The Way of St Augustine (walk 1) // To be a pilgrim

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After the somewhat dubious content of my previous blog, I felt the need for something a little more wholesome and life-affirming this time. So obviously, I decided to go on a pilgrimage.

Now, to be honest, I know pretty well the square root of fuck all about pilgrimages, other than the fact that lots of middle-aged people who end up taking up hiking as a hobby (er, that'll be me, then) blather on endlessly about pilgrimages (er, as I’m now doing).

Hearing people say they’re “doing the Camino” is particularly annoying, so obviously that’s what I decided to do.

The Camino almost everyone refers to, though, is the Camino de Santiago. This stretches almost 500 miles from France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, and typically takes 30 to 35 days to walk.

Fuck that shit.

My desire to undertake a pilgrimage really wasn’t that strong, but a little bit of research showed that Canterbury was a ‘premier pilgrimage destination’, famous since the 1170 martyrdom of Thomas Becket. (It’s educational this blog, isn’t it?)

So, given I was heading down to Margate for the weekend, and the weather was set fine (again, my desire to complete a pilgrimage was definitely dependent on fine weather), a quick Google told me that the St Augustine Way was just what I was looking for, an easy little jaunt from Ramsgate to Canterbury.

According to Explore Kent, the walk - sorry, pilgrimage - would enable me to “travel in the footsteps of St Augustine and discover the birth of Christianity in England in the beautiful Stour Valley from Ramsgate to Canterbury.”

Nice.

So, after a train to Margate, a walk to the little flat I was staying in, and then a quick hop on the bus round to Ramsgate, I was ready to start my first ever pilgrimage. At 2.00pm, which was pretty late, not really leaving me enough time to cover the 19 miles in one day.

Still, the 13 miles I managed were pleasant enough. Lots of paths through early summer wheat fields, snaking their way between typically pretty Kent villages centred around oh-so-lovely flint churches.

My favourite spot was a little different though, and a tad off-course. It was the remains of the massive concrete car park at Cliffsend that once served the world's first purpose-built hoverport from 1969 to its closure in 1982. It was almost part of my pilgrimage, as St Augustine landed just a mile or two away (missing the hovercrafts by roughly 1,500 years).

Anyway, I gave up after the 13 miles as a) I’m clearly not a very dedicated pilgrim, b) it was very hot and c) I wanted to get back to Margate for sunset to take photos of the Harbour Arm (and eat chips and drink ale).

So, here are my favourite photos of the day. Hardly any of them are anything to do with the pilgrimage whatsoever, but some of them are pretty damn good, even if I do say so myself.

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It’s not a particularly great photo, but this is St Augustine's Church, right at the start of the walk in Ramsgate. Given the photos coming next, it feels right to include something directly related to the pilgrimage. It is a really lovely church though. If you’re ever nearby, do visit.

A giant grown-over concrete car park, where the hovercrafts used to ply their trade. Fuck ancient history and pilgrimages, this is more like it.

My lunch spot. Hovercrafts used to come up this ramp. St Augustine landed a mile or so away. Julius Caesar landed around here too, twice in fact, as the first effort achieved very little, before he returned mob-handed with 800 ships, five legions and 2,000 cavalry. The first Anglo-Saxons followed after the Romans gave up on us and they sensibly landed round these parts as well. It's quite the historical spot to stop and eat a foul fake meat and vegan cheese roll. Oh, and to complete the historical moment, I could see Deal in the distance, the famous birthplace of a certain Tim Brown, AD 1967.

I love this bridge. Again, it’s part of the hoverport car park and fuck all do with the pilgrimage. Nice though, isn’t it?

I’m doing the Camino!

The very pretty Minster Abbey sits behind this wall, but I love this image more than my not-very-good photos of the abbey. I stood there wondering what was going on, and for once, refused to Google it. But I’m guessing it’s something to do with sackcloth and ashes, which I think is something biblical to do with death or grief. Someone else can do the research and tell me if I'm right or wrong, ta!

I like this photo too. It really felt like the first day of summer after a long winter and a none-too-great spring. This photo says summer to me.

My view as I ate chips in Margate. Nice, but…

I love the Harbour Arm and the light was perfect for photography. So many of my photos are taken in the middle of the day, with harsh sunlight. This reminded me I really, really must walk later so I can capture dusk, the golden hour, sunsets and the blue hour more frequently.

Here’s another gratuitous shot that’s almost the same as the last one. I couldn’t decide which one was better, so you can have both.

St Augustine's Way (part of): 21 May 2026 // Distance walked: A not far enough 21.2km // Elevation gain: 134metres.

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