The Bishop of St Germans, The Right Reverend Dr Chris Goldsmith, is to embark upon a Cornish pilgrimage of more than 100 miles – and is urging people to join him.

Bishop Chris will set off from St Germans on Friday, March 31, and will walk cross-country distances of up to 12.5 miles a day on ancient pilgrimage routes that will take him the length and breadth of Cornwall via various churches and sacred sites to St Michael’s Mount, 13 days later.

The bishop will be walking the Cornish Celtic Way, a journey that criss-crosses Cornwall and takes in St Michael’s Way, (Lelant to Marazion), and the Saints’ Way, (Fowey to Padstow), as well as numerous other historic, holy sites.

Bishop Chris will lead the service at St Piran’s Oratory on Sunday, April 9, at 4pm. Otherwise he will be popping into churches along the way in the hope of meeting local worshippers, members of the clergy and stopping for a prayer and a quick cup of tea.

The route he will follow has been designed by the Rev Nigel Marns who, as well as being the Rector of the Mounts Bay United Benefice, also spends a day a week working as the pilgrimage facilitator for the Diocese of Truro.

Bishop Chris is no stranger to pilgrimage. He has previously walked 600 miles over a five-week period on the Camino de Santiago in France and northern Spain.

He said: ’Pilgrimage may be nothing new but it is once again attracting increasing numbers of people within the Christian Church and beyond.

’Ancient pilgrimage routes are being rediscovered and new ones are being created across our land. The modern world is rediscovering this ancient wisdom and rebranding it as mindfulness.

’For me, pilgrimage is an experience of body, and mind and spirit. As human beings we are all of these things, and more besides. So we feel most alive and most ourselves when each different aspect of us is engaged in an activity. That for me is what pilgrimage can be.’