👣 We had our most restful rest day yet in Leek! We each did what we needed to chill today including yoga with Yugen Yoga, brunch, showers, dinner cooked by local XR members and yet more music from Liam aka Worldwide Welshman! 🎶
Tomorrow we set off at 8am. Make sure you check our website the night before for up dates on meeting times and last minute route changes whenever you plan on joining us as a day walker.
👣 Our long 7-day week ended with 13 miles to Leek! We had another amazing group of day walkers (including a 9 year-old) and great weather.
We are greeted with cheers at Foxlowe Arts Centre and went straight into an event full of poetry and stories from local people as well as more music from the Leek U3A African drummers as well as Worldwide Welshman who seems to be following us around)! We ended with -‘Lighting the Future’ in a candlelit ceremony. Tomorrow we will rest!
👣 Three weeks in and we’re still going strong! We had loads of wonderful day walkers today including a strong contingent from the Cafod group of a local Catholic church.
We had a relaxing walk along the canal to the Quaker house in Newcastle-under-Lyme where we were warmly welcomed by Staffordshire Quakers and then had a great evening at King Street Studios organised by Extinction Rebellion Stoke including poet Gary Oliver and Cultural Zebra LTD!
Today the Coat of Hopes was worn by the amazing Sandie who is our named First Aider. She is always making sure we have enough blister plasters and sunscreen and keeping an eye on us!
👣 A relaxed day walking just ten and half miles through fields, country lanes and canals with lots of lovely people joining us for the day. As we entered Stone we were greeted at the Peace Pole by Peter and John from Stone Quakers which was lovely! We then headed to The Crossing Community Centre where we were warmly welcomed with tea and cake and conversation by members of the local Methodist Church. And luxury – we were finally able to get showers at the local leisure centre. Today’s picture is from a river crossing this morning as we left Baswich (we didn’t really need to use the bridge – we just love a photo opportunity).
👣 Another long 16 mile day through to Berkswich on the edge of Stafford. We all really enjoyed the walk through Cannock Chase Forest – Forestry England and saw loads of amazing wildlife including an adder and a toadstool (fly agaric?). We are relieved to have made it to Holy Trinity Church where we enjoyed a peaceful evening together. Apparently we walked over 45 000 steps today! 🐍
👣 We set off from Streetly with a spring in our step as it was only an 8 mile day! We met quite a few passers by along our route today through Little Aston and Footherley before stopping at the Letocetum Roman site in Wall for lunch. We were joined by some STOP HS2 activists from Lichfield and joined them for some outreach followed by accepting an invitation to Evensong at Lichfield Cathedral.
We are staying at Martin Heath Hall tonight where we once again had an amazing dinner cooked for us! 😋
📰 We send out a press release to local news in most places we are visiting and had this article published about us today: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/2021/09/22/climate-change-activists-to-stop-off-in-lichfield-as-part-of-500-mile-walk/
💚Also, just a reminder that we are still fundraising! We have smashed our target for facilitating the pilgrimage and so now any more money we raise will be supporting activists in the Global South. If you would like to support us please take a look at our fundraiser: https://chuffed.org/project/caminotocop
👣 What an amazing few days! We’re all quite exhausted. After 10 and 15 mile walks respectively, the London and Bristol Caminos reunited at The Church at Carrs Lane over dinner before an evening event of creativity and story-sharing with local communities. After a peaceful night at Birmingham Friends of the Earth we had our briefing at Digbeth Community Garden and said farewell to some pilgrims before heading off up the canals accompanied by samba players from Birmingham and Telford with an ear-splitting finale underneath Spaghetti Junction! Our walk took us through Sutton Park where we were guided by a local to a sacred well, then on to Streetly Methodist Church where we met some Guides and Rangers! ☕
👣 Our rest day didn’t feel much like a rest but it was time well spent! We went into Birmingham and groups of walkers visited BPS – Birmingham Progressive Synagogue, Sultan Bahu Mosque (Bahu Trust UK) and a Zero Carbon House before regrouping for a fantastic meal at the Vegan Kitchen!
👣 The last full day of this part of the Camino was a peaceful one with time spent with Stourbridge Quakers in the park and time reflecting as a group as we join up with the main Camino tomorrow. It’s been a wonderful time! We also found time to wash our clothes and flags at the launderette.
👣 We were a bit surprised by very hot weather today which slowed us down a bit, but heartened by a good number of people joining us for the day including representatives of XR Muslims and Extinction Rebellion Birmingham! We’re so excited to join up with the Western Camino on Monday but for now we are making ourselves at home in Bickenhill.
Camino to COP26