Our guided events are easy, accessible introductions to ‘bring your own beliefs’ pilgrimage in Britain and to great destinations. These guided pilgrimages are emotionally private and stress-free, with us taking care of the logistics. Learn about the cultural heritage of an area, connect with nature, and be a pilgrim. Enrich your mind and heart, meet like-minded people and boost your mood.
The funds raised from this limited space event allow us at British Pilgrimage Trust (a registered charity) to spend more time making it possible for thousands of pilgrims to make pilgrimage themselves by engaging with our ever-increasing range of free resources. Find out about our charitable activities.
Monday 24th April 2023 – A day around the centre of Winchester – 6.5 miles, 10am-5.30pm (6.15pm if staying for Evensong). £50 per pilgrim. Winchester is one of Britain’s great pilgrimage centres. Pilgrims have walked from Winchester to London, Canterbury and Southampton (and on to Santiago) for centuries. Walk with BPT pilgrim Dr Guy Hayward to walk a circuit around Winchester – a fantastically dense 6.5-mile route of pilgrim treasures and holy places. Guy will introduce pilgrimage practices and unlock the mysteries of the landscape. The route can be discovered here.
More Info & Book Tickets for Mon 24 Apr
Sat 29th April 2023 Great Stour River Pilgrimage, Chilham to Canterbury – 1 day, 8 miles, £50. The Great Stour is one of the most ancient ways to Canterbury. Walk beside the river travelled for thousands of years through historic villages on a path brimming with wildlife.
Walk with BPT’s pilgrim, historian and naturalist Dawn Champion. Follow the ancient course of the Great Stour, which has carried thousands to and from the holy city of Canterbury for millennia. Begin at the fine Domesday church of St Mary’s Chilham, with connections to Saints Augustine and Thomas Becket, before heading to the meandering river valley. From iconic mill to long barrow, wildflower haven to lost chapel, follow the flow of water to the historic parish of Chartham. We’ll avoid suburbia, exploring the landscape that inspired artist William Sidney Cooper, emerging in Westgate Gardens. From here we plunge into the thronging city and in the footsteps of thousands of pilgrims, before finishing at the Cathedral for an optional Evensong.
**We hope to make this route fully accessible for those with wheelchair or mobility scooters, check back here for updates**
More Info & Book Tickets for Sat 29 Apr
Sat 29th April 2023 Salisbury Coming of Spring 1 Day, 11 miles, £40. Celebrate spring with a pilgrimage along Wiltshire footpaths and an old ox drove finishing with (optional) choral evensong at Salisbury Cathedral. Guided by Laura Downer, a cancer survivor and founder of modest not for profit Positive Nature celebrating the wonder of the natural world and promoting care for nature, health and the environment. Start in St Mary’s Church in Dinton and explore a path through ancient woods, carpeted with bluebells, local saints, panoramic views and the Italianate Church of Wilton. Enjoy pockets of silence, the beauty of nature and snippets of history before crossing the water meadows famously captured by the painter Constable. For those who wish to attend a final flourish, the day will close with choral evensong at the cathedral. This is a volunteer-led Bring Your Own Beliefs pilgrimage.
More Info & Book Tickets for Sat 29 Apr
Tuesday 2nd May 2023 – London Coronation Pilgrimage – Tower of London to Westminster Abbey – 5 miles, 10am-4.30pm. £70 per pilgrim (inc. £10 donation to London churches). With BPT Director Guy Hayward singing London songs along the way, you will delve into the heart of England’s history in the modern city, in the week of King Charles’ coronation. From the early 14th century until the reign of Charles II, a procession would be led for each coronation along this ancient way from the Tower to Westminster Abbey (where the intact shrine of Saint King Edward the Confessor is in place). Walk it now for Charles III!
The 5-mile route passes through the Temple Bar portal between the commercial City of London and the political and priestly City of Westminster. There are many beautiful historic churches, places of sanctuary and peace, as well as holy wells, ancient stones and a Roman Temple. The concentration of pilgrim places is particularly high in the City of London, where the churches are only open on weekdays.
Take in relics of an old enchantment, when London was thought to be the New Troy, and Westminster Abbey was the holy of holies.
More Info & Book Tickets for Tue 2 May
10/11-14 May or 19-25 June – Golden Valley Pilgrimages – 4.5 days (35 miles, £400) and 7 days (60 miles, £700) – These are both stunning circular pilgrimage routes along beautiful and ancient paths that begin and end at Hereford Cathedral.
The Way links the Wye Valley with the Golden Valley and the flower meadows and foothills of the Black Mountains. Once you leave the city and its cathedral behind, this is a rich and silent land, good for the body as well as the soul.
You will come across apple orchards, sacred sites, ruined castles, holy wells, and Arthurian legends as well as hidden farms that produce local ciders and ice cream. There is a contrast between gentle wooded river valleys and stunning views of mountain landscapes with one or two spots for wild swimming.
Uniquely, along the way, you can camp along the way with roll mat and sleeping bag overnight in one of three or eight medieval churches (Sanctuaries). A beautifully illustrated pilgrim credential or passport can be stamped in each church. All but one of these churches is situated in villages with fine country pubs where we will eat local produce at the end of a day of walking. Your guide, Simon Lockett, is deeply embedded in this landscape and is liked by all the locals – join him for a nostalgic trips down lanes where people wave, smile and say hello.
