Day 1 - St Ives to Deptford

Today was Day 1 of the pilgrimage, half of a 2-day trial run to the south coast at Newhaven, where we intend to cross the Channel when the journey starts for real.


I set off from St Ives at 8am. A cool, sunny morning with a very gentle wind from the north west. Route - Fenstanton, Bourne, Haslingfield, Newton, Fowlmere, Barley, then a series of single track country roads through the Hills on ten Hertfordshire/Essex border. One short cut I tried turned out to be a river bed! Lunch was at St Andrew's Church in Much Hadham.

In one village, a man was pinning up a 'vote green' poster.

From Stansted Abbots, my route followed the towpath of the Lea Navigation. No traffic, but some very bumpy sections.

Onto familiar territory at Hackney Wick, Victoria Park and down the Limehouse Cut to Canary Wharf. Signs for National Cycle Route 1 were hard to follow, so I cycled along West Ferry Road to Greenwich a Tunnel.

Jenny, the office administrator at St Alfege Church kindly stamped my Pilgrim Record. I sat in the church for a while listening to the organ being played.

Cecil's flat is about a mile from Greenwich. 6 floors up with a panoramic view towards the Shard, the London Eye and the river.

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