The first two weeks of October this year, my cousin Molly and I walked pilgrimage in England along the seventy-mile route of the newly re-established Camino Ingles, The English Way section from Reading to Southampton. We each had different reasons for making this pilgrimage (more on that later) but for both of us it was an opportunity together to enjoy an official section of the famous Camino de Santiago that eventually would lead us to Santiago de Compostela and the Cathedral of St. James in Galicia, Spain. If you are interested in the hiking and walking then stay right here but if you are interested in more of the religious history and modern pilgrimage meaning of this new/old route, then you may want to visit my other blog over on Substack,
Uphill Road.
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| The start of this newest section (as of 2024) |
We were well prepared for all kinds of weather with an emphasis on rain gear for this walk. For the entire seven day hike from Reading to Southampton we experienced rain, fog, mist, drizzle, and a few wonderous hours of sun. One day of the seven was completely clear but off-pavement trails remained muddy and wet throughout. We hiked through the remnants of Hurricane Helene and Milton as well as an Atlantic hurricane that spun itself out over the North Atlantic without touching the U.S. We were advised that we were on the edge of the wet season coming into late fall and winter in this part of England, but that the region had experienced an unusually wet late summer. We were both glad I'd brought my set of hiking poles (in checked baggage) as conditions were slippery and sometimes required careful support in flooded sections.
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| Getting our first pilgrim stamp at Reading's Town Hall |
We started our journey south from Reading on Monday after having spent Sunday roaming around the city and attending a service at the church of St. James. We also explored the ruins of the Reading Abbey before setting off, including all of its surviving structures that included a grand gateway and a mill race, the Holy Brook, where Benedictine monks operated grain mills. In its day, the Reading Abbey was one of the largest royal abbeys in England and the largest Benedictine monasteries in Europe. It was founded by Henry I in 1121 (whose father was William the Conqueror) and it hosted royal families several times a year up until the Dissolution of the Abbeys in 1538 under Henry VIII.
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Through the Reading Abbey gatehouse
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| St. James Church (left) and former pilgrim's rest house (right) |
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Lady Chapel of St. James
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Reading Abbey ruins of the Chapter House
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Surviving section of an abbey mill wall over mill race
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The walk began at the Church of St. James and continued through the modern market town of Reading along canal paths through the shopping district and past some beautiful homes along the River Kennet. We were amazed to see that compared to our modern map of the route and an old map describing the extent of the historic Reading Abbey grounds, it was some time before we actually left the original site of what would have been the largest of all monastic communities in Europe in the 1100s. My cousin who is fluent in French, explained that the great geographical extent of the French Benedictine holdings here and the influence of the French-speaking royal families would have ensured that French was the language of the land in the early Middle Ages.
Oh mon Dieu! Je n'en avais aucune idée!
The River Kennet, a major tributary of the River Thames, was my first introduction to the chalk streams of England. Flowing over chalk gravels and bedrock, rising from deep aquifers and springs of chalk headlands, these unique river systems flow particularly clear and clean and contain vast assemblages of wetland plant and animals life. 80% of all the world's chalk streams are found in England making these rivers of particularly high conservation value and especially vulnerable to pollution events. (See Notes) Between rain showers, my cousin and I were able to do a little birding and botany and found our pace slowed considerably when the sun peeked out.
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| Birding on the River Kennet |
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| A peek of sun before the next shower |
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Our first pub break on the river...
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| ...where we met fishermen and heard their concerns for the river. |
Our stop at the Cunning Man pub was an especially rich break as we got to talk to fishermen about the Kennet and hear their concerns for its health and welfare. We met Mike who was so giving of his time to introduce us to his home stream as he described his life-long dedication to the river and for the protection of its fish and other aquatic life. He spoke of bottom fishing and flyfishing and catching Brown Trout on the fall spawning runs. He loved catching Pike and shared a picture of his largest catch to date, an enormous Barbel that looked almost as big as Mike himself! He was adamant that better care needed to be taken, as water management left to government authorities alone was not enough and often not helpful. He and other fishermen we met along The Way were 100% in support of the new Camino route that included the river paths so that "people from all over the world can see what we have here and help us get the word out that these are some of the most amazing places they will ever experience for wildlife and fisheries."
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Mike and his beloved River Kennet
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Onward along chalk gravel river paths...
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... to our first glimpses of the extraordinary water meadows complex.
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We entered the vast plains of water meadows, the braiding of grass and hay meadow with woodlands and wetlands all along the river. Here we experienced more rain, coming now in bands of heavy clouds with breaks of sun and blue sky. Experiencing chalk stream water meadows was another first for me and while at home I would have described these places simply as floodplain, I learned they are far more than this.
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| Impatiens glandulifera - a large non-native invasive Touch-Me-Not |
It was walking through the first of many nature reserves on this trip that my cousin's Merlin App began to pick up new bird species fast and furious. We were experiencing globally important wetlands that developed alongside Southwest England's Medieval water management systems of old sluiceways, ditches, trenches, hatchways, and mazes of agricultural fields. With the tenaciousness of the river's persistent wetlands, these combined ecosystems form complex semi-wild landscapes of wet meadow and woods. Another hour was spent listening and watching the water meadows for birds, investigating new plant communities (and seeing large swaths of invasive Himalayan Touch-Me-Nots), admiring grazing heritage livestock, new species (for us) of migrating waterfowl, and hopeful sightings of semi-aquatic mammals like water voles (muskrat-size) and otter. Was that thing long and slender or chunky and short?
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| Thatch-roofed parish house of St. Mary's Church, Sulhamstead |
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| St. Mary's Church - our final stop for Day 1 |
Our final destination for the day was to stop at St. Mary's Church, Sulhamstead Abbots, and while it was closed in preparation for a funeral the next day, a family member of the deceased asked us to please come back in the morning to visit when the church would be open before the afternoon service. It felt a little awkward to accept the invitation, but it was made clear that "he would have loved to meet you walking the St. James Way - the old pilgrim's route - as this church was surely a stop for rest along the way." We agreed to return and pay our respects in the morning and with that our ride arrived to take us to our first and second night's lodging in a B&B a few miles off the trail in an old Methodist Church.
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| The Chapel B&B |
Notes:
History of the Abbey Quarter - Reading Museum
River Kennet conservation sheet (and 2013 insect kill), Marlborough College
Water Meadows - Medieval water management systems with modern conservation importance
The
Chapel B&B was a lovely place to stay, and if I ever go back, will surely basecamp from here to explore more of the Southwest England region.
http://www.bnbhampshire.co.uk/
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