Written August 2026
I have just completed a four day pilgrimage/walk centred on Hereford Cathedral staying at sanctuary churches. I’ll start with the route and arrangements themselves and then add some overall thoughts. There are two options, a 4-day and a 7-day walk. We took the 4-day route. We were a party of three: I went with my brother and friend.
Night 1: we arrived at Hereford Cathedral in the late afternoon, and were stayed in the Old Chapel, a lovely space in the cloisters. We went for a look around and were lucky enough to see the arrival of Our Lady of the Wye which was the centrepiece of Evening Prayer. There is an annual procession of the (rather unimpressive to be honest) statue from Hay down the Wye.
[Old Chapel]
I was lovely to spend some quiet time in the Cloisters and enjoy the dark descending. The camp beds provided were very narrow so I didn’t get a very good sleep.
[Cloisters]
Day 1/Night 2: after a lovely breakfast in Bill’s Cafe (in All Saints Church, a short way from the Cathedral) we set out on our walk to Tyberton, where we were to stay in St Mary’s. The walk was fine, following the footpaths out of the city then going across fields and through small settlements and farms, getting a glimpse of the Wye. The agriculture was principally recently ploughed fields, some orchards and fields full of bullocks. Once we got settled in the church we went to Hay on Wye for dinner at The Three Tuns.
[Tyberton]
Day 2/Night 3: to Dorstone, and this felt like a long stretch. None of the terrain was difficult but with crossing fields the map did need constant checking (I’ve put some thoughts on directions and logistics below). St Faith’s in Dorstone is a lovely place and has been very recently refurbished to a very high standard and has a local history project on site. It also has a well equipped modern kitchen with toilets in the church. Dinner was in the Pandy Inn where we enjoyed what we all agreed was a spectacular steak pie.
[Dorstone church]
Day 3/Night 4: to Madley (which we’d actually passed through on day 1) to stay at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Another long day and we also had quite a downpour which gave us the opportunity to take shelter and get our bearings as we’d gone a bit wrong. We stopped for an excellent lunch at St Peter’s in Peterchurch which had a thriving cafe.
[Madley]
Day 4: we continued to Hereford, which was pretty easy but it was nice to complete the loop and arrive back at the Cathedral where we saw the Mappi Mundi and the Chained Library. Hereford is a lovely cathedral and well worth a visit. On this part of the route we also dropped into the (Roman Catholic) Belmont Abbey which is stunning too, it reminded me a bit of Buckfastleigh.
And that was it: overall a very enjoyable time and we’ll be looking to do more of the same. A few thoughts on some aspects of the walk (and perhaps long distance walking in general):
- Directions are always available but these vary hugely in quality. In my experience some are helpful but most really aren’t and without the ability to handle an OS map with confidence these walks would not have been possible using only the directions. Perhaps a pointer for the future is that it’s best just to know your start and end points and come up with your own route via the OS. There were some waymarkers, which do provide confidence you’re on the right route, but on their own they are not worth much. I’ve long noticed that walking directions and guides often leave me wondering whether the writer is so familiar with the walk that they have forgotten they are writing for people who are tackling it for the first time. I’m not sure there’s much to be done about it, directions probably help some people but even though I wasn’t main map reader this time I do find maps to be just a lot clearer than text.
- As I grow older I enjoy the quieter parts of England more and more: of course Tavistock is hardly bright lights and the big city, but going away to spend time out of buildings and cars in places like rural Herefordshire makes life worthwhile. I found myself checking my phone less often than normal, which can only be a good thing.
- The Abbeydore Deanery is doing something right: the pilgrimage is attracting people who would perhaps never visit a church, and we saw a couple of great examples of how an ancient and beautiful church building can be upgraded and brought into modern use without losing its role as a centre of worship. The cafes in All Saints and at St Peter’s kept churches open and lively and anchored the worshipping community in its location. None of this comes cheap, and Heritage Lottery grant funding is probably key, but as the man said, if you want things to stay the same things have to change.
- Sleeping and waking up in churches is really lovely. We slept generally much better than we were expecting to, the camp beds and mattresses etc laid on were fine if not luxurious, and we always felt well provided for with tea, coffee, biscuits, cake etc. I am sure we will see more parts of the country offering services like this: it’s obviously not going to work everywhere but in quieter parts of the country where churches are struggling to maintain themselves the fee of £25 can only help. Toilets would prove a challenge for some (only one church had toilets inside) but this wasn’t too much of a problem for us.
A couple of sources:
Visit Herefordshire: https://www.visitherefordshire.co.uk/see-do/routes-road-trips/golden-valley-pilgrim-way
British Pilgrimage Trust: https://www.britishpilgrimage.org/portfolio/golden-valley-pilgrim-way