The Road to Canterbury: A Modern Pilgrimage

Rating:
Summary: Essential reading for main-line Christians.
Review: In our commercialized society, where obligatory pilgrimages are only made to Disney World or Graceland, the idea of making a trip--especially a slow, difficult one--to a religious site is truly counter-cultural. This journey, taken during a painful period of transition (widowhood) in the author's life, covers physical and spiritual ground one patient step at a time. The author at times seems a latter-day John Bunyan: we learn that there is as much signficiance to the pilgrimage walk as there is to the arrival. Cannot be recommended enough for sincere people of faith, especially those in the English traditions of Catholicism, Anglicanism/Episcopalianism, or Methodism.

Rating:
Summary: ...entertaining anecdotes and fascinating historical details
Review: Shirley Du Boulay's Winchester-to-Canterbury pilgrimage is the subject of her informative book, Road to Canterbury, which I found full of entertaining anecdotes and fascinating historical details, as well as being spiritually inspiring. Du Boulay's is a spiritual experience. During her 150 miles of travel (including getting lost), du Boulay considers whether it is the arrival or the journey that is most important. She relates the historical and cultural significance of landmarks and towns, churches and their namesakes across Hampshire, Surrey, and Kent as she follows the ancient Pilgrim's Way to St. Thomas a Becket's shrine in Canterbury Cathedral. And of course she tells the story of Becket's death at the hands of Henry II's knights. Time seems to take on a new dimension, becoming fluid as Du Boulay slips back and forth between descriptions and anecdotes of ancient Neolithic cultures, the Romans, mediaeval, and later peoples. Importantly, all somehow meld together and are united. At times frustrated, hungry, wet, or suffering back pain, du Boulay's almost two-week journey is a parallel of life, as she feels tempted to give up, or resists the urge to take a taxi or other short cut; she keeps walking. What does du Boulay learn? On reaching her goal, she finds "It did not matter that I had no great thoughts. For the moment gratitude was enough" (228). Even so, she wonders whether life will "ever be quite the same again?" (229). I, for one, suspect life will be different. An informative work that is both inspiring and entertaining