For most of our 50-plus years our summer pilgrimage has been followed by an autumn reunion, a chance to get together with our fellow pilgrims and reminisce, discuss future plans and, for many years before we started internet diaries, to view photos / slides of the previous summer. The trouble with autumn reunions was always short days and potentially inclement weather. Several years we had a spring reunion to celebrate a major pilgrimage anniversary (20, 25, 30, 40 and 50 years). This year we decided to have the main 2025 reunion in spring 2026 – which maybe makes it a 2026 preunion…

As our pilgrimage family has become more dispersed geographically, numbers attending any reunion have dropped, and when relatively new pilgrims Julian and Claire Glover offered to host a reunion in their village of Old in Northamptonshire I prayed that it wouldn’t be a flop because pilgrims felt it was too far to travel. So I was delighted to find that a great turnout of pilgrims from across the country, some on their way to or from the north of England to plan this summer’s pilgrimage, had descended upon Old, a pretty village of caramel-coloured stone houses in rolling farmland.

There was a warm welcome as soon as we arrived, with one of Julian and Claire’s neighbours proving tea and toasted teacakes. When everyone had arrived we enjoyed a soup supper – warming homemade soups – in the community centre, before walking round the corner to the village hall for our overnight accommodation (complete with every pilgrim’s dream – showers!)

After a hearty breakfast, the walk on Saturday was an irregular figure of eight through the countryside, visiting a ruined church and passing a couple of other churches to the pub where we had a private room for our lunch. The walk back from the pub was shorter, and included visits to 2 churches.

Back at the hall for tea and cakes, some went off to attend the vigil Mass in Market Harborough and to say hello to Fr Chris who hosted our rest day there in 2024. Meanwhile others got to work cutting orange arrows out of large sheets of card. All together again, we enjoyed a good supper with a drink or two, and an evening of chatting and planning, before heading back to the Village Hall. We were joined for the walk and supper by local friends of Claire and Julian.

On Sunday morning there was another good breakfast before we set out in varying directions – some towards churches nearby or in Northampton, some home, some to do their exploration and planning for August.

So my concerns were unfounded: this was a wonderful reunion! Claire and Julian can’t claim all the credit for the countryside or the beautiful weather, but their work in planning and catering ensured we all had a really lovely time. Thank you both.

As ever, we did a web diary, which you can see at https://thepilgrims.org.uk/2026/reunion.php (that’s why there are no photos in this write-up!)

Meanwhile planning is well underway for our summer pilgrimage from Middlesbrough to Blackburn via Ripon and Skipton. You can see more details at https://thepilgrims.org.uk/book/

During our 2025 pilgrimage we started discussions on where to go in 2026, with pilgrims able to express a preference. After the pilgrimage, we fleshed out some of these ideas and took them to the AGM, where it was unanimously agreed that we should head north and make our way to Blackburn Cathedral, which next year is celebrating the centenary of its elevation to cathedral status. The question was then where to start the pilgrimage, a decision that was made by a democratic vote of those attending the AGM over last weekend, with the final choice getting as many votes as the other 2 combined.

And so, our 2026 Pilgrimage will start at the Roman Catholic Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Middlesbrough (a modern cathedral, built in 1985), pass by the ancient Ripon Cathedral (dating back to the 7th Century), and end at Blackburn Cathedral (a relatively new building on an ancient site).

The full proposed route, subject to finding appropriate accommodation, is as follows: Middlesbrough – Kirklevington – Croft-on-Tees – Richmond – Bedale – Ripon – Pateley Bridge – Grassington – Skipton – Barnoldswick – Clitheroe – Blackburn (bold indicates rest days).

See an overview map of the proposed route at https://thepilgrims.org.uk/2026/2026_proposed.html

The dates for 2026 will be: gathering in Middlesbrough on 15 August, celebration day in Blackburn 29 August, travel home 30 August.

Bookings will open when the accommodation is firmed up (likely January) – subscribe to updates on our website to be the first to know.

Existing pilgrims who are interested in planning a day’s walk should contact chief route planner Aidan (by e-mail if you have it, or via Contact The Pilgrims).

Dr Anne Bailey, who walked the first 5 days of our 2025 Pilgrimage, is an academic who has published widely on topics including medieval and modern pilgrimage. Her latest offering is a 6-minute-long slideshow video presenting our pilgrimage from her perspective.

You can subscribe to Anne’s Pilgrimage channel which features other past and current pilgrimages. The link is here: https://www.youtube.com/@DrAnneEBailey-df4pr

Thanks, Anne, for sharing and we hope to see you again in the future.

Our 2025 Pilgrimage, the Jubilee Pilgrimage of Hope, which visits all of the deaneries of Arundel & Brighton Diocese (and churches of all denominations along the way) is only 10 days away. The web diary is ready at https://thepilgrims.org.uk/2025 and contains details of our route, stops and timings together with downloadable information for pilgrims and followers. Those who have booked should have received this information by e-mail – if you’ve not received it, please get in touch.

Bookings for this year have now closed, but if you can come and meet us on the way that would be great. The route cards / website will tell you where to find us, and when. How well we keep to time does depend on the weather of course!

As ever we are still finalising arrangements here and there, so things might change a little. We’ll try to keep the website up to date!

If you’re walking with us this year, it’s time to study the Pilgrim Code, prepare your equipment, and do some final training walks.

If you’re not able to walk with us this year, please pray for us, as we will for you, and from 9 August follow our progress on the web diary.

And if you’re able to meet us along the route, we look forward to seeing you!