Pilgrim Cello begins!

The journey really begins in two months’ time. Of the 42 English Anglican cathedrals, 40 have booked me in for a performance of the Meditation on the Seven Last Words. I admit to being quite pleased with that response. Once we’d got over the (quite a few variations on) “the week after would be more convenient”, I’ve ended up with 35 in sequence with the bike ride, and five that have to be done at a different time.

So this week I have driven 888 miles around four of them (well, you didn’t think I’d cycle that, did you??). That’s Salisbury in the picture. If I could have chosen one to be first, it wouldn’t have been Salisbury, tbh. I knew Salisbury would be quite an intimidating cathedral – one of the grandest, and with the tallest spire in England, etc., etc. Even after 700 years, it’s still the tallest spire in England.

But actually it’s not intimidating at all, in the way I thought. Perhaps because it was, almost uniquely among the medieval cathedrals, all built in one go, it has a beautiful coherence to it. Yes, the spire dominates the landscape, and inspires awe. But the whole place is very friendly, and buzzing with life. There must have been two dozen sash-uniformed volunteers when I was there, all smiling and welcoming every kind of visitor. Hundreds of visitors.

I sat down in the Trinity Chapel. I played the Meditation on the Seven Last Words. There wasn’t a large, static, audience. But hundreds of people passed by, and many of them paused for a while to engage with it all. You could hear the music, they told me afterwards, right through the cathedral.

I was, as I rather expected to be, overwhelmed. I don’t know what I will feel when I’ve played in 40 of these magnificent buildings. Exhausted, of course, yes. Blase? I hope not. Overwhelmed? Yes, I’m sure of that.

I drove on from Salisbury. I conducted a full day’s Lent Quiet Day in Bristol cathedral. I performed an improvised response in front of a magnificent painting by Chantal Meza, in her “Eden Bleeds” exhibition. And then two more Meditations, in Lichfield, and Peterborough.

The pilgrimage really has begun. The next thing is to get on the bike…