"I usually receive puzzled looks when I casually mention that I walked almost all of 121.8 miles during Holy Week – from Nottingham to Walsingham, I add – which does nothing to banish the bemusement of my listeners. Few people seem to be aware of Student Cross, which takes place every Easter and involves some 200-300 young (mostly!) pilgrims from all over the country. This year I decided to join the Northern Leg along with five others from Lancaster University, and it was an experience that was altogether wonderful, moving, exhausting, painful, refreshing and something I will definitely undertake again.

"We met for the first time in Keyworth, just outside Nottingham, where – like most nights – we slept in our sleeping bags on the floor of a local church hall. Not that we did much sleeping (a pattern also repeated throughout the week) – our evenings were spent entertaining the locals in the pubs. Northern Leg are blessed with a variety of gifted musicians – guitars, recorders, flutes, violins, violas and drums abounded – and exceptional singers. As each song-filled evening drew to a close we would retire to our place of sleep to chatter into the night or, for some of us, to indulge in the appreciation of quality Single Malt Whiskey. Considering how little sleep we had that week, it was really quite a miracle we made it to Walsingham each on our own two legs.

"It was not all jollity, however. Northern Leg are unique in that they do not usually have an appointed Chaplain; instead, as we are informed at our first meeting, we have a special responsibility to be ‘chaplains’ to one another – to listen to, support and pray with and for each other. Indeed, we would never have made it without the support of one another – and the generous hospitality of the parishioners who accommodated and fed us along the way. Together with the liturgy carefully prepared and planned for each day – which varied from quiet reflections to Communion services and mass, to joyful celebrations of song – I found it a deeply spiritual experience. Maundy Thursday’s ‘washing of the feet’ meant so much more – it was pure heaven to have your tired, blistered, aching feet gently and lovingly bathed, and a real sacrifice on the part of the leaders to perform this service after a long and wearying day.

"Each day began with a cup of tea to lure buried heads out of sleeping bags, at about 7am, after which there was a scramble to get washed and dressed and stuff clothes and sleeping bags into rucksacks (which thankfully, we didn’t have to carry – these went in the support cars). We usually set off by about 9am, after breakfast and morning liturgy, and walked until about 6 or 7pm, stopping for lunch and for ‘stations’ along the way. In a sense, the whole journey was like a ‘station of the cross’, and at these miniature ‘stations’ we halted and reminded ourselves of what we were taking part in and why. Some shared thoughts and experiences close to their hearts, and I felt humbled to realise that we all carry our own crosses in our daily lives, even (sometimes especially) those who seem to be the most ‘put together’.

"Despite all the lively songs that were sung and issues ranging from the trivial to the profound debated as we trudged - or hobbled - along, there was plenty of time for thinking; thinking of how nothing seemed to matter except feet, food and sleep! We strode across the Fens, walked between farms on either side and faced the stares of sheep that seemed never to have seen human beings before, and remarked on the strange habits of swans in sitting in the middle of spacious fields. Cares and worries were blown away on the wind, and we found time to gaze with awe and wonder at the beauty, and the power, of God's creation. It was an incredible experience that I'd recommend all young people to do (and those young-at-heart, if they have a mind to) at least once."

Find out more: Northern Leg website