I would highly recommend it to anybody, with a special nudge to anyone who loves rural England or Dickens and Chaucer. Give it a try – I wish you lots and lots of fun every step of the way.”
Chaucer and Dickens on the Canterbury Camino
These are a few words about my first XirCammini experience on a camino from Rochester to Canterbury in Kent in the UK. It is aimed mostly for those of you who might be reluctant to take that first, decisive step and venture out of their comfort zone, which is what I did. I riddled James with questions before deciding – all of which he had an answer for;) Suffice it to say I am not eighteen any more and couldn’t help wondering whether I had delayed my taste for adventure just a tad too long… I think it was knowing I had friendly people and a leader I could depend on with me on the journey that tipped the scales.
So I went, and I have fond memories, new friends, some renewed pride in my ability to soldier on when I’m running on empty, and a passport of stamps that will become more precious as time goes on. I learnt a number of things on the journey – that walking is much more fun with friends, that caminos can exceed your expectations, that Kent is absolutely beautiful, that the weather in England can be glorious (but when it rains it really does pour), that the beauty of nature is timeless, and most important of all, that it doesn’t pay to worry too much.
I loved the stays in the old country pubs, Baggins bookshop in Rochester (England’s largest second-hand bookshop), the Cornish pasty from the Cornish bakery (a few metres past the cathedral in Canterbury), the lovely, elderly people in the small churches on our way who were so welcoming, the border collies tending the sheep, the huge apple orchards, and being away from it all with just a backpack on my shoulders instead of the weight of the whole world.
I would highly recommend it to anybody, with a special nudge to anyone who loves rural England or Dickens and Chaucer. Give it a try – I wish you lots and lots of fun every step of the way.
Natalie Schembri 22 August 2025
Interested? Follow this link to join us in the summer of 2026: Chaucer and Dickens on the Canterbury Camino