A PRIEST who completed the 192-mile Coast to Coast walk has said that, while undertaking the challenge, he was “more reliant on Jesus in a different way”.

The Vicar of Ranmoor, in Sheffield diocese, Canon Matthew Rhodes, walked the route from the Irish Sea to the North Sea in 11 days to raise money for the Save Our Spire appeal of St John’s, Ranmoor, which has a target of £1 million.

“I felt very supported by the prayers of my congregation and wonderful friends, and it made me more reliant on Jesus in a different way,” he said on Monday.

Canon Rhodes began the walk on 7 April and finished on 17 April, covering between 13 and 22 miles a day. His previous walking experience is more modest, having walked part of St Columba’s Way to Lindisfarne for a few days.

While walking the Coat to Coast challenge, which was devised by the guidebook author Alfred Wainwright, Canon Rhodes meditated on the story of the road to Emmaus. “For Cleopas and his companion, things hadn’t turned out as they had expected, but Jesus came alongside them, and I felt that very much as I went along,” he said.

His wife, Cathy, drove between the different drop-off points, and was “chief encourager, navigator, sandwich-maker, and general ‘wing man’”.

Getting lost in the Lake District was “a bit scary”. Although the route had had a lot of investment recently in that particular area, there wasn’t a lot in terms of signposts, Canon Rhodes said; so he walked further than he needed to that day.

“Also, one leg fell down a little hole, and it jarred my legs. Then my knees swelled up that night, and I thought I wasn’t going to be able to continue. But, fortunately, my wife’s a doctor; so, with some ice and various other things, it was OK the next day.”

Finishing the challenge, Canon Rhodes felt “relief, exultation, really tired, and a great sense of achievement”.

Following tradition, he carried a pebble from St Bees-Ennerdale Bridge, and threw it into the sea at Robin Hood’s Bay, which was quite emotional, he said.

Canon Rhodes celebrated with a shandy at Wainwright’s Bar, near the end of the route, where he signed the book to mark the completion of the walk.

With “rather painful shins and some blisters”, he returned to St John’s on Sunday to take the morning service.

The church’s building group identified several challenges for Canon Rhodes to partake in, but decided on the Coast to Coast challenge, “because our spire is 192 feet tall and the walk is 192 miles long: it sort of fits together quite well.”

The church’s spire was built in 1879, using limestone and sandstone, but the limestone is causing it to shatter on the inside, requiring repairs.

Canon Rhodes has already exceeded his fund-raising target of £5000, and has raised a total of £15,117 towards the spire project.

“People have been amazingly generous, both within the church and in wider circles,” he said.

To donate, visit: justgiving.com/page/matthew-rhodes-1