Cross Walk Holy Week Shrewsbury to Mid Wales
A Pilgrimage Walk 13 - 17 April 2025, Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday
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In this Jubilee Year of Hope when pilgrimage is being encouraged for us all, why not join us on a walking pilgrimage to our Easter Retreat at Cefn Lea? It is a wonderful opportunity to experience community and spend quiet time whilst enjoying beautiful countryside as we carry a cross towards Cefn Lea. We gather on Palm Sunday evening and will be staying in various church and village halls along the way so you'll need a camping mat/ bed and a sleeping bag. In several places the local Christian community welcomes us for a short service and refreshments. Pip is providing a support vehicle so you will not have to carry luggage and so that you can sit out a leg if you need to.
To book your place click the above image and scroll to the bottom of the eventbrite form for the Cross Walk bookings.
It would be WONDERFUL to have a bumper group of people in this Jubilee Year! It really is a great way to arrive for the celebration of Easter. You can also use it as a way of introducing a non-member who enjoys walking to the LCSB: for many of us going on a Cross Walk was our introduction to the Lay Community.
Pip Weitz shares her experience of the Cross Walks
Cross Walks have long been a tradition of the LCSB. I never walked in the early days of the 70s 80s and 90s, but I remember taking large saucepans of cooked food for an evening dinner on various occasions to walkers of all ages with blisters, exhaustion and joy. This was enough to put me off as I’m a little softy in the walking department.
Fast forward to April 2025 and you’ll find that the Cross Walk that we’re doing from Shrewsbury to Cefn Lea could be renamed as Cross Walk for Softies. Our Cross Walk is designed for easy walking, fun, camaraderie and fellowship, prayer and singing and very few blisters. We welcome people of all ages and if you are struggling you can pop into my van and enjoy being driven some of the way. Either way you will enjoy spectacular scenery as we meander between Herefordshire and Wales … down in valleys and up on the hills, sometimes on a road and often off-road on tracks.
We receive huge welcomes along the route from various parishes and groups who host us.
I love my time with the Cross Walk, and this year (April 2025) I will be supporting the walk again with my camper van and trailer. My van has eight seats all waiting to welcome on board walkers needing to give their legs a rest!
In other words you just walk as much as you want to walk or as little as you want to and spent as much time as you want in the van, chatting away or just being prayerful in the back.
Please do think of joining us: you won’t regret it.
Now for some facts: we usually sleep in church halls … so you’ll need a sleeping bag and some good shoes for walking, preferably waterproof.
We leave from Shrewsbury Abbey on Monday morning but will meet together on Palm Sunday late afternoon and share a meal with the Catholic parish before heading off to bed in the URC church hall! An example of things to come!
We recommend that you are able to walk at least five miles in a day unaided as a measure of the fitness that you will need.
We take it in turns to cook in the evening and usually shared a service with our hosting parish or group.
We arrive at Cefn Lea where the LCSB will spend the Easter Tridium on the Thursday afternoon…. If you are not staying for Easter we can drop you off at Newtown Station.
The cost is likely to be between £100 and £120, but we wouldn't want anyone to be excluded because they can't afford it. Also whilst all ages are welcome, if you are under 18 you will need to be accompanied by a family member.
This year we will make the stations of the cross the theme of our walking pilgrimage… please come and join us.
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"I warmly endorse the celebration of the Benedictine way of living the Gospel. Blogs, talks and podcasts will highlight the inspiration that St Benedict brings to people's lives today, while community events and times of prayer will enable active participation in this way of life. St Benedict says that guests are to be received with humanity and humility, two qualities that I hope will characterise the experience of those taking part in the week."
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Dom Christopher Jamison, Abbot President of the English Benedictine Congregation
