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An Invitation to Join the 2025 Deerfield Valley Pilgrimage
Wilmington, VT, June 2025
Dear Friends,
This year’s fourth annual Deerfield Valley Pilgrimage Walk is scheduled for September 20-21. Attached is a poster, and more information is on our website www.vermontpilgrim.org. (You can register there.) We hope to see you on the pilgrimage walk in the beautiful Vermont countryside this fall, either as a walker or a volunteer.
Recently, when reflecting upon the Deerfield Valley Pilgrimage Walk experience over the three years of its existence, an old tune popped into my head: “The Best Things in Life are Free.” (You may remember the lyrics: “The moon belongs to everyone/The best things in life are free./ The stars belong to everyone/They gleam there for you and for me” etc)
The song would make a good theme for a pilgrimage or any other long walk; long walks are among the best things in life, and they are free. Why would one call walking, and walking on a pilgrimage, “one of the best things in life?” During the three previous years of the pilgrimage, we received various testimonies about the experience. Here are comments from three people:
- Person 1: “An incredible experience from the warm welcome, uplifting spiritual experience, the non-judgmental camaraderie of our fellow pilgrims, the beauty of Vermont during the autumn. . . “
- Person 2: “A quick note of gratitude. . . I benefited so much in a variety of ways – I am grateful.” (Then twelve specific sources of gratitude are listed. ) “I could go on and on. You all have provided an opportunity for myself (and others, I am sure) to step away from the grind to commune with the countenance of God in so many ways. . .”
- Person 3: “I hope you realize how much it all meant to me, and to others, on so many levels. Safety, respect for each person’s spiritual journey, comfort, and goodwill. “
It is worth noting that pilgrimage is not just for the religious; it is for everyone. A repeat pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago, Leonard Vance, in his book An Atheist on the Camino, reports that he has experienced such remarkable physical and spiritual benefits from the pilgrimage that he describes it as “transformative.” (Vance even discovered an inner voice that gives him important counsel and a feeling of peace, although he remains, he says, an atheist.) He now goes on pilgrimages whenever he can, but the pilgrimage feeling remains with him all the time.
Henry David Thoreau wrote in Walking, “I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend four hours a day at least—and it is commonly more than that—sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements.”
A more contemporary view of the benefits of walking is provided by Shane O’Mara, Professor of Experimental Brain Research at the University of Dublin. In his book “In Praise of Walking: The new science of how we walk and why it’s good for us,” he discusses the scientific research establishing the benefits of walking for the heart, the digestion, and our
mental state. Walking has even been shown to arrest cognitive decline. He writes, “Our brains and bodies will be better for it; our moods, clarity of thought, our creativity, our connectedness to our social, urban and natural worlds will all be better for it.”
O’Mara doesn’t think it is necessary to walk as much as Thoreau did: a couple of miles more than you usually do is effective. I am grateful to modern science, as I could never fit four hours a day of walking like Thoreau did into my schedule. The goal on my smartwatch is 10,000 steps (about five miles) per day, but I usually do 6,000-8,000, which means a half hour walk on top of normal daily movement, and that number drops to about 4,000 or even lower if it’s raining and I don’t go out. Still, this level of activity feels good, keeps arthritis mostly at bay, and is ample training to handle easily our two-day pilgrimage.
The many volunteers who transport, organize, cater food, and otherwise support the walkers partake equally in the spiritual uplift and the enjoyment of nature. For them, too, it is a deeply meaningful experience. Dogs also seem to enjoy it.
Please join us this September. You would be most welcome.
Yours truly,
Lincoln
Lincoln Rathnam, for the Organizing Committee
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