a band of all ages join us, either at the church, at The Perch or at the Treacle Well.
Claire again led us in worship and the Eucharist, incorporating the Ignatian inspire prayers from Wednesday. We shared in the service in the quietness of St Margaret’s, Binsey churchyard. Unfortunately, John was the latest victim, leaving our detective, Zahra, somewhat stumped as to who the murderer is!
There was just time for a quick snack break (Sam’s renowned gluten-free brownies) and an explore of the church (we were fortunate to have Richard join us to explain some of the history) before we made our way to The Perch for a very family-like meal together.
We beat the storms home, to rest before our big final hike tomorrow.
Friday
After a brief pause to carry out another “murder” next to the station, we started back at Culham for the last day, walking down towards Dorchester Abbey. It was another warm day but with a breeze coming off the river to spur us on. We were greeted by Lucy and Dan again and enjoyed our lunches together.
Next we met Tim who was our guide around the abbey. and for Tea and Tours around the Abbey. He was brilliant with lots of extra information not found in the guidebooks. He gave our young people a choice between looking at the architecture on the outside or going up to see the organ. Can you guess what they asked to see? The had a new found appreciation of our organ scholars after seeing that organs inner workings!
The day wasn’t over then either, Stephanie then invited us into their famous tearooms (Claire had been excited about the cakes all week). She was so welcoming, and had prepared us a lemon drizzle cake *and* a chocolate cake! We also found out their record for most cakes eaten (15) and how many slices of cake are eaten each dat at their festival in May (3000!).
To finish off our visit we had a service to renew our baptismal vows together outside in the sunshine. We sat in the shade where the monks quarters would have stood. It was a perfect ending together.
It really has been a wonderful week of again walking alongside our brilliant young people. The pilgrimage is such a fantastic week, and despite the heat we’ve all made it safely to the end. Thank you so much to all who supported us in prayer and to the Oliver Heaton Trust for subsidising this week.
*No parishioners were harmed in the making of this pilgrimage