00:00Laces tied and maps at the ready, this group of walkers are taking on Kent's Augustine
00:07Camino, one of the county's newest pilgrimage routes, all to raise money for children across
00:13the world. Pilgrimages are walks to significant religious or spiritual places and Kent is
00:20home to many. The group starts right here at Rochester Cathedral and this is where they
00:25receive the pilgrim's blessing, a short prayer wishing them well along the way, alongside
00:30receiving their first pilgrim stamps of the journey. Now these stamps are a bit like passport
00:36stamps so they mark important places of religious significance that the group will visit along
00:42the way. May you reach your destination as safety, your spirits renewed and your faith
00:49and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
00:55The group are walking to raise money for Mary's Meals, a charity which gives hot meals to over
01:01three million school children around the world each day. Walking 66 miles across seven days,
01:09this isn't far off the distance many children have to walk each week just to get to school
01:15and back. Many of the children that we feed, they're walking for a long way each day, at
01:22least an hour to school many of them, sometimes two hours to school, so we're really walking
01:27in sympathy with them. The pilgrimage ends over in Ramsgate at the shrine of the first ever
01:33Archbishop of Canterbury and the route was actually designed by a local Kent walker. It took about two
01:40years to get the route together. I decided rather than using established footpaths, I cherry picked
01:48all the best places between Rochester and Ramsgate that I could find, so all the most beautiful churches,
01:56the prettiest villages. And the route has brought together people from all over the country,
02:01including Stephen who came from Blackburn. Learning about how St. Augustine just came to his
02:07shores and brought Christianity here really appealed to me. That and I've never been to Kent before,
02:13it's nice to come and see some beautiful parts of England I've never seen before. Setting off with
02:18smiles on their faces, the group hope that feeding their souls will also help to feed children across
02:25the world. Sophie Denny for KMTV in Rochester.
