Day 1 – Officially listed as 9 miles; We walked 13.3

This is now our third Pilgrimage Trail walk. We hiked the Camino Santiago de Compostela in Spain, the Camino Portugués in Portugal & Spain, & now our first pilgrim trail in England. However, this our 3rd long distance hike in England.

It’s hard not to love the English countryside in May. The temperatures are mild, wildflowers dot the hillsides, & lush green forests are brimming with green leaves.

Like our St James walks in Spain & Portugal, you buy a Pilgrim Passport at the beginning & slowly collect stamps at various places along the way to the finish.

Today we started at the Winchester Cathedral which at 558 feet long is the longest medieval cathedral not only in England; but also in the world.

The cathedral also contains the writer Jane Austin’s grave. She was initially interred with no honors; but, later a brass plaque & some stained glass were installed to honor her.

You can also see Saint Swithun’s grave in the cathedral. He died in 863 & a century after his death, he was chosen to be this place’s patron saint making him the first minister in Winchester.

In the early 1900s, huge cracks, started to appear in Winchester Cathedral as it started sinking & moving, so it was dangerously close to collapsing completely. Early efforts to reinforce its waterlogged foundations failed until deep sea diver William Walker descended into the flooded ground wearing a primitive 200 pound diving suit to level the area.

He started by removing the peat soil & then laid cement bags to plug the rising water. Bodies which had floated from graves, made the water toxic in which he worked.

William Walker worked underwater every day for 6 to 7 hours a day for six years from 1905 until 1911.

 Walker single-handedly laid more than 25,000 concrete bags, 115,000 concrete blocks, & 900,000 bricks to support the cathedral. There is a small statue portraying him in the rear of the cathedral honoring him as “ the man who saved the cathedral with his own hands” as well as a local pub commemorating his memory.

Not far from the church the pilgrim trail takes you past the Hyde Abbey ruins. Alfred the Great who united England refounded the royal city Winchester around 880. This Abbey was completed in 903. Today all that remains from the Abbey is the gatehouse that commanded the entrance between the large Abbey’s inner & outer precincts. Alfred the Great was buried here, but his remains as well as other famous ancient Anglo-Saxons are now apparently lost to the ages. At one time Hyde Abbey even owned the tavern where the old English book “The Canterbury Tales” was said to begin.

Today we passed two old churches where we collected stamps for our passports.

The path here isn’t marked as well as the Camino in Spain, but from time to time we do see emblems letting us know we are going in the right direction.

It was a beautiful day to walk & we enjoyed meeting the local cows along with walking past many thatched roof homes & old cottages. Classic English countryside!

We arrived in Alresford around 5:00pm. I was a little sore & tired, but it was a great day to begin our latest pilgrimage.