A ‘new’ walking pilgrimage: performance and meaning on the North Wales Pilgrim’s Way

Drawing on discussions of pilgrimage as a landscape-based practice, this paper explores understandings and experiences of the recently developed North Wales Pilgrim’s Way (Taith Pererin Gogledd Cymru). A focus on this new trail considers how a walking pilgrimage combines physical activity, personal and spiritual encounters, and natural and spiritual landscapes Accounts of pilgrim experiences and photographs demonstrate how journeys on the North Wales Pilgrim’s Way enable participants to forge connections with the natural environment and local heritage, as well as the emotional-spiritual aspects of their lives. The paper finds that meaning is generated by participants in performing the path, highlighting the distinct role of walking pilgrimages in human-landscape interactions.