Midhurst’s ‘biker vicar’ rides across Sussex to visit 100 churches

Rev. Marcus Collie, Vicar of Midhurst and Rector of All Hallows in Woolbeding, covered the county on his newly acquired Suzuki V-Strom to raise funds for the Sussex Historic Churches Trust.

The pilgrimage began at St Mary’s in Rye on August 24 and ended at Chichester Cathedral on August 28, taking Marcus from one end of the county to the other.

It was his own twist on Ride + Stride, an annual fundraising event for Sussex churches that is traditionally completed on foot or by bicycle. This year’s official Ride + Stride takes place on September 12.

“Ride + Stride is the major fundraiser for the Sussex Historic Churches Trust, which is a charity that provides grants to churches of every denomination,” Marcus explained.

“Our church buildings throughout the nation are a part of our heritage - they’re a part of our history.”

Marcus has supported Ride + Stride through the churches he serves for more than 20 years, usually joining the smaller groups who visit around 10 churches in their local area.

But with this year’s event falling while he is away, Marcus decided to take on a different challenge.

“I just thought, what would a Ride + Stride pilgrimage look like on a motorbike?” he said.

“There are 468 churches across the Diocese of Chichester, so that would have taken me a month. I wondered what could be challenging but achievable, and worked out that I could do 100 churches - roughly 20 a day.”

The journey began with a mixture of excitement and nerves. Although the weather forecast was looking promising, Marcus was entering largely unfamiliar territory and had relied on technology to plan his route - something he says is not always reliable.

“The first day was primarily one of excitement and looking forward,” he said. “But there was also a sense of trepidation - I was entering the unknown, not quite sure if my preparations were going to be satisfactory.”

According to Marcus, the pilgrimage proved challenging in different ways. Riding for long periods meant adapting to changing weather and road conditions, while nights were spent in a variety of locations.

On the third day, he ended up at St Giles in Shermanbury, where the owner of the surrounding estate had allowed him to camp. That night, a thunderstorm rolled in.

“So there I am in a tent on my own, in the middle of a wood miles from anywhere,” Marcus recalled. “The heavens open and I’m there in a thunderstorm - there was lightning, thunder. I felt very small, very vulnerable and very alone.”

For a moment, he questioned his decision to undertake the endeavour.

“There was a moment where I thought: ‘Oh, what am I doing? You silly sausage. Why don’t you just go home?’ But of course I didn’t - you have to work through it.”

For Marcus, those difficult moments are part of a pilgrimage’s purpose.

“Ride + Stride events are all underpinned by an understanding of pilgrimage,” he explained. “Any good pilgrimage will have periods of time where the going is hard. If the going is easy all of the time, it’s not really achieving what a pilgrimage should.

“If you have rain and cold and wet, and you have that day where you’re just feeling a bit miserable because it’s proving to be hard work, that’s actually part of the journey.”

The motorbike itself added another dimension to the pilgrimage. Marcus says riding a motorcycle makes a person acutely aware of the environment around them.

“Riding a motorbike, it doesn’t matter how skilled you are, is a visceral experience in vulnerability.

“You are so aware of the road conditions. In a car, a pothole is an inconvenience. On a bike, it’s a death trap.”

That awareness meant slowing down and taking extra care when the weather and road conditions deteriorated.

“On a bike, you’re very aware of the environment you’re travelling in. It’s unlike in a car, where you’re in a cocoon and travel through the environment. On a bike, you’re part of it.”

But for Marcus, the most memorable part of the experience was not the riding - it was the welcome he received along the way.

At some churches, parishioners were waiting for him to arrive, ringing the bells and making sure he had food and drink. Others went further, offering accommodation, dinner and somewhere to shower.

Remembering his time in Piddinghoe, Marcus said: “They gave me a warm bed and a roof over my head for the night. It was glorious and generous and they didn’t have to do it.”

As a vicar arriving at a church on a motorbike, he also encountered plenty of curious looks.

“In many of the churches where people didn’t know I ride a motorbike, they’d look at me quizzically and think: ‘What on earth is going on here?’” he recalled.

“A lot of the people in my hometown, in Midhurst, have got used to it by now. Some people think it’s kind of cool, because it is a bit of a novelty.”

Marcus says his motorbike has also given him a way of connecting with communities he might not otherwise encounter, including a Christian motorcycling group.

“There are many more biker vicars than you might actually imagine,” he added, explaining that he knows three in his local area.

After five days, 100 churches and a memorable night in a thunderstorm, Marcus finally arrived at Chichester Cathedral for evensong on August 28.

Now he hopes others will pursue their own pilgrimage when Ride + Stride officially takes place on September 12.

“If you want to get involved, contact your local church and find out what’s happening,” he said. “And people can always take part by themselves.”