Portsmouth Pastor Completes 600-Mile Pilgrimage from Dover to Land’s End
A Portsmouth pastor has completed an extraordinary month-long pilgrimage of around 600 miles, walking, running, and in the ending hobbling, from Dover to Land’s End to pray for blessings and peace over the south coast and the nation, and to share God’s love with as many people as possible.
Pastor Daniel Paul Harman, Lead Pastor of City Life Church Portsmouth (85 Tangier Road, Baffins) set out on 31st July to Dover and finished at Lands End on the morning of 1st September.
The journey formed part of a sabbatical after 27 years of pastoral ministry in the city — 18 of them at City Life Church, a lively, vibrant and growing Non-denominational congregation, whose roots stretch back to 1640, when believers first gathered in a cottage in Old Portsmouth to pray, worship and read the Bible.
Daniel has also served twice as chaplain to the Lord Mayor.
Along the way he met countless people, visited churches, an abbey, pubs, coffee shops and local businesses, and experienced every kind of terrain and weather the south coast could throw at him: blisters, scrapes and stings, jumping over streams (sometimes unsuccessfully), climbing over barbed-wire fences and thorny hedges, navigating thick forests, rugged coastlines and fields of curious cows (“hoping there’s no bull present!!”).
Remarkably, he only pre-booked three hotels, two campsites and one Airbnb. The vast majority of nights were spent in the homes of people — many of whom he had never met before — who reached out via Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn offering hospitality.
“There were many twists and turns,” he said, “but the kindness of strangers and the conversations along the way made it unforgettable. The goal was simply to pray blessing and peace over the south coast and the nation, and to share God’s love wherever I went.”
"Many days i didn't know where I was staying that evening, then Id meet someone, or Id get a txt, call, email or message on social media offering me free accomodation, and often pick up too!"
"The whole experience has significantly boosted my faith and love for the southcoast!"
Pastor Daniel Paul Harman also serves on the steering team of the One Body churches unity group
To see a snippet of some of the photos, videos, highlights and stories (there's a couple of VERY funny ones at the beginning!) Visit the Facebook page via Linktr.ee/danielharman
There is posts on other platforms such as Instagram, but Facebook has the most.