The traditional Boxing Day Pilgrimage from Ripon Cathedral to Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire enjoyed a record turnout this year. 

The annual event typically attracts between 1,000 and 1,500 people but this year, over 2,000 people took part in the four-mile trek.

The walk follows in the footsteps of a group of 12th Century Cistercian monks who set off from Ripon Cathedral on 26 December, 1132, to found Fountains Abbey.

Today, Fountains is a World Heritage Site and managed by the National Trust.

This year's pilgrimage was led by the recently appointed Area Bishop of Ripon, the Rt Rev Dr Helen-Ann Hartley and joined by the Dean of Ripon, the Very Rev John Dobson. 

After a service of Holy Communion, the pilgrims made their way from the cathedral and through the cobbled streets of Ripon to the banks of the River Skell. 

They then passed through the Studley Royal Deer Park and on to Fountains Abbey, where a carol service was held in the ancient cellarium of the monastery. 

Bishop Hartley said her first pilgrimage was awe-inspiring.

'It's brilliant and it's overwhelming to see so many people set out from the cathedral and make this four mile pilgrimage to Fountains,' she said.

'The fact that those monks made this journey in 1132 is quite awe-inspiring. Journeying and pilgrimage are as alive today as they ever have been.'