More Info & Book Tickets for 10-14 May More Info & Book Tickets for 19-25 June
Sat 13th May St Michael’s Way to Chapel Rock 15 miles, 9am – 6.30pm. £40 per pilgrim. Beach to beach, explore Cornwall’s iconic landscape from Carbis Bay in St Ives to the sacred Chapel Rock at St. Michael’s Mount. Guided by our volunteer Nina, who has a deep affinity for this part of Cornwall, sharing fascinating insights into the healing miracles associated with the area. Discover a variety of spiritual paths on the route dedicated to the Archangel Michael combined with Nina’s Brazilian heritage. This ancient pilgrim route to Chapel Rock at St. Michael’s Mount starts and ends in the sea, passing through beaches, forest, fields and bird sanctuary marshlands. We will visit ancient churches for blessings, cross the Red River, forage for flowers, sing in a Brazilian folk tradition, and dowse for ley lines. We clamber up a Neolithic hill fort with breathtaking views of both coasts for a picnic lunch and stop at a traditional pilgrim inn for refreshment. We close the pilgrimage in the sea for cleansing and blessing.
More Info & Book Tickets for 13th May
Tue 16th May – Oxford Pilgrimage to the Centre, 6.5 miles, 12pm-6pm (or 6.50pm if staying for evensong). £60 per pilgrim. Oxford was built around a cross-road pattern, and its old city plan resembles that of a cathedral. At Oxford’s centre is Carfax Tower (‘carfax’ is Latin for crossroads), but the city’s spiritual centre is Frideswide’s Shrine in Christ Church Cathedral.
To connect Frideswide’s out-of-town dwelling at Binsey with her final resting place, we will start this 6.5-mile route at St Frideswide’s Well in the secluded grove around Binsey Church. We make a circumambulatory journey around the line of the old city boundary to the centre of old Oxford, entering via the Northgate at St Michael’s Saxon Tower, ending at the sacred centre of Chist Church Cathedral, housing the shrine of Frideswide, the female patron saint of Oxfordshire. Then, for those that want to stay and listen, there’s evensong…
More Info & Book Tickets for 16th May
Sat 22nd July One Day on the Old Way: Kingley Vale to Chichester Cathedral 8 miles, 10.30am – 6.30pm. £50 per pilgrim Guided by BPT’s historian and naturalist Dawn Champion, pilgrims will experience a journey deeply rooted in nature and wildlife, from the enigmatic Ancient Watcher yew trees of Kingley Vale to the magnificent Chichester Cathedral. Meet your fellow pilgrims at St Mary’s Stoughton, before ascending the wildflower-strewn path to the top of Kingley Vale with its Bronze Age tumuli. From the breathtaking views of the South Downs and the English Channel, we wander down through the yew grove called the ‘Ancient Watchers’ and onto West Stoke. From here we will walk on to explore Brandy Hole Copse and the Centurion Way. Before exploring the Bishops Palace Gardens and Chichester Cathedral, where pilgrims may choose to say on for Evensong as a counterpoint to the birdsong experienced throughout the day.
More Info & Book Tickets for 22nd July
Date TBA – Old Way Two-Day Pilgrimage with Sanctuary, Lewes to Alfriston (1-Day tickets also available). Day 1 – 8 miles , 11am – 6pm. Day 2 – 7 miles, 10am to 5pm. Weekend ticket £120 plus meals, Sanctuary donation and optional bedding hire. 1-Day ticket £50. Join BPT’s Old Way specialist Dawn Champion, exploring the beauty of the Downs through this iconic landscape. Spend the night in Sanctuary or join us just for one day. Walk in footsteps from the Iron Age to the Bloomsbury Set. Discover peaceful, idyllic villages, all nestled in the spectacular views and wildlife-rich pastures of the Downs.
Day 1 – Lewes to Firle. We begin in Lewes, once one of the greatest spiritual centres in the South. Taking in the Downs, we’ll encounter the wildflowers and peacefulness of the slopes of Bible Bottom before climbing to the ancient and impressive iron age hill fort of Mount Caburn with 360 degree views. After pausing in Glynde and the former royal minster of Beddingham, we’ll end the day at St Peter’s in Firle, the ancient church with a Piper stained-glass window and home of vicar and BBC1’s ‘Extreme Pilgrim’ Peter Owen Jones. Those staying the night will bed down in Sanctuary on the carpets of this beautiful and friendly church after a meal in the local inn.
Day 2 – Firle to Alfriston. Climbing to Firle Beacon in the morning, we dive into the valley among the paintings and footsteps of the Bloomsbury set. We’ll take in the simplicity of Alciston, once a chapel-of-ease for Battle Abbey to the painted splendour of Berwick, before finishing at St Andrews in Alfriston, a magnificent church on an ancient site of pre-Christian significance.
To find out about new guided pilgrimage events as they are announced, please subscribe to the British Pilgrimage newsletter in the footer of this page.
If you would like to book a private guided pilgrimage for just you and your friends, please get in touch via [info [@] britishpilgrimage.org], prices available on enquiry.