VF Britannica Via Campaniensis Voie de Vezelay 2025

Having been spoiled by Judith, and given Peter’s tired feet from the day before, we decided to send Peter and the packs on ahead to our next destination by taxi.  Ken, Scott and I headed out on our own, carrying very little and hoping the forecast rain would miss us.

I did leave a good review for the Dog and the Bear Hotel but in the “what did you not like ” section, I complained that there were no bears, only dogs.

Stop to read the signs so you know what you are taking pictures of!

Leaving Lenham, we came across this tiny building. I appreciate that they put information plaques. This place was the workhorse mortuary in the 1700s, then a jail in the 1800s and an air raid shelter during WW2.  That’s as multi-purpose as you can get.

Farmers leave these public footpaths unplowed. There is an unbelievably huge network of footpaths, some are “public” (multi-use), or “permissive” where the landowner gives permission for walkers and dogs on lead, and bridleways for the many horses.

The Lenham Cross was carved into the chalk hillside to commemorate those lost in the wars.

Someone forgot to remove the EU symbol post-Brexit.

Camino shell symbolizing pilgrimage to Santiago de Compestela in Spain.

Ken thought these were vultures waiting to pick our bones when we collapsed on the trail from exhaustion.  (They were in actuality peaceful wood doves…coo).

We sat on this bench in 2022 and tipped our hat in thanks to “Ralph”. It was poignant to see a small plaque dedicated to Ralph’s wife, who passed in 2025.

Is hobgoblin the name of the beer or the guy drinking the beer?  I know what my answer would be!

Beautiful huge beech trees in this county of Kent.

The rain has hit! Where are we? Are we almost there yet??!!??

It’s always a thrill when you arrive at your next bed. Even better when   you see that Peter and the backpacks have arrived.

I’m not sure Ken would say he was spoiled but he did enjoy his end of day pint!

Oh, the luxury!  Judith showed up at 830 am and after some last minute hugs, took our bags and Rawley away, having offered to transport them to our next port of call. We are so thankful for this as it ended up being a very long 25 km day, with some heavy rain in the morning and for the last minute run down to Lenham.

Despite the rain, it was pleasant walking but Scott was frustrated with the occasional walking on one lane roads requiring car dodging and after lunch he cut over to walk the footpaths along the ridge tops. He had an enjoyable walk, exploring castle ruins and watching sheep.

I would love this sunken garden with a little creek running through it. Ken is rolling his eyes while Scott suggests I rent him an excavator and he’ll build it for me.

A misty view and a portent of water to come.

Managed a quick glimpse of the Eurostar heading to the Chunnel and France. Soooo fast!

Quick stop at a Shell station for Ken’s morning Scotch egg. White Horse Stone in the background.

When we passed here in 2022, I took similar pictures of a field full of brown sheep and lambs and one white lamb. Three years later it is still all brown sheep and only one white ram. I like to think this is the same fellow, just enjoying life, even if he does a blue butt! Duplicate photo…grr…can’t get rid of it.

This bridge is called Jade’s Crossing. When the freeway was put in 20 years ago, it divided the village of Detling. No provision was made for access between the two sides…until a small girl named Jade and her grandmother were killed trying to run across. Why does it take a tragedy before the right thing to do happen

We were grateful for the bridge. Apologies, I couldn’t seem to get rid of the duplicate sheep butt.

Hee hee. Directions to the 🚻.

And this is why Scott took the high road. Truthfully, there were very few cars but the one truck was a little nerve-wracking. You can just make out Peter between the truck and the hedgerow.

You see so many interesting things walking. This was about 12 inches across. Creepy.

Yum!

An oast house. You see a lot of them here – used for drying hops and barley (presumably to make Ken’s favourite beverage 🍺).  After all, this walk is just a very long pub crawl – it’s how we get Ken to keep walking.

This was one of our favourite stops in 2022. The Dirty Habit pub, presumably named for the local Friars who farmed nearby.  It burnt two years ago and is thankfully being rebuilt. Ken misses the Royal Dalton urinals that used to be here.

Two weary pilgrims. Actually,  I felt pretty good still.

The Bugsnax and Teensy Triceratops have joined us on this journey for the third time. 3D printed by Peter (except the dino). Bunger (burger dung beetle), Strawbie 🍓 and Cheery 🍒 .

Ken only had to make way for the horse…who waited until Peter put his umbrella down.  The horse apparently is afraid of brollies.

Drowned rat.

Made it!

Pepper just wanted someone to play with. I felt obliged to do so! How could anyone resist that face?!?

Waiting for the taxi – guilt-free. As we had not taken a break since August 31st, we decided to taxi 20 minutes to our next destination and have a rest day.

The Friars. Pilgrim accommodations.  There is a small community of Carmelite Friars at this priory (we never saw any though). They were kicked out by mean old King Henry the 8th in the 1500s (he dissolved all of the contents and monasteries) but the the Carmelites were able to return 400 years (!!!) later in 1949.  It is now a most beautiful monastery with lovely grounds (lots of weddings here), a popular tea café and restaurant, a duck pond and of course the religious and spiritual aspects.

