Cathedral Pilgrimage France
Sept / Oct 2026
To me, a Pilgrimage is a sacred journey, far from home and of deep significance. I expect to be taken outside my comfort zone and I’ve grown, over the years, to accept episodes of endurance because I understand and believe there will also be miracles to bring me awe and wonder. Travelling solo too, allows me to fully surrender to potential experiences.
In the first 48 hours I live both ends of that spectrum!!!
WHY CATHEDRALS?
Where did my curiosity spring from? My father took us to cathedrals in the 60’s and explained about ‘flying buttresses’ supporting the extraordinarily high walls, then I read all the alternative books in the 70’s like Bloodline of the Holy Grail and I even met Laurence Gardner! Then I read Holy Blood & Holy Grail and met Henry Lincoln years later in Rennes le Chateau…. It almost feels surreal now! By then I was hooked on earth mysteries and how religion has hijacked and hidden truths of ancient history. Over the years I’ve researched sacred geometry, telluric forces, colour therapy and the power of sound and can clearly see that cathedrals, embracing all these elements, are generators of healing energy. It surely can’t be that their sole purpose is worship? But, it’s something I needed to experience myself, hence my cathedral pilgrimages. So here I am and Chartres has been on my radar for 20 years!!
THE JOURNEY - A VERY DARK START!!
It doesn’t begin well. I have an 11 hour rail journey from Glasgow to Le Mans but the Eurostar runs late and I only have 10 mins allocated to change at Lille. That journey section becomes stressed as I research alternatives. The train slowly pulls into Lille (there are only 4 platforms) and a train is sitting across the platform!! I spot 'Le Mans' on the info and jump on, just as the doors shut! I can’t settle in this journey and have a certain foreboding already although I have no idea of the horror that awaits me.
'Le Beige' apartment appears in booking.com as modern and clean. I have instructions for key box entry and a phone number for emergencies. It’s very dark when I arrive at 9pm as I spot #40 but the code doesn’t work. A man emerges from the nearby bar and begins to help me. I spot another #40 in the yard but the key box is lying open and empty. I call the property owners – no answer. This goes on and on until I think my head and body is going to burst. A young woman is now helping me. I want to find a hotel and she knows of one closeby. I am so grateful and we begin a long walk and I’m already at exhaustion stage. The hotel is full as it’s a 24 hour truck rally weekend!! They don’t think I will find an empty room anywhere in the city. I’m now very worried and very stressed – the woman is patient and supportive and calls around hotels until she finds one with a room. She walks there with me and waits until she is sure I am safe. She is like a guardian angel and has been with me for 90mins phoning around and leading me along dark streets. I am humbled by this sacrifice that she has made for a stranger and it moves me deeply. I finally collapse on the bed.
The apartment has still not answered my messages and I must decide whether to let it go or spend time initiating a dispute!! My heart tells me to move on with my pilgrimage.
LE MANS CATHEDRAL
I start with Le Mans Cathedral because 25 years ago I read somewhere that there is a 5000 year old Menhir (standing stone), which stood atop the hill in Neolithic times, incorporated into the cathedral. This is not uncommon with cathedrals which were often intentionally placed on pagan sacred sites marked by a stone (or omphalos) which then becomes the heart of the cathedral because the land is already a place of power and my own opinion might be, that the sacred geometry and ratios of the cathedral augments that power?
I’m still in recovery from the previous night and a little fragile as I climb the hill – its Sunday morning and I am going to mass to experience the space, colour, sound and ritual. I arrive at the SW corner and there in front of me is the omphalos! It’s emitting a current and ancient energy. I spend time there, then ask a passerby for a photo and, as I stand there for my photo, tearful emotion arises from somewhere deep within me.
Inside is stunning – I’ve never seen such architecture reaching skywards. The nave is early (Romanesque) built in the 11th century and then the mighty Gothic apse was added in 13th century with breathtaking high stained glass windows supported by flying buttresses. The sun suddenly blazes and infuses the massive circular rose window in front of me such that it is almost blinding. The jewel-toned stained glass floods the nave with exquisite vibrant colour as the pipe organ fills the space with powerful sound. I am in Heaven!
I always imagine the medieval townsfolk in their humble dwellings entering this mighty space and how they would feel? I know there is ‘something’ massive which opens up in me as I sit and experience.
