Peterborough woman to lead modern day pilgrimage from Castor to Peterborough Cathedral

People from our region are being invited to take part in a modern day pilgrimage from Castor to Peterborough over the next fortnight.

Kyneburgha to Katharine: A Pilgrimage to Peterborough will take place on Saturday 4 and Wednesday 8 March and be led by Faye Smith of Hope Walking.

“We will walk along the only pilgrim route on the national map of the area,” Faye tells the Peterborough Telegraph, “from St Kyneburgha’s tomb at Castor Church to Queen Katharine of Aragon’s tomb at Peterborough Cathedral.”

Though the six-hour walk has been co-organised by Peterborough Cathedral, and the word pilgrimage has obvious religious connotations, Faye is keen to emphasise that the event is open to people of all backgrounds.

“I welcome people of any beliefs, and none: everyone is warmly welcomed and included - not tolerated, welcomed.”

The aim of the six-mile trek, she says, is “to restore the deeply therapeutic benefits of pilgrimage,” which she describes as “a long walk with a spiritual purpose, whatever that looks like for you.”

Faye says that, for most people, the spiritual purpose of a pilgrimage generally falls into one of five categories:

“People go for healing, and they go to give thanks, and people go to give something up.”

“Or you go on pilgrimage to take something up - to bring something into your life.”

“And the last one is penitential pilgrimage, where you go on pilgrimage to say sorry for something.”

The 56-year-old marketing and PR professional is an impassioned believer in the power walking has to help people who are going through – or have struggled to process – troubling times.

She describes this healing process as “walking yourself well,” and it is something she has put to good use in her own life.

“Growing up on the edge of the stunning Peak District National Park, I always enjoyed walking in nature,” she says.

“But I only discovered the deeply therapeutic power of ‘walking myself well’ after my marriage broke down and I endured a succession of bereavements.”

Faye’s ex-husband died by suicide 12 years ago after a long struggle with alcoholism. Two years later, her twelve-year-old daughter, Gabi, tragically drowned in the bath.

“Time and again, walking has been the means to recovery of my own mental and physical health,” she says, “enabling me to find hope, strength and a new belief in myself and in life when so much that was precious had been lost.”

The Castor to Peterborough pilgrimage route was created in 2020 by Guy Haywood (founder of the British Pilgrimage Trust) and Nick Mayhew-Smith, author of The Naked Hermit and Britain’s Holiest Places. It is, however, little used.

”Nobody has actually formalised it [the route] and walked it as an event to the Cathedral before,” Faye says.

The pilgrimage on March 4 will culminate with a climb to the top of the Cathedral tower and a visit to Katharine of Aragon’s tomb.

The second walk on March 8 will finish with a guided Women of Peterborough Tour around the cathedral.

Tickets cost £29.50 per person and include the Cathedral Tower Tour.

Full details and booking link can be found at https://hopewalking.co.uk/peterborough-pilgrimage.