Walking pilgrimages are booming globally, giving travelers up-close connections to local culture and the earth through the soles of their feet
Lao Tzu famously said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” And Henry David Thoreau in his essay, Walking, said: “The walking of which I speak…is itself the enterprise and adventure of the day.”
Walking tours or “pilgrimages” are rising in popularity. The most famous Christian walking pilgrimage, the Santiago de Compostela, had 347,578 walkers on its path in just one year. Although the Christian Santiago de Compostela is one the most famed walking pilgrimages, not all are based in Christianity, or indeed in any religion.
Some are highly spiritual ways to get in touch with a culture, with one’s body, with the land, in a deeply personal way—through the soles of one’s feet.
“Walking is one of the most natural of human activities and most of human activities and most definitely provides us with an innate definitely provides us with an innate rhythm, both physical and emotional.” rhythm, both physical and emotional.”
—Paul Christie, CEO of Walk Japan
Paul Christie, CEO of Walk Japan, a tour company that specializes in these types of journeys says, “Walking is one of the most natural of human activities and most definitely provides us with an innate rhythm, both physical and emotional, for deep-seated thoughts and feelings to percolate into our consciousness, a meditative experience and the beginning of mindfulness. Zen teaches us that each step is an end unto itself and emblematic of the moment’s completeness and richness.”
SPIRITED AWAY
Walk Japan specializes in off-the-beaten-track walking tours in Japan. Christie says that each of their 35 walking tours recounts steps associated with travelers and monks dating back to the year 774.
The Self-Guided Shikoku Wayfarer walking tour follows the steps of monk Kukai (774-825), across remote forest trails and urban landscapes alike beside the coast of the Pacific Ocean over six days. The Shikoku Temple Pilgrimage is an 11-day guided tour following centuries-old pilgrimage paths, offering accommodation in temples and inns, and access to onsens (thermal hot spring baths). One of Walk Japan’s newest guided tours, Shikoku: Kochi and Ehime Discovery, explores a variety of trails in the remote countryside for seven days.
These tours all take place in Shikoku, a rural region of Japan that has a milder climate and gentler winters than the northern islands and prefectures.
Closer to metropolitan areas, the Nakasendo Trail between Kyoto, the famed ancient city of temples and geisha life, and Tokyo (formerly Edo) was once filled with pilgrims from the samurai and merchant clans (think Shogun, with lots of walking). Along the way pilgrims stay in traditional Japanese ryokan guesthouses where one sleeps on the floor in rooms with rice paper walls. There are also communal baths, the purpose of which is to soak, not wash. Travelers first shower the effects of the road off and then climb in. Westerners note that Japanese bathhouses sometimes prohibit guests with tattoos and also sometimes offer sticky coverups to them to conceal body art, considered a sign of gangsterism in Japan. Oku Japan has a five- day self-guided hike including accommodations, some meals, and luggage transfers. This hike goes through the ancient villages of Magome, Tsumago, and Narai, where red street lanterns and roadside food stalls will make you feel as if you fell into a real-life version of the classic Japanese anime, Spirited Away.
Also in Asia, the newly reopened and restored Trans Bhutan Trail is a 403-kilometer trail from Haa in Bhutan’s west to Trashigang in the east of the country. The trail was once used by messengers who went from fortress to fortress spreading news and information. It was also used by monks and pilgrims to visit temples along the way. Until the 1960s it was the only way to travel across the country.
Today, the nonprofit TransBhutanTrail.com is offering travelers options like a 36-day Full Trans Bhutan Trail Trek, including meals, guides, accommodations, and the all-important Bhutan tourist visa. Pilgrims on this trail stay at locally owned three-star hotels along with signature campsites including semipermanent tents, some of which have hot stone baths. Upgrades to four-and five-star hotels are also available for those who want massages and spa treatments along the way.
WALKABOUT
In Australia, the term walkabout is used by Aboriginal peoples to describe a time when one pauses daily life to go back to one’s roots: to literally “walk about” the bush, touching nature, getting to see neighbors and “aunties and uncles,” and to commune with something larger than the self.
Even in large metropolitan areas like Sydney and Adelaide, opportunities abound for travelers to walk and to see the country through the eyes of their first nation people.
Haydyn Bromley and his company, Bookabee Australia, has 35 years of experience guiding travelers through his ancestral lands as well as being an outspoken advocate for Aboriginal affairs.
“Joining a tour with an Aboriginal guide enables our guests to view Australia through Aboriginal eyes and provides a new dimension of experience and understanding,” Bromley says. “Travelers will experience local environments like never before with immersive, interactive and high educational conversations and learning.”
Bookabee offers a half-day guided walk through Kaurna (Aboriginal) Adelaide, which includes visits to the local Adelaide Botanic Garden where travelers will learn about local plant life from an Aboriginal perspective as well as the Australian Aboriginal Cultures Gallery where walkers can meet with local artists and artisans as well as community activists.