These were strangely polite and patient Canada geese, not like the aggressive cobra chickens back home. Just gave me puppy dog eyes, hoping for more seed.  The prior sells duck food for 50 pence. I won’t tell you how much I bought.

Sadly, many of the geese had “Angel wings”, a deformity caused by people feeding them bread. The priory sells proper duck feed (seeds, cracked corn, etc) and warns people about bread poisoning.  Apparently the geese and swans and moorhens are permanent residents.   We also saw lots of bunnies.

The geese are not fed but the Monastery but the receptionist assured me they have so many people feeding them that it’s not an issue.

Our view. Ignore the drying pilgrim socks.

Apparently thatched roofs are still a thing and a lot of young people are learning the craft.

There are Carmelite communities scattered through Canada.

The entrance to our rooms.

Scott brought a few games along and I am forced to play with him.  I have to let him win or he would cry…or throw a temper tantrum.  Gee, I hope he never reads this!

Hundreds of small mushrooms growing around the tree stump.

The Peace Garden had all these plaques with “PEACE” written in every language they could think of, including many of the North African First Nations, such as Cree and MicMac.

Shortcrust pie – ham chicken and leek. Yum!

Judith and Roy. ❤️ They saved us in 2022 and we were delighted to meet up with them again.  And rode to our rescue again by offering to transport our luggage tomorrow.

A respectful pub.  The Chequers pub.

Good night!

We just love Eynsford, with its quintessential sweet shop, ford across the River Darent and the Castle Hotel.

Cars go over the single lane ancient bridge while trucks, busses and tractors go through the ford. This would never be allowed in Canada as there are fish in the stream but we saw plenty of trout just a few feet away from the ford.

How sweet is this? Putting out a water bowl and a treat box for the neighbourhood doggies! And talk about a door with curbside (literally) appeal.

And then, oh, the irony.  Following the Pilgrim’s Way/Francigena Brittannica was going to be about 19 km, and because we are still struggling a bit, we decided to walk on the cycling path beside the A20 to shorten the day considerably.   We started up and up and up a very very long hill, which Scott promised would be the last (he lied!). And the path was good up to the village where we grabbed some lunch.   Looked okay going down out of the village but then.  More climbing and the path suddenly would end and continue on the other side of the road, so we had to make multiple mad dashes across the extremely busy highway (there was a lorry on fire on the parallel freeway and traffic was rerouted). No rhyme or reason.  But another climb and then the path just randomly stopped. We had to backtrack 1/2 km back down the hill to Terry’s Lodge Road and detour around down a very scary winding road before we reached a foot path. By then Peter had blisters and was walking very slowly.  Crankiness was imminent. And in the end, we still did more than 19 km.  Heavy sigh.

You always have to make the best of things and pay attention to the small stuff. There was a veritable fruit and nut market lying on the path – highlight cranberries, plums, acorns, hazelnuts, chestnuts, horse chestnuts, apples, rosehips, even pears, crunching our feet along the way…not to mention wildflowers.

We were so looking forward to a pint (well, Ken was) and a meal at The Bull Hotel in Wrotham (Rootem), a favourite of ours from 2022 but alas it wasn’t open yet. So Ken made do with the charming Rose and Crown.  3 km more (heavy sigh), back on the A20 (with a path again) to the Pretty Maid House B&B.  Whew!

Banana milkshake.

I think there are sheep in that field.

Ken wants you to pay close attention to the fine print on the Grumpy sign above my head.

At least there were a few blackberries to eat along the way.

Wild cyclamen.

England is full of these blue plaques on houses, stating where someone famous lived (or was born or died).  Our host put one up about himself (note he was very much alive and truly was a great chef)…and a thoroughly nice bloke indeed!

A lady after my own heart. The house was FULL of hedgehogs. I mean the figures along the staircase and not the guy at the bottom of the stairs.

After begging Scott to run across the road for Chinese, we stuffed our faces with lemon chicken and fried rice, decided on the next day’s route, treated blisters and fell into bed.  A bit of a tiring day because of the ugly traffic but…we made it.

Beautiful walking today along the Darent Valley Path. Mostly through wooded trails along the Darent River. Peter was happy to get away from the city and town streets which are just filled with trash, despite litter barrels everywhere. Scott is always way ahead and he and Ken have to wait for the “goobers” to catch up. I don’t think Scott should call his mother a goober! We are still getting our trail legs, so it’s been short days so far. By the end, 25 to 30 km will be the norm but today 13 to 15 is more than enough.  And Peter would like to remove the “1” in front of those numbers!

We met a couple of Camino angels who were quite helpful in getting us through a tricky part of the path. Sadly, no photo of them but the lady was a Cub Scout leader and seemed quite happy to receive a Lakeland Scouting badge for her camp blanket. I always carry a few to hand out to any Scouts I meet.

Emus in England?

Beautiful graffiti / art, especially lower right hand side.

Gotta love a pub with a pub cat!  I disturbed his nap. He looks a little grumpy.

