The Via Francigena
The Via Francigena is an ancient pilgrim route, one of many that cross Europe. In 990 Archbishop Sigeric travelled this route to Rome to receive his Pallium or robes of office. The stops on his return journey were recorded in a manuscript that is now in the British Library.
The modern route is based on the journey of Sigeric, with some modern reinterpretation to avoid hazards and make life a little easier for the traveller. The official route is 2,200 km long, is split into 104 stages and takes around 4 months to complete. The walk can be tackled in sections with a few hundred people each year walking the entire route in one go. Sigeric walked to Rome, stayed a few days then walked back.
When to go
The main consideration for travellers is to ensure that they arrive at the Great Saint Bernard Pass when it is passable. The pass is clear of snow from mid-June to mid-September which means that pilgrims undertaking the walk all at once will start sometime between early May and mid-July.
Pilgrim Passports
Pilgrims keep a record of their journey by collecting stamps from the places they visit or stay on their journey. Tourist Information offices and churches on the route happily stamp the passports of pilgrims which are available from the official Via Francigena website.
The Via Francigena Guide and App
An official guidebook and app for iPhone and Android are available from the Via Francigena website. The app includes detailed maps of each stage of the route.
Our Via
We intend to follow the official route as much as possible, but our priority is to take our time and enjoy ourselves. If that means a detour to something interesting off-route or an extra day here and there, that's fine. If we have an unbroken trail of footsteps from Calais to Rome we will consider ourselves pilgims.
Our route does not include walking from Canterbury to Dover so will be around 2 days and 30km short. We will be walking for 103 days with 9 rest days. The average distance per day is just over 20km with a longest day of 39km. The distance per day is generally governed by the availability of accommodation.
Covid-19
The Covid-19 emergency means some changes to our original plan:
Our journey no longer starts in the UK. We may 'jump back' to do that stage if the position changes.
We are carrying a tent in case hotels and hostels are closed or have limited capacity.
It is not yet clear what rules may be in place for travel to Switzerland.