19th and 20th century books about the Pilgrims Way
A couple of weeks ago Walk Awhile had two walkers from California walking the Pilgrims Way. As usual we sent them a reading list prior to their holiday, thereby enabling them to do some background reading about the trackway prior to their walk to Canterbury. When I met Ann and her husband at Rochester they informed me that Hillaire Belloc's 'The Old Road' and Julia Cartwright's 'The Pilgrims Way' can now be found on line in digitised versions. Belloc's work, first published in 1904 can be found on the Berkeley University web site at 'The Old Road' and Mrs Ady or Julia Cartwright's work can be found at 'The Pilgrims Way' thanks to American Libraries.
Belloc states in his introduction to 'The Old Road' entitled 'On the Road and the Fascination of Antiquity' that 'of these primal things the least obvious but the most important is The Road.'' He adds that 'But for the mass the Road is silent; it is the humblest and the most subtle, but, as I have said, the greatest and the most original of the spells we inherit from the pioneers of our race.' Sentiments that anyone who has walked in the footsteps of ancient travellers along the chalk ridges of southern England will understand.
More infromation about walking holidays in Kent can be found at Walk Awhile.
