Like a Tramp, Like a Pilgrim: On Foot, Across Europe to Rome

Watching in disbelief as his computer was struck by lightning in 2007, Harry Bucknall had no idea that the subsequent trail of events would lead him to Rome – five years later, on foot. Following the Via Francigena, the ancient pilgrim path that dates back nearly two thousand years, Harry walks through England, France, Switzerland and Italy weaving a historical tapestry liberally coloured with tales of angels and saints, emperors and kings and war and revolution. He uncovers a little known route that leads him through vineyards and villages, towns and cities and over rivers and mountains to the heart of the Eternal City, Saint Peter's Basilica. Like A Tramp, Like A Pilgrim is a joyous journey of Elizabethan proportion filled with anecdote, adventure and mishap as Harry encounters the changing faces of a landscape suffused with history; yet his journey is perhaps most enriched by the extraordinary stories of those he meets - fellow pilgrims and locals alike - along the way.