I shall be following this ancient 3000km straight line from Skellig Michael in Ireland via St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, over to Mont St Michael on the Normandy-Brittany border, and through France and Italy with a detour to Rome, then onto Monte Sant'Angelo in the Gargano Peninsula, of Puglia.

This is to raise much-needed funds for the newly-formed charity, the Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome. As the newly-elected chair of its Board of Trustees, I take my duties seriously, and want to raise money for the CPR so that it can continue to champion the concept of pilgrimage to Rome. It has many exciting projects in the pipeline - such as a new walking route from central London to Canterbury, and the establishment a pilgrim hostel in Kent. These projects need funding.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving: they will never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate, saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

The Via Michaelis was not an old Roman road as the Via Francigena once was, but instead developed around the time of the collapse of the old Roman empire . It was the time of the early Christian church and the occupation of Italy by tribes from the east. Many of the older features of the Via Michaelis date back to the 5th Century, the start of the so-called Dark Ages. The principle architectural features of these are dedicated to the Archangel Michael.

The arrival of the Lombards and the creation of various new routes across the newly-occupied Italian peninsula, saw the rise of the dedication to Michael as well as the establishment of a the Michaelaic Cult across southern Europe. This is not very surprising in its own right but what is remarkable that by the 11th century a number of these astonishing and idiosyncratic structures weren't merely built but were also fully operational. For me the truly remarkable feature is that from an island off the west coast of Ireland down through Europe to modern day Israel, the key, and now Christian, sites are in a dead straight line!

It is clear that when taking into account the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, even the resourceful Roman engineers would have been pushed to create a straight line thousands of kilometres long! So what is going on? There are a few possible explanations. The most used is divine intervention. I struggle with this one, as most of the territories involved would have had different theological underpinnings, which might suggest their deities would not have necessarily collaborated with each other!

The more recent explanation is a ley line joining these sites. I've struggled with the very concept of ley lines and in the past dismissed them as an inter-war intellectual recourse to mysticism, whilst the rest of Europe was bent on destruction. I am now leaning towards a more scientific explanation that might give credence to a geological basis for some ley line thinking for example, the presence of magnetite. I am on shaky ground here. I'm neither a physicist nor a geologist but evidence is emerging to suggest that some sites are connected by lines invisible to the human eye yet felt by very many people, who often experience these places as spiritual, when in fact, it might be an iron isotope Fe304, and its associated alpha and gamma rays, affecting some folk quite unconsciously. 

It is common, perhaps more in woman than men, to feel a sudden and deep spiritual connection, when entering ancient sites or sacred spaces. The Fe304 theory does not detract from the profound human endeavour to create these amazing architectural examples dedicated to Michael but it might explain why they are in a straight line.

My quest is to explore for myself how it is that such sacred spaces have been dedicated to Michael, and begin the search for answers. My second purpose is to find a walkable and/or cycle-able route that would do justice to this linear and now forgotten pilgrim route. And third, and most important is to undertake the physical challenge of covering close to 3000 kms in order to raise funds for the marvellous Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome.