We met for breakfast at the Swan Hotel, and since there wasn’t a Catholic Mass available in Alton, we watched Mass from the Blackfriars of Oxford on YouTube. We began our hike today by walking to St. Lawrence Church in Alton. Like many older English Churches, St. Lawrence presents an amalgam of styles resulting from repeated additions made down the centuries.
(1) Left: Walking along Church Street, Alton. We appreciate how clean the streets are! (2) Right: Interior of St. Lawrence Church, Alton.
An Anglo-Saxon settlement in Alton began around AD 500, and there was certain to have been a church in the township. The only remnant of this original structure is the baptismal font that is now situated within St. Lawrence. The font is fashioned from one massive block of stone and crude axe marks can be seen on it, showing its primitive workmanship. It is inspiring to ponder the continuity of baptism as a ritual act across the ages.
At right, see the baptismal font of St. Lawrence Church.
Another interesting historical fact about St. Lawrence concerns events during the English Civil War. At that time, Alton was a Royalist town, and commander Colonel Richard Boles was killed inside St. Lawrence, the traditional place of his death being the steps of the pulpit. When King Charles I heard of Boles' death, he is said to have exclaimed, “Bring me my mourning scarf. I have lost one of my best commanders in the Kingdom.” Evidence of the violence endured by the church and its people can be seen in the bullet holes preserved in the door of the church:
Doorway to St. Lawrence Church, Alton
On our way out of Alton, we passed by one of Oliver Cromwell's residences, and continued on the trail toward the village of Holybourne. Of course, it began to rain again today.
From left: (1) and (2) Raining on the trail. We used our ultralight ponchos for the first time today. They worked really well -- though you can see that we doubled up on protection by using our umbrellas, too! (3) Church of the Holy Rood in Holybourne. "Rood" is another term for a cross.
After Holybourne, we walked on to the delightful village of Upper Froyle, where we visited the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Parts of the current building date from the 1300s, but there has been a church on this site for more that 1000 years. The continuity of Christian worship in England is unlike anything we have the US.
From left: (1) Arriving in the rain at the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Upper Froyle. (2) Interior of the church, with a beautiful stained glass window behind the altar.
The photo to the left shows a stained glass window in the Church of the Assumption that is dedicated to the Pilgrims' Way. The left panel of the window depicts Winchester Cathedral (our starting point), and the right panel shows Canterbury Cathedral (our end point). How cool to see our journey remembered in a sacred context!
Another remarkable thing about this church is its marvelous collection of old liturgical vestments. After our unceremonious arrival at the church, dripping from the pouring rain, we were greeted by three lovely ladies of the church who maintain these old vestments. They were so welcoming and kind, and they graciously showed us a portion of the church’s collection. Years ago, many of the vestments were not stored properly and had severely deteriorated. Read a short story here about how two women of the parish (Sarah and Jean) were able to preserve them. It is an inspiring story!
Top row: (1) Left: Sarah showing us a 1750 vestment of gold and garnets. (2) Right: Close-up of chasuble. Bottom row: (1) Left: A beautiful embroidered chasuble of silk , gold, and jewels. (2) Giving Sarah a chaplet.
We gave Sarah a chaplet for her kindness and willingness to show us these church treasures. The ladies loved our visit. Pilgrims seem to be something of a rarity.
We then made our way to the town of Bentley and passed by the Jenkyn Place Vineyard (photo at right), a family-owned estate that produces top quality English sparkling wines.
I think we’ll need a fortifying glass of bubbly when we reach Farnham!
Also in Bentley, we visited St. Mary's Church, which is situated on a path lined with very old (300-700 years) and very huge yew trees. They were imposing and grand.
From left: (1) On the path outside of St. Mary's, Bentley. (2) Church interior. (3) Large yew in the churchyard.
We stopped for lunch at Bentley's Star Inn where the staff was very friendly -- they even went to a local store to get a gluten-free wrap for Lisa. Afterwards, we said our prayers and had time for reflection, and then continued on toward Farnham.
Here are some sights along the way:
From beginning of slideshow: (1) Beautiful, large English oak tree. (2) Let's play I Spy... Can you spot a pheasant in the dried brambles? (3) A sign points the way to Farnham, but what is a Fly-tipper? Actually, it is someone who dumps trash illegally, and the UK employs cameras to catch the culprits! (4) One mile outside of Farnham. (5) The sheep are our constant companions.
But besides the pastoral delights of the Pilgrims' Way, we also ran into a few obstacles today.
First, the heavy rain... See for yourself (video at right)! Since we had to walk nearly 13 miles today, there was no time to wait the rain out. Plus, we were hankering to try out these fashionable ponchos.
Second, an oil pipeline obstructed our path! This was totally unexpected, and didn't come up in any of our preparation research. To avoid commando-crawling on the muddy ground, we did a bit of reverse Limbo over the pipe:
Lisa makes it over with Harry's help. That's what friends are for. Cue Samwise Gamgee: "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you!"
A particularly troublesome part of our journey occurred about 6 miles from Farnham. The trail suddenly stopped at the gate of a horse pasture (Marsh House Farm, just so you know!) full of horses and lacking any signage. There was no clear route for us to take.
Not sure what to do…
...we walked around the pasture perimeter...
...through this!...
...to reach the other side. UGGH! The ladies were not too pleased! On top of this, the path around the horse pasture was filled with briers. We went into the adjacent forest to reach the road. What should have been a 5-minute walk took over half an hour! Was the manure depository on the fence perimeter there to discourage pilgrim walkers?
Well, it was only a small setback for us, because we pressed onward to Farnham and arrived just after 5pm. We checked into the Bishop’s Table Hotel, a recently refurbished family-owned hotel.
Arrived in Farnham at the Bishop's Table. This is the look of accomplishment!
After decompressing a bit at the hotel, we ventured out and found a narrow alleyway that led to St. Andrew's Church. A UK National Trust listed church, St. Andrew's has much architectural and artistic beauty. The oldest parts of the church date from between 1150 and 1170, and the church had substantial conservation and repair work done in the 1990s. Inside and out, it is an absolutely beautiful church.
From left: (1) Narrow alley to St. Andrew's Church in Farnham. (2) We're happy to be in our clean 'town clothes'! (3) Exterior of St. Andrew's Church.
From left: (1) Interior of St. Andrew's Church. (2) Stained glass window depicts scenes from the life of Christ. (3) More beautiful artwork.
At St. Andrew's, we met the Vicar, Father David, who spoke to us and gave us a surprise pilgrim stamp and our 4th pilgrim blessing! Thank you, Father David! We gave him a chaplet which he very much appreciated.
For dinner, we ate at The Lost Boy pub (What an appropriate name- Did they know we were coming?). This was one of the nicest restaurants that we have been to on our pilgrimage. We truly enjoy our evening meals, as it is a time for reflection and discussion about how the day was special and spiritual for each of us. It is always a time of inspiration and encouragement.
We were quite tired and fell asleep shortly thereafter!
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