Walking the Walk
22 April 2026
Keen walkers are being sought to test parts of a new pilgrimage route designed by a Past President of the Methodist Conference and launched in honour of a pioneering abolitionist.
80-mile Equiano Way is due to open next March and runs from Sheffield to Hull via the Epworth Old Rectory. The Revd Dr Inderjit Bhogal, Past President of the Methodist Conference, and Sarah Maltby, the manager of Epworth Old Rectory, are asking walkers to scope sections of the route ahead of its opening. The trail currently passes through different communities, urban landscapes and follows the Humber estuary.
The supporting signage, leaflets and online content aims to encourage engagement, discussion and spiritual reflection along the way about our hidden histories and the injustices that echo down the centuries as a result.
Olaudah Equiano (aka Gustavus Vassa, c.1745–1797) was born a prince in Nigeria in the 18th century, but was enslaved and sold into the transatlantic traffic in enslaved African people.
He eventually bought his own freedom, wrote his story and walked and worked around Britain and many parts of the world as a well-known campaigner for the abolition of slavery. It is said that John Wesley was reading his story on his deathbed and that may have inspired Wesley’s last known letter, which was to encourage abolitionist, William Wilberforce.
The Revd Dr Inderjit Bhogal said: “What are the stories, rarely given attention within, in the reparations debate?
“On his deathbed John Wesley was reading the book by Olaudah Equiano, an enslaved prince who by his own learning and enterprise bought his own freedom. Equiano wrote a book to share his story and travelled widely to promote it and expose the scandal of the transatlantic slave trade. Wesley read the book to inform himself, and six days before he died he wrote a letter to William Wilberforce, urging him to sustain his campaign to abolish the slave trade. Wilberforce was inspired by Equiano.
“This pilgrimage is an invitation to let Equiano tell you his story as you walk and learn and reflect, and to connect with other remarkable stories held in the route, between Sheffield and Hull, via Epworth.
“The route is ready and will be launched in 2027.
“We are now looking for keen walkers who are prepared to tread part of the route to check it out and help write it up for others.
“The details of the route and to register support are available in the links below.
“The stories held in this pilgrimage are a call to action for justice.”
To find out more, view the proposed route and discover how you can be part of establishing this unusual, new pilgrimage route, visit: