A young Englishman has set tongues wagging as his pilgrimage to lick every Anglican cathedral in the UK looks set to bring him north of the border.
Last January Lawrence Edmonds was just another man sitting in a pub in his hometown of York. Now more than 40 stony licks later and he is preparing to check off the Scottish items on his list.
Lawrence (27) said: ”It was originally a bet my friend Adam made with another friend of ours, Dan.
”It was a cold January evening in 2011. There wasn’t much going on. We were talking about bets and I asked how Dan was getting on and Adam said he had only done one, so I rather foolishly took it on.”
From that day Lawrence began enthusiastically pressing tongue to stone around the far-flung corners of England. But there was a rub.
”I thought Anglican cathedrals were only in England and Wales, but it turns out there’s another eight in Northern Ireland and eight in Scotland,” he said.
No sooner had he taste-tested his final English cathedral than he headed into Wales, and now he is going north.
”I’ve got until December 16 to finish them all,” he said. ”The forfeit is you’ve got to streak outside York Minster. I know it’s really silly, and I’m looking forward to it being over, but it has been really good. I’ve seen some great things.”
Lawrence is flying over to Ireland for a few days soon to taste the Anglican additions to the list there before he lands in Scotland later in the month.
Although now hardened to getting up close to the ecclesiastical entries, Lawrence admitted he found the act slightly nerve-wracking when he first began.
He said: ”Lots of people have said ‘Do you think it’s disrespectful?’ and I can understand that, but I’ve had very little negative press. Everyone from the church has been really supportive and I’ve been in the Church Times.”
In fact, Lawrence’s antics have become a global discussion on Christian chat forums, though he still finds the whole experience a little embarrassing.
”In Rochester I was on my own and I asked a stranger to take a picture and this crowd gathered,” he said. ”It was a bit embarrassing. It’s not the licking I find embarrassing, it’s the being caught doing it.”
However, Lawrence must have photographic or film evidence of every single lick.
He said: ”It has to be a recognisable feature of the building or have a sign in the background, which sometimes can be quite difficult.”
The actual act of getting all the cathedrals has left Lawrence sleeping in a truckers’ cabin and spending days on trains, not to mention flying up and down the country. But he said what started as a silly bet has awakened a real love of the religious buildings.
He said: ”Off the back of this I’ve discovered a really strong appreciation of these places.
”Hopefully I’ll make a book out of it once I’m all done. It’s an unusual way to spend your time.”
Lawrence hopes to tick off his Dundee, Perth and Brechin licks as he passes through in a couple of weeks.
You can follow Lawrence’s exploits on his blog at cathedrallicking.wordpress.com