How the Pilgrimage Works
The Pilgrimage is demanding, but very well organised. Below are the practical essentials: what to bring, what is provided, how camps work, and how luggage is handled.
Necessary Equipment
Make sure to wear good walking shoes, and have a change of socks each day. You should bring a small backpack to be carried throughout the Pilgrimage, and a larger bag which will travel by lorry to the evening campsite.
Your small bag (carried all day)
- Food: lunch for the day and energy-giving snacks (dried fruit, salty nuts, etc.)
- Waterproof raingear (heavy rain possible!)
- Pullover
- Water bottle (water is supplied) and knife/fork/spoon
- Cup for tea/coffee/soup (contents supplied; bring tea bags if you want tea)
- Hat and sunscreen (highly recommended, I got sunburnt last year!)
- Latin Mass booklet (I will provide these booklets on Saturday morning)
- Plasters and simple medication (blisters, headaches, dehydration, etc.)
- Rosary
Your large bag (goes on the lorry)
- Food reserves (for remaining meals)
- Torch
- Warm jumper/garment (cold early mornings)
- Change of clothing (pullover, shirts, trousers, pants, vests, socks)
- Light shoes for the evening (good boots recommended for the walk)
- Toiletries
- Night-clothes
- Warm sleeping bag
- Mat for sleeping bag (the provided tents do not have ground sheets)
Optional, but recommended: power bank for phone charging, head torch for inside the tent, baby wipes.
Flags: You may bring a flag or banner, provided it is relevant to the Maltese chapter and/or Saint Paul. (Please avoid unrelated national flags, specific religious orders, etc., which can confuse the organisers when identifying chapters.)
Food During the Pilgrimage
The organisers provide bread and water at each stop during the walk and at the evening campsite. At the campsite, hot soup is available in the evenings and breakfast (coffee, hot chocolate, bread & jam) is available in the mornings.
Pilgrims should, however, bring their own food with them, enough for three cold picnic lunches and to supplement the evening soup. These should be prepared before the walk, as there are very few opportunities to buy anything during the Pilgrimage.
Assistance During the Pilgrimage
Permanent medical assistance is available from the doctors of the Order of Malta, who have an outdoor hospital at each campsite.
Throughout the walk, shuttle buses provide transport between the several stops, for pilgrims who can no longer walk.
The Evening Campsites
The campsite (bivouac) will be equipped with wash-basins (cold running water only), toilets, and some collective tents. The tents are single sex, and we will have spaces allocated for each pilgrim in the collective tents.
On arrival at the campsite, pilgrims retrieve their large bags, and make their way to the étrangers (Foreigners) area where the collective tents will be waiting and where there is space to set up their personal tents.
There are portaloos at the campsite, and also the opportunity to have a very simple shower (basins with cold running water are provided for this purpose). The womens’ showers are in a dedicated tent for modesty, the mens’ are outside.
Luggage
Pilgrims may leave their heavy luggage with the special Pilgrimage lorries’ teams as soon as they arrive at Saint-Sulpice in Paris on the Saturday morning. There will be a lorry marked “Étrangers”. The luggage will be transported by these special lorries to the evening campsite where they can be retrieved under a large sign marked “étrangers”.
Pilgrims should not forget to label their bags with their names and contact details and to attach red & black ribbons to them to identify them as “étrangers”. They are also advised to label all belongings with their name and address.
More recently, the organisers have sometimes divided the étrangers into subsections if there are many of them, in which case, our chapter will fall under the section called “Oceanus”.
Further Questions
If you have any further questions about the Pilgrimage, please feel free to reach out to myself or Abbé Zak over WhatsApp, or email me on:
luke (at) collins (dot) mt
(Replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .)