so what does the heading actually mean? Well here’s the thing. I do a lot of research for my new business 3 Days In London, which as the name says, is about London. It has been a great journey so far and during my endeavours and my London #walkabouts I have uncovered and discovered some amazing facts and places. I am learning stuff I never knew and it is all fascinating. London is like an onion, as you peel each layer away, so another becomes exposed. My head is full of facts, and figures and photos and places. It is the best fun I have had and I am delighting in all that I find.
I also have a two day break coming up this weekend.
One of the things I discovered whilst doing one of the London Walks (the cards I got for Xmas), is the ancient George Inn in Southwark. Chaucer is mentioned as having frequented an Inn similar to this one during his lifetime in the 14th Century and certainly at the beginning of his what I have now discovered was his spiritual journey on the Pilgrims Route of the Camino to Canterbury. The Camino is a world-famous pilgrimage and Geoffrey Chaucer travelled from London to Canterbury via this ancient route, and subsequently wrote: The Canterbury Tales. This has intrigued me no end and I will now have to investigate further :). My education continues.
So, getting back to the subject at hand (sorry you know my mind goes all over), I wanted to do the Camino last year with my Dad and my daughter, but circumstances did not allow. (self created?) The Camino de Santiago pilgrims route/s of which there are many start from many places in the world and all end at Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. Whilst doing research for the trip last year I discovered that there is a route that starts in…………….yes!!!! London!!!! hooray! I only just recently discovered that in fact Geoffrey Chaucer also, as mentioned before, followed a pilgrims route to Canterbury. I am not sure if his intention was to go to Spain but he certainly wanted to get to Canterbury Cathedral (see the details on the wiki link). Because of Chaucer, the road from London to Canterbury is by far the most famous pilgrimage route in Britain.
So, here’s the thing…..I still want to do the ‘Camino’ for all sorts of reasons, and my daughter also wants to do it. However, since this is my London/UK year I have no real plans (yet) to go overseas till 2012. But, I do want to start the journey, so it is my plan to start this on……..Saturday 12th February! ah ha! you might say and what will you be doing? Well on Saturday 12th I will be venturing into Southwark to start my journey by eating a late meal at the George Inn,
The George Inn Southwark - National Trust
much as I am sure Chaucer would have done before he set out. I will be walking the streets of Southwark and taking photos of places in the area that may well have been there during his lifetime (like the Inn), having a meal at the Inn and then very early the next day (Sunday) I will venture into Southwark once again and follow the route he followed for the first part of his journey to Canterbury, the details of which I discovered on the web 🙂 I will also visit St James Garlickythe a unique 17th century City Church, and a sacred place since 1100 AD.
Chaucer’s second stop on the route was Greenwich, so I will make my way to Greenwich and assuming I actually get that far…..explore the area for the day, perhaps sleep over at an ‘Inn’ aka a B&B 🙂 and then make my way back home on Monday morning. I have been wanting to explore Greenwich again anyway to gather material for my blogs, so this will be a golden opportunity to ‘kill two birds with one stone’ or not! Perhaps instead of killing birds I will just take photos!
Then it is my plan to take a couple of days each month and pick up where I left off the last time and walk the whole route till I eventually reach Canterbury. This may take a while! But, I reckon that once I have reached Canterbury it should be almost the end of the year and I will be well ready to plan the next stage of the journey and venture overseas to Portugal or Spain to follow one of the many routes there. And I will of course document my journeys on my blog! 🙂
Not Just a Granny 
I’ve always wanted to do that! The only English literature oriented trip I’ve done was to the Lake District.
wow! Thomas that sounds fab. I am so wanting to go to the Lake District. it’s been an interesting escapade so far. Not much by way of details, but the map I found has given me a fair idea, so I will have to be a bit inventive 🙂 anyhow, he cheated and went by coach and horse….I have to walk! but, I am so excited now.
I was there in June and it was cold and rainy the whole time–maybe that’s why I’m always going on about how good the weather looks in your pics! It was a special trip so I splurged and stayed at the Langdale Chase Hotel at Lake Windermere–really nice and like and old English stately home.
ahh no really!!! horrible. yeah sometimes June can be an icky month. ah well. glad you enjoy my pics then 🙂 thanks for the recommendation for a hotel. I will note it for when I visit. hope that is soon! i start my adventure today 🙂 very excited.
Wow, you rewriting the history books here – a modern day version of Canterbury Tales to follow perhaps?? Sounds like a fantastic trip – enjoy!!
mmm, well I’m not so sure about rewriting the history books!!! but hey, I can as you say, create my own! hahaha. yes, I will be blogging and tweeting about the trips. I plan to tweet as I go so if you want to check your internet on Sunday go to http://www.twitter.com/notjustagranny to see where I am! If it’s not raining I plan to start at 6am UK time….you should be awake by then 🙂
[…] Chaucer (c1340-1400), I embarked on the first leg of my pilgrim’s route. As mentioned in my previous blog, after discovering that Chaucer followed the Pilgrim’s route from Southwark to Canterbury, I […]
I’ve been wanting to do something like this, but I haven’t done it before. Hoping to go on this very same Chaucer trip with a few of my literature class friends and also Shakespeare’s. You must have learned a lot during this trip and also a lot of preparation must have been done before this trip began rite…Really cool.
hello across the centuries 🙂 thanks for your comment. I am loving the journey so far. have yet to get from Greenwich to Canterbury, and those tales will follow indue course. Surprisingly I have not done much planning at all. I am one of those people who likes to go on adventures and too much planning takes the fun out of that. So with just an idea of my stops along the way, it will be a case of go and figure it out along the way. I am really excited. You should definitely plan to do the trip. I am quite a fan of Shakespeare too & share a birth date with him (not the same year of course) 🙂
[…] 6 years ago, after discovering the George Inn in Southwark and seeing the Chaucer window in Southwark Cathedral I was inspired by my love of London, the River Thames, my love of walking and my interest in Chaucer to follow in his footsteps to Canterbury. […]