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Check out www.christianaid.org.uk
This year we have two activities to raise money, see more details below :
Virtual Pilgrimage/Sponsored Walk
As well as the sponsored walk we are holding a Auction of homemade goods and services. You can bid for a delicious selection of cakes, or choose one of may different services offered by members of the congregation: such things as language lessons, gardening, concert tickets, trips out and much much more.
As of Friday 30th the auction has ended. Thank you to everyone who placed a bid!
Total Route = 230 miles
Distance travelled so far = 245 miles
This year's Virtual Sponsored Pilgrimage is to the Holy Island.
Members of St Clement's church are walking to raise money for Christian Aid Week. The Pilgrimage is a virtual one, people walk on their own or in groups around Manchester. We then add up the total to calculate how far along the route we have come to Lindasfarne.
If you would like to support out fundraising you can log your miles in the form opposite.You can also donate to our fundraiser via Just Giving or contact Revd Laurie Windle for offline payments.
11th -15th May 2025
The virtual pilgrimage has begun. In the past 5 days we have moved 27 miles along our route. We began at St Clements, headed northwest passing through Longford Park and onto the Bridgewater canal toll path at Chester Road. Following the canal into Manchester, we cut across part of Salford to meet the river Irwell. We followed the Irwell north. At Philip’s park in Prestwich we left the river and joined Outwood trail, which took is to the Manchester and Bolton canal. We followed the canal north through Radcliffe and Bury and then followed the route of the river Irwell along the valley floor all the way to Haslingden.
16th to 18th May 2025
43 miles (total 70 miles - approx. 30% of the route)
Leaving Haslingden the pilgrims climbed up onto the West Pennine Moors, before descending to pass between Accrington and Burnley. We passed through the market town of Padiham and then climbed the steep sides of Pendle Hill, a place associated with witchcraft since in the witch trials of the 17th century (1612). But it is also the place where George Fox received a great vision in the early years of the Quaker movement (1652).
We crossed the Ribble valley to the east of Clitheroe (with its not-to-be-missed sausage butcher) and entered into the eastern edge of the Forest of Bowland, designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty since 1964. We passed near the ruins of Sawley Abbey, a former Cistercian abbey dissolved by Henry VIII’s commissioners in 1536.
Leaving Bowland, we headed east and then north once more as we followed the river Ribble into the market town of Settle (and if you also have a train spotting father your mind will have immediately thought about the Settle to Carlisle railway). Beware, we have now entered Yorkshire…
Our path then took us north west, we entered the beautiful Yorkshire Dales National Park, and we have begun to ascend Ingleborough.
19th to 20th May 2025
62 miles (total 132)
In the last 2 days the pilgrims added an impression 62 miles to the route. After climbing Ingleborough, we descended the valley to the north west and climbed Whernside walking along the ridge. The Ribblehead viaduct could be seen in the valley below.
Continuing north we crossed Dentdale and then entered Garsdale where we turned west towards the small town of Sedburgh with its 12th century Norman church and its famous private school which was founded in 1525.
We faced a very steep ascent northwards out of Sedburgh to climb onto the Howgill Fells. We continued north across the fells, briefly crossing the upper Lune Valley east of Tebay to then cross the much lower Orton Fells. The Eden Valley lay ahead and the market town of Appleby-in-Westmoreland. We have left the Yorkshire Dale National Park behind us and are now in Cumbria. Appleby castle is founded in the 12th Century and the town continues to host the four-day Appleby Horse Fair on the first weekend of June.
After the brief respite of the pastoral beauty of the Eden Valley we again undertook a steep climb to enter the North Pennines. At the village of Dufton we joined the route of the Pennine Way, the oldest of England’s National Trails. This leg of our journey ended 4 miles south of the small town of Alston.
21st May to 24th May 2025
35 miles (total 167)
We followed the Pennine Way through the small town of Alston and north along the valley of the South Tyne river. Just beyond the village of Slaggyford we left the Pennine way as it ascended once more into the fells; we sensible took the more gentle route along the valley floor north passing East of Lambley. We are now in Northumberland
At Lambley we joined the South Tyne Trail which took us north east to the market town of Haltwhistle which lies on the main Newcastle to Carlisle Road. Three miles north of Haltwhistle we entered the Northumberland National Park and came to Hadrian’s Wall. We turned to face east and followed the Wall, passing across Sycamore Gap and the terrible sight of its cut-down tree, although some signs of new growth are emerging. Just before the ruins of the Roman fort at Housesteads we left the Wall and headed north once more.
We have travelled 10 mile through the National Park and are now four miles short of the village of Bellingham and the North Tyne river.
25th May to 27th May 2025
We have arrived!!!!!!
The pilgrims continued to skirt the Northumberland National Park. We had rejoined the Pennine Way at Hadrian’s Wall (opps, missed that in the last report) and continued on the famous route. We cross the North Tyne river over a beautiful stone bridge (4 arches, built 1834) and entered the village of Bellingham. We continued north through the National park. At the village of Byrness we crossed the A66 and came to the Cheviot Hills. We climbed into the hills. As we ascended Carin Hill, at just past the 200 miles mark, we left the Pennine Way for the final time. While the Way turned north west, to its conclusion at Kirk Yetholm, we continue north east. A few miles beyond where we left the Way, we came to the highest point on our route. At 2, 674 feet above sea level The Cheviot is an extinct volcano and the highest peak in this range of hills. It is said on a clear day you can see the Lake District.
We descended for the next 9 miles to leave the Cheviots and came to the town of Wooler. This popular base for walkers is known as the “Gateway to the Cheviots” by some. After Woller, the landscape was much more agricultural and gentle, although the small range of the Kyloe Hills lay in our path. In the side of one of those hills we came to St Cuthbert’s Cave (at least one of the two sites in Northumberland which bares that name). We had come to Holburn Cave, a sandstone cave formed by a large overhanging rock and now managed by the National Trust. Legends differ as to whether this was a place where Cuthbert himself lived as a hermit or whether it was somewhere his monks sheltered with his remains on their seven-year long wandering journey which ended at Cuthbert’s final resting place in Durham.
We continued northwest to the village of Fenwick where, shortly after, we crossed the A1, then the East Coast Main Line, and came at last to the Holy Island Causeway. Fortunately, the tide was out so we could pass across the sands and come, at last, to Lindisfarne.
Lindisfarne or The Holy Island
This tidal island in the North Sea has a recorded history back to the 6th century. It was an important centre of Celtic Christianity; its abbey was founded by Saint Aidan around 634AD. The famous illustrated manuscript known as the Lindisfarne Gospels, was probably created here in the early 8th century. Its most famous abbot was St Cuthbert to whom many miracles were ascribed. This original monastery was destroyed by marauding Vikings. As it says in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
“In this year fierce, foreboding omens came over the land of the Northumbrians, and the wretched people shook; there were excessive whirlwinds, lightning, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the sky. These signs were followed by great famine, and a little after those, that same year on 6th ides of January, the ravaging of wretched heathen men destroyed God's church at Lindisfarne.”
It was this act that set the monks off on their long journey with the remains of holy St Cuthbert.
The priory at Lindisfarne was re-established by the first Norman Bishop of Durham, William of St Calais, in 1093 as a sub-priory to the one at Durham. This priory continued until its dissolution by Henry VIII’s Commissioners in 1536. Most of the priory now lies in ruins but much of the Parish Church of St Mary, which sits next to the priory, dates from 12 and 13th century and is still in use today.
