Thurs Sept 18. 26 km.

Almost in Dover. Most of the day walking through light mist.

The best thing about the walk? I’m on the Via Francigena again, which feels like a home-coming! It is actually signed! What a relief that is.

Tonight I’m staying in a B&B with owners who are present and will provide breakfast. Most Airbnb places are totally self-catering, with practically no in-person contact, so it feels very good to have some conversations for a change.

The challenge this evening will be that there is totally dreadful internet, I can’t get the tv to work, and I only have one book, Epictetus. How so? In Canterbury there is a big Waterstones (an upscale English version of our Coles) and looking for thin, light books I came across a table with Marcus Aurelius (two different editions) and a few philosophers including Epictetus, who was one of Marcus Aurelius’ masters of thought. Which leads me to wonder - is Stoicism making a big comeback? Does it offer us a useful way to live in today’s world?

The other book I bought, finished and left behind, was the Irish writer Colm Tóibín’s novella, ‘The Testament of Mary’. A very personal vision of Mary, as well as a strong casting-of-doubt on Christianity. Tóibín is an excellent writer well worth reading, and this little book of his does shake one up.

A group of people (not the choir) meeting to sing in a country church.

Thatch is still occasionally used.

Moving day!

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Sat Oct 4. London.

19 days walking on pilgrimage paths for a total of 395 km or 245 miles on foot (not that arduous - an average of 20.7 km per day, and lots of ‘rest days’ staying put in one place). All of that undone in 1.5 hours on a Eurostar train. I’m not entirely sure what conclusion I’m drawing from that comparison, but I’m back where I started, in London. On my way to my lodgings (I’m staying in a Buddhist retreat centre) I decided to visit the first visitable place to cross my path, which turned out to be the Foundling Museum. Horrified by the sight of infants being abandoned on 18th c London streets, a prosperous seaman, Thomas Coram, spent 17 years raising awareness and funds, as well as obtaining royal permission to build London’s first children’s charity. Opened in 1739, the Foundling Hospital continued its work until the 1950s, and actually is still active as a non-institutional resource, under a different name. Here is a photo of it in 1935. So many similarities to ...

Fri Oct 3. Lille.

I had a lovely day in Lille. In fact, all my days on this trip have been lovely! In the morning I went to the very large Palais des Beaux-Arts. This museum holds the largest collection of works of art of any French institution outside Paris. The collection started at the time of the French Revolution as the works of art of the nobility and of the church were confiscated, and continued on apace due to various enthusiastic municipal governments. By 1892 the collection was so large and important that the Palais, its current house, was constructed in the centre of town. The first fun aspect was the recent work of the Swiss artist Felice Varini who used the museum’s interior as his canvas. The oldest works of art are in the ‘basement’, beautifully displayed. Look at the marvellous three dimensionality of this (flat) marble plaque sculpted by Donatello (c 1435) showing Salomé dancing for the head of John the Baptist. And modern technology brings statues alive by giving them back t...

September 5

I landed at Heathrow this morning at 6 am, a very inconvenient time to get a room and rest! But my student residence accommodation includes a common room with handy couches for a short snooze. The neighbourhood abuts on Regent’s Park, complete with gorgeous flowerbeds. The Queen Mary’s rose garden in Regent’s Park. My neighbourhood wandering took me to the Wallace House which used to be one of the homes of the marquesses of Hertford. The Hertfords were fabulously rich, mainly from extensive land holdings, and in the 18th and 19th centuries avid art collectors. They obviously had Trumpian home decorating tastes. Here are two of their many clocks, all of which need frequent ‘fine tuning’, it appears. I particularly liked two 18th c British paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds in their collection: Mrs Carnac and the hauntingly strange Strawberry Girl.

Celia Walks

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