Hiking in England

You could try the Long Distance Walkers Association. (ldwa.org.uk)
Here is a link for the Pilgrim trail between Winchester and Canterbury
https://www.ldwa.org.uk/ldp/members/show_path.php?path_name=Pilgrims+Way

You might try Contours Walking Holidays (https://www.contours.co.uk). They offer many different hikes (we used them to hike the West Highland Way last summer) and although they might not specifically go from church to church, they might be able to let you know which one is closest to what you seek. Their customer service was excellent.

Hi dholl4973 -

Well, you could start by having a look at Saint Cuthbert's Way which starts at Melrose Abbey in the Scottish Borders and heads into northern England to conclude at the abbey ruins on Lindisfarne (Holy Island). This walk also links to the Borders Abbeys Way in Scotland and in England heads south on Saint Oswald’s Way through Northumbria concluding in Hexham, at the abbey one assumes, and visits Hadrian’s Wall en route.

Further south in my own backyard in Yorkshire there is The Abbey Trail which runs from Leeds to Whitby, visiting the ruins of the great Cistercian monasteries en route. I haven’t walked it myself (it’s on our ‘to do’ list!) and I suspect it is little walked and thus not well signed as it is not an official national trail. You would therefore need to carry the guide book by Clive Newsome - still available through Amazon it would seem - AND the OS maps of the area (and know how to read them!) as the hand drawn maps in the guide are only strip maps and don’t show much detail either side of the intended route if you happen to stray off course.

There may be Accommodation Guides available for St. Cuthbert's Way and possibly St. Oswald’s Way - the latter has it’s own website - but on the Abbey Trail, you’ll need to source your own. That’s also where the OS maps come in handy. I’m hopefully heading out on the Pennine Way later this year and that passes through remote country, but I’ve managed to book a fair number of B&B’s and pub accommodation via Booking.com. You’d need to specify where you’d like your accommodation to be and narrow the distance from the trail so you can walk to your digs.

I’ve not Googled ‘Ecclesiastical Trails UK’ but that might throw up some interesting options! There is something of a trend to reintroduce ancient Pilgrim routes through the UK but I’m unsure how advanced these plans are how many are complete and how easy they are to navigate.

Hope you can chose a suitable walk and get it booked. Have a great trip and fingers crossed for the weather to be kind (but carry the gear in case it isn’t!).

Ian

Hi again -

I did the ‘Google thing’ out of interest/nosiness and found this site:

https://britishpilgrimage.org/great-routes/

Turns out there’s alot, if this kind of walk is what you are after!

Hope this might be of some interest!

Ian

My relative has gone on several with this company https://www.hfholidays.co.uk/
and raves about them.

How about this?? It's a relatively new thing over there they're calling "Champing". Rather than hiking church-to-church and staying at places in between, you can actually stay in a church. I'm dying to try this next time I'm over there...such a beautiful, unique experience!