Seeking Gold
The Launch of 'Seeking Gold', a Pilgrimage in Dorset devised by Lavender Buckland and championed by the Bishop of Sherborne, Dr Graham Kings. The Revd James Stephenson, a world-class athlete, spent his first day as a priest swimming, cycling and running almost 100 miles, visiting all ten churches en route.
01. Starting the Day
01. Starting the Day with Lavender Buckland, who devised the Pilgriamge, and the Bishop of Sherborne, Dr Graham Kings. St Wite's, despite its isolation, has a church cafe that attracts up to 70 visitors a day.
01. Starting the Day with Lavender Buckland, who devised the Pilgriamge, and the Bishop of Sherborne, Dr Graham Kings. St Wite's, despite its isolation, has a church cafe that attracts up to 70 visitors a day.
01. Starting the Day with Lavender Buckland, who devised the Pilgriamge, and the Bishop of Sherborne, Dr Graham Kings. St Wite's, despite its isolation, has a church cafe that attracts up to 70 visitors a day.
02. St Wite's Shrine
03. The Revd James Stephenson arrives just in time for the start of the service after a quick swim
05. Setting off from St Wite's, Whitchurch Canonicorum
06. Chideock
07. Abbotsbury
08. Tolpuddle
09. Tolpuddle Chapel
11. Interviewing tourists at Moreton
13. Scale model at Bere Regis
14. Wimborne Minster, complete with Town Crier!
15. St Martins-in-the-Walls, Wareham. Nearly the end of the cycle leg...
...time for a snack!
17. Studland: just time for a photo and a hello to the priest!
20. Swanage Bay View Caravan Park: quick change into running gear and then the final leg to St Aldhelm's Head...
21. James arriving at St Aldhelm's Chapel. Photo by the Revd Gaynor Burrett
22. The Big Finish! Photo by ?
The Revd Gaynor Burrett descibes St Aldhelm's Chapel as a place where the veil between this world and the spiritual realm is thinner than usual, and it is possible to sense the other... a "thin place".