One woman’s incredible three-week prayer walk from Nasareth to Bethlehem - without leaving Wales

Wales is known for its beautiful scenery and its green and varied landscapes, but it’s not usually a great place for outdoor challenges in November.

But freezing temperatures and the threat of driving rain did not put off one Kington woman.

Lucy Mann pulled on her walking boots, outdoor jacket and lightweight tent and set out on an adventure to walk from Nasareth to Bethlehem, to reflect on a similar journey made by Jesus’ parents more than 2,000 years ago.

Nazareth in Israel has more than 70,000 residents, mainly Arab, of whom 69 per cent are Muslim and 31 per cent are Christian. Nasareth in Gwynedd is a tiny hamlet with a post office that is indicated by a sign on the wall of a house.

As of 2017 Bethlehem in Palestine had a population of 28,591.

Bethlehem in Carmarthenshire has fewer than 200 residents, a number which is boosted by visitors in December, eager to get their postmarks from Bethlehem on their Christmas cards.

Lucy went out to the Holy Land in May, for a course on Peace and Justice and experienced the hospitality of the Palestinian people so she undertook the walk in solidarity with Palestinian Christians.

She planned to complete the walk between November 1 – what would have been her son Ben’s 25^th birthday - and three weeks later, her own birthday.

Ben’s last mountain walk in Wales was a wintry one in March 2008 at the age of seven, just five months after he was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Lucy’s walk was not meant to be a mountain walk but it was a faith walk – each day involved walking, talking and praying that there would be somewhere to stay at night rather than her tent, which she only used on her first night just outside Nasareth.

Along the way she passed a number of redundant chapels and was surprised to find a Christian bakery in Porthmadog, which donated generously.

She also encountered the kindness of many strangers en route, whether topping up her drinking water, sharing local knowledge and pointing the way or offering places to stay and food at night.

A delay on the road to Harlech as Lucy tried to re-direct sheep to their field meant light was fading and she needed shelter.

“How do you decide which door to knock on to find out if there is a stable to sleep in? Follow a star of course. And who knew a straw bed could be so comfortable? Helping to feed 28 calves in the barn where the farmer allowed me to stay was a reasonable fee for bed without the breakfast,” she said.

From Harlech she caught a train to Barmouth – the first donkey ride of the journey in the same way as it is believed pregnant Mary was carried by donkey or mule for at least part of her journey.

“We can be pretty sure Mary didn’t have fish and chips in the sunshine at the seaside in Wales, although the Bible says there was plenty of fish and bread,” Lucy said.

From Machynlleth, to Treddol, Ceredigion and then Taliesin where Lucy knocked on the door of a house displaying a Palestine flag and it led her into another home of hospitality.

“The crazy way things were working out on this adventure brought me into contact with a woman in the café who raises money for Embrace the Middle East, a charity close to my heart, my host in Taliesin who edits a journal called Wort and had written about the Palestinian Heirloom Seed Library in the West Bank village of Battir that I had visited in May 2025, and the lovely couple who shared their food with me and gave me a map for the next part of my journey. This is what I call a prayer walk – God was showing me where to go and who to talk to.”

Sometimes along the way, as well as encounters with friendly and generous people, Lucy enjoyed the company of a friend and walker Sherpa Dave, who accompanied her for part of her mammoth walk.

Lucy also learned what a small world it can be, meeting and being offered food and place to stay by a woman called Jane, whose husband Arfon was related to someone who has horses in Eardisley near Kington. Arfon was born in Hereford hospital, lived in Letton and went to school in Kinnersley – just a few miles from Lucy’s primary school in Almeley. Her big adventure had brought her to the home of a neighbour’s cousin.

By the way of Sarn Helen to Ffarmers and Cwmdu, Lucy passed chapels called Bethlehem and Jerusalem and then found Salem Baptist Chapel in Pumsaint with an outside baptistery in the graveyard.

Lucy said: “There is no big finish to this adventure; it's all about the journey. I walked on through the fabulous scenery of Mid Wales, past some actual donkeys, who did not seem keen to accompany me to Bethlehem.”

Sherpa Dave joined Lucy for her final stretch to her destination and it was a silent night in Llandeilo; the weather was calm and bright as Lucy and David finally arrived in Bethlehem, Carmarthenshire.

“Unlike the noisy city of Bethlehem, Palestine this little village was barely awake; the pop-up post office that would take over the hall in December had not yet opened and few people were out walking. It was my birthday and I had made it. What was left but to thank God and return home?

“This has been an adventure and a half, a Mary and Joseph walk to Bethlehem.

“I did thank God for my protection and I was also glad that I was not nine months pregnant, with a jealous King Herod at my heels to harm my baby."

Lucy plans to organise a talk about her walk in Kington in the new year.