But I’m ready to leave Le Mans. It’s not a pretty town and I didn’t feel safe here – yes, it was a difficult time but the cathedral more than made up for the challenges. I get on the train to Chartres.
Le Mans 5000 year old Menhir
Le Mans Cathedral
CHARTRES TOWN
I have a traditional but chic apartment overlooking a tree lined square with the mighty Chartres cathedral just behind. Facing west the evening light filters in its large windows. I attend Sunday evening mass, but sit in a quiet rear area so I can relax rather than keep up with the standing, sitting and genuflecting!! There is a man sitting a few rows in front of me and I can hear him singing in tenor harmony to the chants – it is so beautiful that I move to sit behind him. His voice has a ‘quality’ and is so beautiful in its immersion. I would like to secretly record it for later and don’t - but now wish I had because it was one of those magic moments.
My Chartres Apartment
A 13th Century Stained Glass Window
The Organ Casing
Glorious Chartres Cathedral
.jpg)
I’m at the ticket office by 10am to make sure I get a ‘pilgrim ticket’ for The Crypt today!!! I then set off to explore 2 other cathedrals the first of which, to my dismay, is not open so I plunge down the hill to Eglise Sainte-Pierre and notice a hearse outside. I know what this means and yes, I am turned away. I walk away disappointed and then the organ strikes up!!!! I have occasionally held back when I’ve felt drawn to do something and truly regretted it so now I am braver in exploring opportunities so I turn around and ask the funeral director if I can quietly sit at the very back to hear the organ? He nods and ushers me quietly inside!
It’s a very small funeral with only 8 people and the Priest. I sit unobtrusively in this early gothic (12th century) masterpiece and feel so blessed. With no need to engage with the ceremony it gives me the chance to quietly meditate and explore my surroundings of space, light and sound. The stained glass windows are 14th century and I suddenly have an insight that the coloured light flooding through the holy figures depicted in each window must surely bring the imprint of energy from these images to those seated within? And the sacred geometry of the rose window feels like a mandala bringing in heavenly healing light?
But my biggest magic is that the organist remains playing after the funeral party have gone and later she tells me she is practicing for a performance! It feels like my own private concert because this is not a much-visited church. I sit mesmerised then move around, because I want to hear how the organ sounds from different positions. The large bass pipes are enclosed in a wooden casement at ground level in the west nave. I stand beside it listening then touch it, and feel the wood vibrating. Plucking up courage I face the wood and press my forehead, palms and front body to the wood. My hands pick up powerful vibrations. I press deeper and stay there for about five minutes then step back and with eyes closed I relax my body and it begins an incredible vibratory shaking. It's powerful and I know I'm entraining with the sound - I do it again!
The first cathedral is open when I retrace my path and thinking about my idea of the sun infused light energy I take a chair and sit directly in the light from a stained glass window with images of saints. I feel very calm and grounded. Nobody else enters so I move centrally and sing some Taize in the wonderful acoustics. But now its time for some Soupe d’Onion and a glass of wine!
CHARTRES CATHEDRAL
This cathedral is unique and very complex - it's so early and led the way in early gothic architecture, yet built in only 26 years! It's magical and mysterious - and almost overwhelming. I need time now to allow myself to integrate the experience.
But more 'sound magic happens!! The organ has been in restoration for 4 years due to complete later this year but it is now in the final stages and being 'revoiced' or tuned!! As I sit quietly notes issue forth in various tones with tapping and adjustments being made. Through this miracle I feel as if I am connectring to the birth of this new organ - and so I feel nourished though the sound.
CHARTES CRYPT
A small group of us descend the well worn steps into the crypt. I already know the tour is in French so I have done my own research and know what to lookout for. Lagging behind the group gives me a better space to ‘absorb’. It is the largest and oldest cathedral crypt in France dating back 1000+ years, if not further in the deepest space below the crypt. Here, ancient history and energies are tangible with walls covered in dark murals. A statue of ‘Our Lady of the Underworld’ or Black Madonna resides in a small chapel with a relic said to be a fragment of the Virgin Mary’s veil. An ancient sacred well extends 30 meters into the earth and I can see the water table reminding me that most cathedrals are built on top of water, it being one of the elements bringing power to a sacred point in the landscape. I’m not as affected with the crypt as I expected, but it pales into insignificance after my morning. Or maybe the constant talking of the guide blocked ‘experiencing’ !!