London's river and John Paul II....

...and a warm September Sunday.  After the glorious John Paul II Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham this summer, perhaps it's not surprising that there has been so much interest and enthusiasm for the River Pilgrimage planned for Oct 28th...and today one of the enthusiasts joined me on mapping out the route and getting things organised, and we had a wonderful day. We set out after the 10.30am Mass at Westminster Cathedral (beautiful: the Choir is back now after the summer break, wonderful music) and a good brunch. My original plan had been to walk down to Westminster Bridge and start from there, but Ellie suggested that a much better plan would be to avoid the tourist crowds and head down Vauxhall Bridge Road, and turning along through Pimlico.  We did so, and it turned out to be excellent. Under the gaze of MI5 (vast HQ on the Vauxhall bank with weird green windows) we walked all along the river, noted a park which will be a perfect lunch-stop, and on, via Chelsea,  Battersea and Wandsworth (where the Wandle,river of my suburban childhood, joins the Thames) and on to Putney...en route we worked on various arrangements for the Pilgrimage, which will be led by the excellent Dominican Sisters of St Joseph, with a Chaplain from the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.  The Pilgrimage will end at Hampton Wick, at the shrine of Our Lady of Westminster, with Evensong, Benediction, and a hearty Tea.

This will be a good pilgrimage - walking along one of the most famous rivers in the world, praying for the New Evangelisation, in good company and with the heavenly aid of the recently-beatified John Paul the Great. Come and join us! Send a Comment to this Blog, with an email address at which I can reach you (I can't reply to any Comment unless there is an email address incorporated into the text of the message). You will need sensible walking shoes, a packed lunch, and suitable clothing (today was HOT and I had a big hat. October may be cold and wet...).