Rome—A 66-year-old Englishman from Cornwall has decided to celebrate his recovery from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by walking from Rome to Jerusalem bearing a message of peace.  Paul Haines, a former BBC set designer from Truro, left Rome Wednesday on a journey that should take him through Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, calling in on places with a spiritual association with peace, such as Assisi, Medjugorje, Mount Athos and Greek islands visited by St Paul.

 Mr Haines set out on his walk shortly after Israeli police and Palestinian demonstrators clashed at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and as violence continues to engulf much of the Middle East. His hike will be raising money for the Children of Peace charity, which works with Israeli and Palestinian children and whose work he hopes to see on his arrival.

            Mr Haines will be carrying a book with signatures and messages of peace gathered along the way, a silver chalice used at a peace chapel in Cornwall, and a rucksack with an image of a dove picked out by the word peace written in many languages.

            Baptised as an Anglican, Mr Haines said he has always been fascinated by religious faith and has gathered messages of goodwill from a variety of religious leaders, posted on a website (www.peacewalk2015.com), which will be updated as he walks.

            “A Canon from Canterbury Cathedral put me in touch with someone who walked from Scotland to Rome. He’s an IT expert and is doing my website,” Mr Haines said, as he prepared for his departure. “It’s not as though I have a lot of support, but it’s important to know there are people thinking about you.”

            Mr Haines said he had previously done a sponsored walk to raise money for Alzheimer’s Disease, carrying a rucksack with the word Alzheimer’s emblazoned on it, and had been amazed by the number of people who had approached him to exchange thoughts and experiences on the subject of the incurable neurological disease.

            Mr Haines has written to the Queen of England, the White House, the Kremlin and the President of China, as well as to assorted religious leaders, receiving encouraging messages from many of them.

            “I’m just one person and what I’m doing is not going to make a huge difference, but I’m carrying messages from influential people who could do more for peace,” he said. Having gathered messages of support at the various national pavilions at the Milan Expo, he suggested the next Expo could be devoted to the theme of peace. “It’s an occasion when people get together and become friends.”

            Mr Haines hopes his personal endeavour, however small, will have a powerful ripple effect for the promotion of peace.

            “War seems to be expressed more strongly than peace. It would be wonderful to turn that around,” he said. “The value of something like this is what happens when you come back. During the walk I hope to find a way to present these messages, so there is an outcome afterwards.”