• day 02
• Tuesday, 28 August 2018
• Shepherdswell to Calais via Dover
• 16 km to yesterday
• 13 km today
• 29 km on Via Francigena 

The previous day, using maps on my tablet I see urban sprawl for the dozen or so km to Dover.  And, without definitive signage, a lot of energy spent in way finding.

I decide to take the train that runs through the village on to Dover.  I walk around the town and hope to return some other time.  At the port I can buy a walk on ticket for a ferry leaving in about an hour.  The journey across is uneventful and we arrive mid afternoon.

Walking from the ferry into the centre of Calais is uneventful.  I find a hotel for the night and check out the large nearby church and the town centre.

And so to bed.

• day 01
• Monday, 27 August 2018
• Canterbury Cathedral to Shepherdswell
• 16 km today
• 16 km on Via Francigena to date

After Mass and being blessed as a pilgrim in the Crypt Chapel in Canterbury Cathedral, I set off at about 09h.

This is very late for me.  I prefer to be underway as close to sunrise as possible.  And in late August at Canterbury, that would be about 06h.  The distance to Dover is about 30 km - quite easily achieved for a normal day.  

With the late start, summer heat and (in 2018) almost no signage it is slow going.  Having to consult the map on my tablet adds to the pressure.  After 16 km I reach Shepherdswell.  The Co-Op show is helpful in directing me to a campsite on Coxhill about 2 km to the west.  After pitching my tent and a bit of a clean up, I head into the village centre at the top of a hill.  There is a pub and a church (not open when I arrive) and order a meal. A small group invites me to join them and after an hour or so I wander back to my tent.

And so to bed.

August 2018 - the genesis

In 2016 and 2017 I had walked from Le Puy-en-Velay, a cathedral city on the eastern edge of the Massif Centrale in the middle of France to Saint-Jean-pied-de-port by the border with Spain and so onto Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain. About 1,600 km.  That journey, and the lead up, is described in Kiwi on camino.

In those two years I walked Thames Path (source in Gloucestershire to Barrier at Woolwich), Southwark Cathedral to Canterbury Cathedral and a little of the Whithorn Way (Paisley to Ayr) with my eldest son Alastair.

In August 2018 Virginia, my eldest child, and her husband Warren Warbrick were presenting at the Edinburgh Fringe.  And, of course, I attend a presentation.

And, of course, I had thought about a walk to at the very least start in the following four weeks.

On finishing at Canterbury in August 2016, as at Compostela the next year, I stayed on for a few days to wind down after five months in Europe and so many little adventures.  While I already knew of the 2,000 km walk from Canterbury to Rome, the spark to make a start was lit.

A few days after Edinburgh I arrived at a hostel in Canterbury on Saturday 25 August for two nights.  Sunday is spent immersed in the daily cycle of services and down the back of the Nero café (with its hot-points to keep my tablet alive).  On Monday, by arrangement, I presented myself for the early morning Mass in the Crypt chapel.  This was a well attended service and the priest was expecting me.  I was called forward before the dismissal, blessed as a pilgrim and set off a few minutes later.  This was about 09h - for me a very late start.