Templar Trail

[1] The Templar Trail pilgrimage route recreates, as much as possible given Middle Eastern conflict, the journey followed during the First Crusade in 1096 by Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine, and his 40,000 troops from France to capture the city of Jerusalem.

[3] On April 23, 2006, Brandon Wilson, an American author/explorer, and Émile, a retired 68-year-old French teacher, set off on an expedition to reinstate Godfrey's trail as a modern pilgrimage path and companion route to Spain's popular Camino de Santiago and the Via Francigena.

[4] Wilson, who had previously walked four variations of the Camino de Santiago across Spain,[5] the St. Olav’s Way across Norway and Sweden twice,[6][7] and the Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome,[8] wanted to pioneer and transform this historic way of war into a path of peace for future pilgrims to Jerusalem.

Upon their arrival in Belgrade on July 12, 2006, the Middle East erupted with the 2006 Hezbollah cross-border raid, which marked the start of the 2006 Lebanon War but they carried on to Istanbul where they would decide if, how, and where to continue.

With the outbreak of war in Syria/Israel/Lebanon, walking became more difficult and its success uncertain, but they persevered, due in part to the newspaper and TV coverage they received along the way, which helped spread their mission of peace.