A beautiful flight, albeit a few hours late in Papua New Guinea style of ‘expect the unexpected’; the pilgrims had magnificent views of this beautiful country set in the South Pacific Ocean at latitude 5 degrees . West New Britain is a tropical island to the east of the mainland of PNG set between the Solomon Sea and the Bismarck Sea.
As a tropical island the rainforests can be seen from the photo and more recent palm oil plantations. The volcanic hills are seen in the distance as PNG lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire and small volcanoes are often smoking!
Travel is still hard for many people. Those who do travel, use the few tarmac roads, boats and canoes, with flying being a possibility for some.
On Maundy Thursday our benefice in rural Norfolk has two groups of pilgrims walking through on their way to Walsingham, an ancient site of pilgrimage. There they join the other groups, called legs, to take part in worship at Easter.
On Maundy Thursday we have two legs of the Pilgrim Cross who stop for refreshments and rest on their walk to The Shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham(Anglican).
In a tiny and beautfiul corner of West Norfolk lies one of our benefice churches, St Mary’s East Walton. Every year on Palm Sunday we gather at the farm, and walk behind the donkeys Jimmy and Timmy into church.