Week 291: The Pilgrim’s Tale

Befell that, in that season on a day, In Southwark at the Tabard as I lay, Ready to wenden on my pilgrimage To Canterbury with devout coráge, At night was come into that hostelry Well nine and twenty in a company Of sundry folk, by áventure y-fall In fellowship, and pilgrims were they all, That toward Canterbury wouldë ride. Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, c. 1400 Can you walk from London to Canterbury in less than 48 hours? Maybe. Should you? Probably not. But I did. Five of us set out on Friday evening from Southwark Cathedral with an optimistic plan. Friday evening: 12 miles (19 km) to Bexleyheath Saturday: 28 miles (45 km) to Sittingbourne Sunday: 19 miles (31 km) to Canterbury The downside to doing it in such a short time is that you’re forced to take a direct route that includes some quite unpleasant sections, like the part where you have to walk along a footpath separated only by a crash barrier from an eight-lane dual carriageway that is a motorway in every…