Wye to Canterbury

Day 14 (Final Day) – Distance walked 16 miles

187= Total miles walked from Winchester to Canterbury

26= Total old churches visited

3= cathedrals visited (Winchester, Rochester, Canterbury)

As much as I wish our last day would have been nice sunny weather, it wasn’t to be. From the moment we left our hotel, a light rain was falling which forced us to wear all our rain gear & use our umbrellas.

Knowing we had at least 13 miles to walk to reach the Canterbury Cathedral before it closed, we left an hour earlier than normal. .

Our first stop was Chilham where we walked past a castle & visited St Mary’s Church,

Chilham is a quaint little village with many old buildings. When you see a Tudor style building in England, it probably was built during the Tudor Era.

Chilham Castle

On the Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage, you see many pilgrim statues; however, there are only a few in England.

St Mary’s Church in Chilham.

It once had a Yew tree as old as the church

Passed tjrough a town with a funny name.

After lunch, the count down to Canterbury began.

When we arrived in Canterbury, we stopped at St Dunstan’s Church. It is known as the place where Saint Thomas More’s head is buried.

After Saint Dunstan’s Church, we had a nice stroll through Canterbury on our way to the cathedral. Thankfully, the rain had finally stopped so we could enjoy this experience.

We finally made it!! Because we were pilgrims with valid, stamped passport books we got to enter through this special gate with a free entry.

Our last pilgrim passport stamp.

Our last step.

It’s always a wonderful feeling to finish a pilgrimage. They are never easy & it’s nice to have a goal to complete them.

A few dedications to pilgrims at the entrance.

This is our 3rd cathedral visited since leaving Winchester & it is marvelous.

The church marks the exact spot on which Thomas Becket was murdered.

In the past, there was a shrine in the church to Becket for hundreds of years that Henry VIII had destroyed in the English Reformation. Now a single candle marks the spot where it was.

Beautiful stained glass windows depicting miracles & pilgrims.

Inside the cathedral is a special passage through which pilgrims could pass to see where Becket was martyred without disturbing the monks.

Before the day was over, we had one more stop to make at Saint Martin’s Church which is the oldest church in England dating from before 597 AD which is when Saint Augustine arrived in Canterbury from Rome & he said the church was there when he arrived.

Saint Martin’s Church is actually the start point for another pilgrimage called the Via Francigena (The Way from France) which follows in St. Augustine’s steps to Rome. It is 1800 kilometers ( 1080 miles) long. We plan to hike the last part of this trail in Italy this fall.