HUNDREDS of walkers are expected to take part in a traditional Boxing Day pilgrimage next week.

The Right Reverend John Packer, the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, will lead walkers in the footsteps of a group of 12th Century monks who set out from Ripon Cathedral on December 26, 1132, to found Fountains Abbey.

This year, the four-mile walk will set off at 10.45am, after a Cathedral Eucharist at 10am.

In previous years, the number of people taking part in the walk has varied from 400 to nearly 2,000 four years ago, when the paths were reopened after the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Cathedral Canon Keith Punshon, one of the walk organisers, said: "Being a pilgrimage, we are reminded that the journey to a holy place is as important as arriving at your destination.

"It is a good time to get together as a diocesan family on this special day, and people travel from miles around for this well-established tradition."

The one-and-a-half-hour walk will conclude with a short service of carols and prayers in the ruins of the abbey.