DAY THIRTEEN  Arundel to Bognor Regis

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Our penultimate walking day. The pilgrimage certainly seems to have flown by.

As usual, our surroundings were better appreciated as we packed the van and put on our boots in the morning, than when we had trudged in the previous evening.

We got off on time and managed to pass both the pub and the cathedral without going in.

Soon we were going through countryside once more, chatting as we walked.

We passed an unusual farm cottage, which specialised in pumpkins, offering a huge variety very attractively displayed and looking somewhat like a hobbit market from The Lord of the Rings.

Although, the weather was (as has become usual this year) hot and sunny, our route afforded us some welcome dappled shade.

At St Richard's Church, Slindon, the backmarkers were forced to lower the flag in order to retrieve the route arrow that way flying just beneath it. The more patriotic pilgrims broke into the National Anthem as the flag was re-hoisted.

Once this had been dealt with, we made our way into church, where Father David celebrated mass.

Slindon also had an Anglican church, St Mary's, which we visited for DIY prayers.

All of the fields we have walked through this year have already been harvested and the stubble made a satisfactory crunching noise as you stamped on it.

No, there weren't any missing arrows this time, but Howard thought he would reprise his role as a modern art sculpture.

Our next led-prayer stop was at St Mary's, Walburton, where Joyce spoke movingly of her life experiences and outlook, and the difficulties she has overcome.

Lunch was in Yapton, where we also visited St Mary's Church, where their choir led us in hymn singing, concluding, of course, with 'To be a pilgrim'.

Over the years, front marking has become something of an art form, with frontmarkers on different days attempting to outdo each other in terms of ingenuity and the challenge they provide for the poor backmarkers, taking the arrows down again. This bridge illustrates the frontmarker's art.

Our final prayer stop was at St Mary the Virgin, Felpham, where Jack talked about how for him coming on the pilgrimage was a big step in itself and after just one day, he felt he had completed his pilgrimage before the walking had begun.

This evening's meal was somewhat different from the norm. The proceedings began with Abi and Lauren performing a Jesus and Peter sketch.

Then Bruce broke a loaf of bread which we shared as a symbol of our unity, before starting on our meal proper.

Today was Lauren's eighteenth birthday and so a celebration of this was incorporated into the evening.

For some the celebrations continued at the pub, while others remained at the hall and prepared for tomorrow's walking and prayer stops.

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