Walking London to Walsingham Day 1

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It is Saturday May 6th 2023 and I am aboard a train bound for London. My fellow passengers are mainly families and groups of friends going to celebrate the coronation of King Charles. I however once we spill out onto the platform at Kings Cross station head to the heart of the old city just a stones throw from London Bridge and the monument to the Great Fire of 1666, to the church of St Magnus the Martyr. It stands hidden away amongst more modern office blocks and is the starting point of a modern interpretation of the London to Walsingham pilgrimage route, once the most important road in England.
Back in the Middle Ages the shrine at Walsingham, dedicated to the Virgin Mary was one of the four great shrines of Christendom alongside Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago de Compostela. Every English king for almost 300 years visited up to Henry VIII, who visited at least twice before falling out with the Catholic Church and subsequently ordering the dissolution of the monasteries. This almost overnight spelt the end of Walsingham's importance and it reverted to being a sleepy backwater until the Catholic Nation Shrine was established there in the 1930s.
Unfortunately the church was closed so I didn't get to see what was described by the poet TS Eliot as one of the finest interiors designed by Christopher Wren, the man responsible for amongst other things designing St Paul's Cathedral.
The church also has a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham, which along with the church's situation close to London Bridge makes it an ideal place to start the pilgrimage to Walsingham.
Leaving the church behind a couple of twists and turns down narrow streets soon had me on the north bank of the Thames and heading eastward along the Thames Path away from the city and the days pageantry.
The first few miles took me past the Tower of London, St Katharine's Dock, along Wapping High Street and on into the heart of the East End. I stopped by at the Yurt Cafe in the grounds of the Royal Foundation of St Katharine, a religious charity that has been serving the community for over 900 years. It's a little oasis of calm in amongst the bustle of the city, and also serves great bacon butties and coffee too.
Fed and watered I continued on, pulling up the hood on my waterproof jacket as I went as the light rain of earlier had now turned heavier. Leaving Old Mother Thames behind I crossed Victoria Park and then picked up the towpaths of firstly the Hertford Union Canal and then the River Lea Navigation. The latter would guide me for the rest of the day as I made my way to Waltham Cross.
The days 19 mile route had taken me to outside of the M25 orbital road with barely a mile of walking alongside motor traffic and even the persistent rain couldn't dampen my enthusiasm for the walk ahead.

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