Stopped to watch a cricket match. Still don’t understand that game!

No wonder my pack is so heavy. I have a hitchhiker. I am sure she weighs at least 10 pounds!

You take the high road (paved) and I’ll take the low road (footpath).  Ken has a picture of me down below but we have no network here so I’ll post it tomorrow,  along with another photo of me giving him the stink eye for yet another beer.

The plan was to catch the bus from High Street in Plumstead, get off at Woolwich Arsenal, then walk down to the dock to catch the Uber boat to take us to London Bridge pier, and then a 5 minute walk to Southwark Cathedral.  We get to the bus stop, surrounded by humanity, and someone realized they had dropped their credit card. A race back to the house but no luck. So a quick call to Mastercard to cancel the card and make arrangements to have a new one couriered here. Luckily one of our accommodations agreed to receive it.  But we missed the boat, had to wait almost an hour, and what should have been a 1030 am start turned into 130. So…we only got as far as Greenwich Meridian and decided to train home as it was getting late and we still needed to pack up Rawley the Trolley.

Thousands of little birds suspended from the church ceiling. Stunning!

I continue my pilgrimage tradition of lighting candles for special people in the many cathedrals and churches we come across.

These three candles are for Ethel, who is so bravely facing her battle for life, for Mary Ann OG whose positivity brings me joy (and something to aspire to) and Mam Mary Fish, because I know it will make her day!

Beggar swans. Had a hissy fit when I had nothing food for them.

The Cutty Sark (fast tea clipper) and a ship in a bottle.

Peter made a new friend in the neighborhood!

September 6.

Got a much quicker start on Saturday, out the door around 900 am.  14 km to Dartford. We didn’t follow the official Francigena Brittannica pathway as we are still getting our pilgrim legs and it was about 5 km longer.  Got into town before 300 pm, which left plenty of time for naps and a trip to the model store. Lots of hills today (yuck) but also many green spaces. But too much street walking and Peter was disturbed by the amount of trash everywhere.  Almost as bad as Italy.

Apologies for the duplicate. If I try to remove it, all the pictures get messed up. Very frustrating 

Scott had a full English breakfast… for lunch.

Yesterday and today were “get acclimatized” days, free days in London.  Wednesday we spent some time in the Borough Market beside Southwark Cathedral, where we will begin our walk, strolled beside the Thames and explored the HMS Belfast, a storied light cruiser who began her days at the beginning of World War 2, presided over the DDay invasion at Sword and Juno BEaches, and was involved in the Korean War and the Cold War.  Saved from the scrapyard, she is the last large British warship remaining from the war.   

Another most pleasant highlight was meeting up with Nick from the Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome at The Angel for a brew, a meal, and excellent conversation ranging from pilgrimages to aircraft.  A most auspicious start to our three month journey.

Today was a late start. We are staying in Plumstead, the theory being that we can begin our walk from the Cathedral and just end up at the house we’ve rented. No need to drag Rawley the Trolley through downtown.  The Imperial War museum was explored by all, then Ken and Scott headed to the Churchill War Rooms while Peter and Terry headed off to the Natural History Museum to see dinosaurs (as if we weren’t in Drumheller 4 months ago).

Getting up the nerve to begin walking for 3 months. Erk!

SEPTEMBER 3. Following a 4 hour ride from Edmonton to Calgary International in a sauna (Flix bus air conditioning was not working), including a detour onto gravel roads due to an accident on Hwy 2, our Westjet flight left on time and arrived an hour early – wootwoot! Sadly the lady beside me who started off quite lively ended up spending most of the flight lying on the floor of the galley with a suspected gall bladder attack – she was worried about spending her vacation in hospital.  I wish her well. An hour taxi and we were ensconced in a 4 bedroom house in Plumstead, close to both the train station and Plumstead Common through which the Francigena Brittannica (henceforth known as the FB) passes. We are a block away from the full of life and somewhat gritty High Street, a grocery store, bakery and some of the best fish and chips I’ve ever had (because…when in England…). Peter was happy to try a jaffa cake mcflurry from the too-close McDonald’s and I was childishly excited to hear the jingle of  yankee_doodles of an ice cream truck, which apparently stops in front our house every night.

 

Can we keep it? Does it meow with a British accent?

Mr. Too Tough and Mrs Weak and Spindly take to the vias again! This time both Scott and Peter are joining us for the walk, hoping we make the three month journey in good heart and health.   First, the Francigena Britannica from London to Canterbury (a repeat of 2023), onto Dover and the ferry to Calais. Then a quick drive over to Reims, a city of ending our 2022 Via Francigena (a bicycle mishap and a very angry ankle) and the beginning of our 2023 continuation from Reims to Rome by foot. Ken’s brilliant idea is to connect our Via Francigena in the north of France to St Jean Pied de Port in the south of France, where we began our 2019 Camino Frances to Santiago de Compestela, a distance of about 1300 km along the Vias Campaniensis and Lemovicencis.  This time I can blame him!  Actual walk begins September 5th. More to come!