St Swithun's Way is named after Swithun, a 9th-century Bishop of Winchester, who is the patron saint of Winchester Cathedral. It was after his death that he became associated with a number of miracles and eventually he was declared a saint. The name of Swithun is best known today for a British weather prediction, which says that if it rains on St. Swithun's day, 15 July, it will rain for forty days.
Legend has it that, at his specific request, he was buried outside the Cathedral following his death, but was later moved inside (his head was taken to Canterbury Cathedral in the middle ages). The moving of his remains is said to have been marked by extremely heavy rainfall which is the likely to have been the birth of the story. Swithun is regarded as one of the saints to whom one should pray in the event of drought.
The St Swithun's Way is 34-mile (55 km) long-distance footpath in England from Winchester Cathedral to Farnham. For large stretches, the walk is in urban areas or on concrete roads/paths and it is not traditionally popular with rural hikers for this reason. It does however pass a number of interesting historical buildings and churches as it weaves through some picturesque villages on its way through Hampshire and into Surrey. We hope to cover the Way in the first two days of our walk before moving into the more rural stages of the Pilgrims Way.
Bob Brunt has written a useful guide book for those wanting to walk the St Swithun's Way, which is available from Amazon and all good book shops (you will probably have to order). He walked the path in the opposite direction (Farnham to Winchester) to that which we intend and breaks the walk into 3 stages giving the reader plenty of time to stop and view the churches on route as well as allowing enjoyment of some typical English public houses.
He has also produced a photo montage video of the walk (below), if you wish to take a closer look as well as getting an idea (in reverse) of what we will be seeing on the first two days of our walk.
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