Reflections – Day 5 to 8

👣 London Camino Day 5: We enjoyed variable weather and terrain today, joined by a few local walkers including some from St. Mary’s Kinsbourne Green . We were saddened by the large amount of litter and dead animals we encountered on our route today but were uplifted by some great conversations with secondary school students on arrival into Dunstable. A dinner had been arranged for us at St Augustine’s Church Dunstable with influential locals including some councillors and Andrew Selous MP, who tried on the Coat of Hopes which is travelling with us – check out their website (coatofhopes.uk) for more info on this amazing project! You can hear the ‘coat song’ in this video with some cool drone footage of the pilgrims.

👣 London Camino Day 6: Today we had the delightful company of five students from St Augustine’s Primary School on our most difficult walk yet through huge forests of maize, muddy fields and heavy showers. They were resilient, determined and inspirational! We arrived damply at St Leonard’s Church, Heath & Reach where we are settling down for an evening with the local community.

👣 London Camino Day 7: we had a much simpler route up the Grand Union Canal to Milton Keynes Quaker Meeting. There was an abundance of blackberries along the way! We stopped off at the Peace Pagoda for a beautiful spiritual practice and Brahma Vihara chant led by Tim who left the Camino today.

👣 London Camino Day 8: Our first rest day, and we were definitely ready for it! Some of the us spent the day at a Cafe Church event whilst others explored Milton Keynes. We then attended a beautiful ecumenical service at the Tree Cathedral where we met a tiny baby squirrel! 🐿️ We are looking forward to an early night before our longest walk tomorrow at 17 miles 😐