Many of us did it during Covid, wandering around our neighbourhood observing nature more intently. 50 years ago this year the Pulitzer Prize winner was Annie Dillard for her extraordinary book “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek”, that recounted a year in her life as she observed nature in her neighbourhood, and pondered God’s creation. At 28, she is still the youngest woman to win the Pulitzer Prize.

Whether prompted by finding my copy of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, or by having recently chatted in a Walking Writers’ Salon  to author Phoebe Smith about “Wayfinding” her new book in which she walked pilgrim routes in Britain while revealing much about her own personal life, I set off during my ‘birth week’ to walk part of Britain’s Pilgrim’s Way from Guildford to Box Hill, just north of Dorking.

I picked an absolutely glorious day for walking - bright warm sunshine and a gentle breeze. Finding the Pilgrim’s Way and keeping on its course, is not as easy as you might assume. There are lots of roads and routes which are called “Pilgrim’s Way” but luckily for me and for others, much of its route is now part of the North Downs Way, one of Britain’s National Trails, and consequently, is well signposted.

Peter Morris is the North Downs Way Trail Manager with whom I’m going to be developing a series of online events from October to April in which we’re going to explore crossovers between Walking art, writing and pilgrimage. Peter is a  representative of the World Trails Network and he was introduced to me by Ali Pretty, with whom we’ve been running online events in preparation for the Beach of Dreams Coastal Art Festival which comes to a close at the end of the month.

While researching for these online events I’ve already discovered several walking writers and walking artists within our community who have made work on pilgrimage trails, or have developed their own pilgrimages. 

Pilgrimage is hugely popular these days. I keep bumping into people who either have walked the Camino de Santiago, or have every intention of doing so. A lovely surprise was to discover that Gigacircus, our French partners in the part EU-funded Walking Arts and Local Communities project had made work on the Camino in the 90s, and that Clara Gari of Nau Côclea our Catalonian partner, is at this moment curating walking artists making work on the Camino.

I did get to Box Hill and was somewhat surprised that when I got home I had walked more than 18 miles. I clearly had gone a bit astray, as guidebooks inform that it is only 13 miles along the Pilgrim’s Way. Undaunted I went back to Box Hill last week, walking a further 10 miles east from there, crossing the River Mole on stepping stones, climbing 300 steps almost to the summit of Box Hill and walking across the  Downs to Merstham. It was another gloriously sunny day, yet what was surprising was how few people I met on the route. To be within 20 miles of London, in one of the most densely populated ‘home counties’, it’s absolutely marvellous to be able to get away from the humdrum of metropolitan life, and be surrounded by nature in all its beauty. 

Pop along to your local library, or seek out a bookshop, to read Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, it may be over 50 years old but it’s clarity and sincerity shine through.

Happy walking,  

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