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Easter Cross
Update February 2013: Easter Cross
2013 now has only limited places left.
Easter Cross is the solution for
anyone who cannot take the whole week off before Easter, for example
due to work or study commitments, but who would like to join Student
Cross for one day. Easter Cross starts its pilgrimage on Good
Friday, so is ideal for anyone short of the time or the energy to
complete a whole week's walk.
Easter Cross has fewer students than other legs and the average age
is substantially higher than other legs. We often have walkers from
their 20's through to their 70's. As you could probably guess,
Easter Cross has a very strong core of pilgrims who have been
involved with Student Cross for many years. A number have walked for
20-30 years or more. Some younger pilgrims (though generally
ex-students) have joined in recent years.
Having said all of this, we still consider ourselves to be a Student
Cross leg like any other - just shorter and a bit different. If you are new to Student Cross but
you know that you can only make the end of the week, we would highly
recommend giving Easter Cross a go.
Our route
We meet on the evening of Maundy
Thursday in Walsingham. On Good Friday we walk 12 miles from North
Elmham to the Slipper chapel outside Walsingham. The route is along
minor roads to Great Ryburgh, where there is a lunch stop, then
through Little Snoring and Great Snoring to the Slipper Chapel.
Once in Walsingham, we participate in the celebration of Our Lord's
Passion and Resurrection along with the rest of Student Cross.
Easter Cross participants make their own accommodation arrangements,
usually either in the RC Pilgrim Bureau or in B&Bs in the village.
Walsingham is small enough that it makes little difference where you
stay.
To
book for Easter Cross 2013 please
download an application form (pdf)
For more details about Easter Cross
2013 please
contact the leg secretary
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Our history
Easter Cross started in 1957 and was
originally known as 'Graduate Cross' as it was intended that it
would be a base for ex-students who worked and were therefore unable
to take the whole week off to walk. The very first Graduate Cross
started from Norwich and involved a walk of 30 miles in a single
day. They arrived late, though just in time for the washing of the
feet at the Good Friday Service. The venture was judged a success
though most agreed that the length of the walk was foolhardy.
Subsequently, the start-point was moved to East Dereham (18 miles
from Walsingham) and Graduate or Easter Cross walked from there for
the next 30 years.
In 1998, due to the increasing age of many pilgrims, the route was
shortened to start from North Elmham (12 miles from Walsingham) and
a new, lighter cross was made.
That year, the original cross, one of the oldest on Student Cross,
was offered and accepted by the pilgrimage as a whole and carried
for part of the week by each leg. This 'Celebration' cross can now
be seen in the grounds of the Slipper Chapel in the RC shrine at
Walsingham, suitably inscribed as a permanent memorial to the first
50 years of Student Cross.
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