Page 6, 7th October 1994

7th October 1994

Page 6

Page 6, 7th October 1994 — Making tracks on the path pilgrims' way to Canterbury
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Locations: Winchester, Canterbury

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Making tracks on the path pilgrims' way to Canterbury

Shirley Du Boulay walked the 130-mile Pilgrims' Way from Winchester to Canterbury in the footsteps of millions of medieval pilgrims. Here is the first of two extracts from the book in which she wrote about her experience.
"WHY DO you WANT to make a pilgrimage?" "What made you choose the Pilgrims' Way?" These were just some of the questions I was asked as I prepared for the walk from Winchester to Canterbury.
I was intrigued by the interest pilgrimage aroused in my friends; by the way they wanted to share their experiences, by their readiness to lend books and pass on information. Many of them wanted to be in some way involved, and after only a few minutes' conversation we were touching on the profound parallels between life and pilgrimage that the subject stimulated.
The idea of pilgrimage struck a deep resonance and their questions forced me to examine my own motivation.
The idea of making a pilgrimage had been suggested by a friend some two years after my husband's death; it was one of those moments of illumination that can appear when life is at its bleakest. After months and months of apathy and indifference I was immediately excited, curious, expectant. It was as if a light had been switched on.
I wondered why. I have never been a particularly keen walker if only because in my childhood to enjoy walking was almost a moral prerequisite though I was attracted by the thought of the physical activity and the challenge to complete the undertaking. I was drawn to the idea of travelling through beautiful scenery in agreeable company and the deep satisfaction of going slowly, able to feel the earth under my feet, savour my surroundings. But those things could be found in any long-distance walk and there was more to my excitement than that. There was, if I dared to admit it, a surging of hope.
My excitement at the thought of making a pilgrimage lay in the symbolism of the journey, the search.
When I was about 15 I had one of those experiences of union, a sense of oneness with nature and with God, that (though I did not realise it at the time) set me on the path of the searcher.
Since then I have been pursued by what Francis Thompson called "The Hound of Heaven" and though I have sometimes blessed him, sometimes wished he would go away, he refuses to give up the chase.
Perhaps it was possible, by trudging the long miles from departure to destination, to learn more about the universal pilgrimage, the journey we all make from birth to death. Perhaps this physical re-enactment of the inner search might shed some light on my own doubts and questions, might even heal my own wounds.
I began to understand, more fully than ever before, why pilgrimage has been called the "poor man's mysticism" and why, since the beginning of time, people have made long, arduous and sometimes dangerous journeys, crossed seas and continents, to visit sacred sites. But I was confused about which was stronger, the mysterious pull of a holy place or the` significance of the journey itself.
My first instinct was that, for today's pilgrim, the attraction would lie more in the journey than the arrival; in fact I soon realised that they symbolise different aspects of our spiritual need and have to be distinguished.
© Shirley Du Boulay The Road to Canterbury A Modern Pilgrimage by Shirley Du Boulay is published by Harper Collins at 175.99.




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