On 1st February I was given the worrying news that I probably had prostate cancer, and I needed an MRI scan to confirm this. However, because I have a pacemaker, I was kept waiting 3½ months before I had the scan done safely and then it took a further two weeks for me to know the results. This was an anxious time, and my wife Gwen and I were praying for a good outcome.
Eventually, it came to my mind that I should make a vow. I saw in the St Stephen’s newsletter that in this Jubilee Year of Hope a pilgrimage was going to take place where people would walk from St George’s Cathedral, Southwark, to Aylesford Priory, in Kent. This covered a total of 54 miles over a period of 5 days. So the vow idea took shape: I could promise to God that if the result of my MRI scan confirmed there was no cancer I would join that pilgrimage to Aylesford. In fact, I wasted no time and registered anyway. I finally received the scan result which confirmed that, although my prostate was very big, (which is quite common in older men) there was no evidence of cancer. Needless to say, I was delighted. Now I had to maintain my promise and join the pilgrimage.
THE PILGRIMAGE
I was actually excited at the idea of this long walk from the city into the countryside. I do like rambling but usually do walks of no more than 8 miles. This was a very special walk, in the company of new people and visiting various churches on the way, at times sharing prayers and singing. Each day began with Mass at the starting church that had been reached the day before and ended with adoration and evening prayer.
Something that encouraged me even more was that Gwen decided to join me on a couple of occasions; she would only do 2 days, the first and the third, especially due to her various commitments.
On Monday 2nd June 2025 we set off for St George’s Cathedral where we met our fellow pilgrims after taking part in a Mass officiated by Canon Michael Branch who, incidentally, was brought up in Welling and had been attending St Stephen’s in his youth.
We then started walking and getting to know each other. The total number of pilgrims was well over 50, but we were split into groups of about 10, which was a good idea since it made it easier for people to get to know each other. Our group was called St Edith’s. Because some people only did one or two days, the groups varied a bit from day to day.
I will not go into detail about all our stops of that day and the following ones, but I’ll just mention that our first visit was to the Anglican Cathedral of Southwark where we were welcomed with some lovely refreshments. This tradition continued wherever we were on the 5-day journey with our hosts making us feel very welcome and treating us really warmly.
When we registered online, we had the option of spending the night at the location reached each day by being accommodated at the parishes or by lodging in parishioners’ homes. However, it was also possible for us to return to our own homes each evening, which is what Gwen and I did.
We soon found our fellow pilgrims to be very friendly and easy to get on with. I think I can say we all really enjoyed this venture. We were handed a ‘Pilgrim Credential’ card on which we could collect the stamps showing the names of the churches we were visiting.
An unfortunate thing that happened to me was on day 3. As we were walking through the woods in Chislehurst, I tripped over and injured my knee. I carried on walking in a bit of pain, but eventually I had to concede that on the next day I would have to give it a miss because my knee was now swollen and I was risking causing myself further damage. I was very disappointed about this.
However, on the next day Gwen had the idea of driving me to Kemsing, Kent, where we could meet the others and still visit the very ancient Well of St Edith and the nearby very old church of St Mary the Virgin.
Later that day, some people found it quite challenging when they did the ascent of the North Downs but that is something I was unable to experience.
I am delighted to say that, despite my injury, I was able to rejoin the pilgrims on the fifth day for the longest walk. By about 6pm on that Friday, June 7th, we were entering triumphantly into the Shrine at Aylesford, singing “He who would valiant be…..to be a pilgrim.”
That was the end of the week’s Pilgrimage, but not the end of the holy celebrations for Pentecost.
On the Saturday, the vigil of Pentecost, we were back in Aylesford for a 2-hour long Mass led by Archbishop John Wilson, attended by about 3,000 people. This was also an opportunity for us pilgrims to receive our certificates from Bishop Paul Hendricks attesting that we had done our walk.
My pedometer said that between Monday and Friday I had actually walked 62 miles. So although I hadn’t managed to walk on Thursday, there had been quite a bit of extra walking necessary to complete the route. I thank the Lord that I was able to complete this despite my advancing years. I am now looking forward to doing another pilgrimage!