Bromley and Bookabee are also experts in bush tucker (bush food) and can help walking travelers source legendary delicacies like The Witchetty grub, a larval stage (caterpillar) of a large cossid wood moth, Endoxyla leucomochla, called “witjuri” by the Adnyamathanha people of South Australia’s Central Desert and an important source of protein, especially when walking in the bush. At Adelaide’s Aboriginal-owned restaurants like Red Ochre Barrell & Grill, you can sample them along with other specialties like fried crocodile fish cakes and grilled kangaroo.
Along with his easy to plan half-day tours in Adelaide, Bromley can advise on longer walkabouts throughout Australia.
When you walk in these ancient trails with a traditional steward of that land, you will learn about ancient “dreaming” sites that continue to be sacred to this day. You can also source Aboriginal art from local painters and artisans who draw from the landscape they live in to create heritage pieces that will continue to inspire walkers long after they’ve returned home.
“Joining a tour with an Aboriginal guide enables our guests to view guide Australia through Aboriginal eyes and provides a new dimension of experience and understanding.”
—Haydyn Bromley, ceo, Bookabee Australia
CAPE CRUSADES
Moving to Africa from Australia, South Africa’s Western Cape Winelands region is not only home to some of the best vintages in the world but also to walking paths through ancient oaks, rolling hills, and vintage Cape Dutch architecture.
Kenneth R. Vásquez Laya, CEO of Vuitton Travel, a luxe-centric travel advisory and tour agency, recommends walking excursions in Stellenbosch, known as “the village of the oaks.”
“Stellenbosch boasts three centuries of colorful history and vibrant culture,” Laya says. “From artisanal shops and bustling markets to quaint cafes and world- class wineries, Stellenbosch offers a captivating blend of old-world charm and modern sophistication.”
Another walking trail Laya recommends is the Otter Trail in Tsitsikamma National Park. “This breathtaking destination in the Garden Route National Park boasts dramatic coastal vistas, lush forests, and crystal-clear rivers. A myriad of hiking trails catering to adventurers of all levels, including the renowned Otter Trail and the inclusive Dolphin Trail where you can rest and recharge at well-appointed camps nestled within the park in comfort. During the Southern Right Whale breeding season, stop and marvel at these majestic creatures as they navigate the coastal waters,” Laya explains.
PILGRIM’S PROGRESS AND TRAVELER’S TALES
Closer to the U.S., walking paths for pilgrims of all kinds also abound in the United Kingdom. These weave cultural treasures like the background of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Jane Austen, as well as destination spas into the experience.
The nonprofit website, britishpilgrimage.org highlights The Pilgrims’ Way to Canterbury, a route that ancient pilgrims took (as seen in The Canterbury Tales) re-creating Thomas of Becket’s route from London to the site of the famed Cathedral.
There are several routes walkers can take on this close to weeklong trail, one of which takes travelers near Jane Austen’s hometown of Chawton, where her house museum awaits Austenites making their own special pilgrimage. When making the film, Becoming Jane, Anne Hathaway received a special invitation to explore the house of the author. The curators will tell you privately that although Austen is supposed to have been a “spinster,” she had quite a few local boyfriends.
Close by for a side trip, Bath, Austen’s old stomping (and partying) grounds is also within long-range walking distance.
Back on the trail, the alternative start is called “The Becket Way” because it is believed this is the journey Thomas Becket made himself. It starts in Southwark, in London, and joins at Otford/Kemsing to the Winchester to Canterbury Way. The path follows old long-distance Roman roads and traverses open heath and charming small villages.
In Wales, The Pembrokeshire Coast Path is a spectacular 186-mile (299 km) long National Trail covering some of the most varied coastal scenery in Britain, stretching from St. Dogmaels in the north to Amroth in the south. It also passes close to one of Wales’ most charming spa hotels, St Brides Spa Hotel in Saundersfoot, where you can indulge in seaweed wraps, a thermal suite and hydrotherapy pool overlooking the open ocean.
BRUCE ALMIGHTY
In North America, Canada’s Bruce Trail in Southern Ontario traverses the Niagara River to the edge of Tobermory, Ontario, at a length of 550 miles with over 250 miles of side trails.
The Bruce follows the edge of the Niagara Escarpment, one of 19 UNESCO World Biosphere Reserves in Canada. The trail was officially opened in 1967 and flows through private and public land with handshake agreements allowing access on personal property for hikers.
The protected Reserve is the largest continuous stretch of forest in south-central Ontario with 300 bird species, 90 species of fish, 100 species of plant life, 55 mammalian species and 36 amphibians and reptiles living there.
If you walk The Bruce, consider ending your trip with a side journey to Old Quebec’s Le Monastère des Augustines. This former monastery with its clean and spare rooms offers their own blends of medicinal teas made of roots and flowers from the old monk’s recipe books, silent breakfasts and meditation, and wellness routines and spa treatments at nearby Strøm Nordic Spa. It is a meditative oasis and a perfect way to end a journey of a thousand steps.