Author: norfolkpilgrim

Really liking the resources at Explore Christianity.

An Eric Bibb cover with photos sung by Carsick Phil:

Thanks for this Phil! If you liked this why not hear his reflection on walking all the way to Rome on the Via Francigena .

You will find the new Sweetbriar Marshes Reserve on that stretch of the Walsingham Way that shares a path with the Marriott’s Way

Stradling the place where the Outer Ring Road – the bridge all tagged with boundary markers – passes overhead

close to the chemical works

The path beside the River Wensum, leading pilgrims west provides a blue/green corridor bringing wildlife into the centre of the city.

News comes of the Anglican Shrine’s organised pilgrimage in September!

• Three nights accommodation provided— bring your own airbed and sleeping bag for two nights –  last night at Anglican Shrine accommodation.
• Food and baggage transport included.
• Priest and guide throughout.
• Cost £130.00 per person

For further details contact Keith Tuck, Head Pilgrim Engagement

01328 824214 or email k.tuck@olw-shrine.org.uk

Launched during lockdown, there’s still a way to go until we can offer a wide range of accommodation to pilgrims – from camping plots to indoor camping, bunkhouse and B&B – any suggestions please be in touch.

It is a work in progress

And if you could spare time and talents to help the project it would be great to have a chat. Get in touch with the web shepherd richardmwoodham@gmail.com

Good to have Pilgrim/Student Cross on the WW

Keep your eye’s peeled when on the Walsingham Way

Between Ringland and Weston Longville there’s a flock of feral goats !

Or is this a sheep?

Since Stop the Wensum Link forced Norfolk County Council to re-think the route of the road planned to join Norwich’s Northern Distributor Road with the Southern Bypass, contractors equipment and the temporary bridge roadway have been moved off the marsh and calm has been restored.

Crossing the busy (fast flowing) Fakenham Road the route follows the drive and keeps left of the farm buildings, before arriving at the fast flowing River Wensum.

From the bridge over the Wensum a diagonal path takes pilgrims to a new bridge over a drainage dyke. The woods on the skyline are where Europe’s largest roost of barbestrelle bats is located !

The next leg heading to the left of Low Farm is a bit boggy where the temporary roadway has been taken up but otherwise fairly dry.

The route up and over Royal Hill now runs through pig city

On reaching the quiet road , the hum of the traffic on the other side of the valley can just be heard. A left turn takes pilgrims to Ringland Church with an angel roof and some medieval glass. A right turn leads towards Weston Longville.

Might a donation towards this appeal be an act of devotion ?

Leaving Norwich pilgrims track the River Wensum as it winds a green corridor through edgy industrial and residential estates. Some of those with a devotion to Jesus’ mum, may be travelling with rosary beads in their back pockets. The Rosary derives its name from titles given to Mary Rosa Mystica or The Rose of Sharon that refer to Mary’s role as the final blossoming of Isaiah’s prophecy of the Jesse Tree – “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots” (Isaiah 11)

The native English Dog Rose, so abundant along the Walsingham Way, is not, so the experts tell me, an actual Sweet Briar but its very like. Like enough for this pilgrim’s mind to turn to Mary at the sight of a flower or bright red hips in the autumn hedgerows.

For your prayers……

Rivers near and far are under threat from pollution and over extraction. True of the River Jordan and true of Norfolk’s rivers.

As Christ was baptised in the Jordan, it is imagined that the first Christians in East Anglia were baptised in rivers, as Paulinus baptised Northumbrian converts in the River Glen.

Walking the Walsingham Way, from Norwich to Great Ryburgh in the Wensum Valley to the healing waters of the Walsingham Shrine beside the River Stiffkey; a pilgrims own baptism and the promise of “living water, welling up to eternal life” is often a recurring theme.

In a post COP26 world caring for the creation has to be the concern of all people of good will

The good news is ………

Improving the condition of our rivers is the concern of the Norfolk Rivers Trust

A threat ….

A controversial new road linking roads north and south of the River Wensum would cut across the route of the Walsingham Way.

The case against it is argued by Stop the Wensum Link , the case for by Norfolk County Council