Blog (Latest News, Info and Updates)
Oneness
Monday 30th March 2020
David Arkell
Darkness shrouds the single seed, Buried deep in earthy tomb; Life, it seems, has fled its course. Trustful wait meets every need, Nurtured in the Mother's womb; Transformation's gentle force. Roots embedded drink and feed, Movement up away from gloom; Gardener's soil of rich resource. Change which nothing can impede. Pushing forth from soft cocoon, Reaching up to Light's applause. Father's hoe to help succeed, Opening out in fruitful bloom, Fragrant grace uplifts, outpours. 25.iii.20 Inspired by a beautiful spring day, thoughts of isolation, and God's unlimited power to revive and renew. Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and…
Coronavirus Update
Thursday 19th March 2020
Iain Tweedale
We have been monitoring the situation very closely since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. Our top priority is the safety of our guests, so in line with government policies in the Republic of Ireland and the UK we have postponed the following holidays: - Irish Camino Experience has moved to September 20th-25th - Mull, Iona and Staffa has moved to September 1st-8th - Brecon Beacons and Llangors Lake has moved to October 16th-19th - North Wales Odyssey - is moving to the Autumn with dates being confirmed shortly. We will continue to monitor the situation before moving any more of the journeys in the schedule and we will keep in touch with guests who have already booked on these in the meantime. If you have…
"Thirty-one years a-travelling."
Saturday 15th February 2020
David Gleed
Saturday June 17th 1989 and a small group of pilgrims gather at a remote moorland chapel on the fringe of the Snowdon mountains. A little over a year from its founding the first Pilgrim Adventure pilgrims were about to set off along the pilgrim's way... Since then we have travelled to many of the most remote and seemingly inaccessible places of pilgrimage in the British Isles; shuddered and laughed together at some of the predicaments encountered along the way; and known the delight of discovering places where for centuries people have felt especially close to God - sacred places, places of pilgrimage. Along the way we changed the name from Pilgrim Adventure to Journeying and evolved a youth wing - Y journey.…
Day Walk to Tintern Abbey and the Wye Valley - January 2020
Wednesday 15th January 2020
David Gleed
Setting out last Saturday from Tintern Abbey, we said to each other... May God make safe to you each steep May God make open to you each pass May God make clear to you each road And may He take you in the clasp of His own two hands. (Carmina Gadelica) The mud and rain serving only to further cement our wee band of pilgrims, we made our way in good spirits, for the high ground above the Abbey on the other side of the Wye. Along the way we paused every-so-often to listen to a verse or two from William Wordsworth's Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey - with a short time of silent walking after one stop. Lunch was in a hollow, just…
"Cathedral Pilgrimage in a Day"
Tuesday 14th January 2020
Iain Tweedale
The British Pilgrimage Trust has just launched the Cathedral Pilgrimage in a Day project as part of the 2020 Year of Pilgrimage. You can find out more at Pilgrimages in a day The Trust was set up in 2014 to advance British pilgrimage as a form of cultural heritage that promotes holistic wellbeing for the public benefit that includes physical, social, environmental and spiritual health. They aim to make these benefits accessible to wide new audiences.
Spirits of Mull
Monday 18th November 2019
Paddy Allen
Speak to the people who live on Mull and the concept of spirit comes up frequently. First of all, there is the tough spirit of the people who live there all the year round - surviving and coming to cherish the rugged landscape and the equally rugged weather - long dark winters blasted by gales and rain, chilly springs which suddenly burst into blossom and glory, summers which can offer balmy blue days that switch in ten minutes (usually when you are at the furthest point of a walk), to driving rain, and then those colourful autumns that are part of Scotland's heritage. It has always been hard to make money, and many people eked a bare living from…
Walking Together - Annual Gathering for Journeying
Wednesday 30th October 2019
David Gleed
Each year the Journeying team gather at Mount St Bernard Abbey near Loughborough for their annual meeting. For three days business is intertwined with prayer and the rhythm of monastic life, a remarkably dynamic way of getting things done! This year, the annual gathering takes place, 31st October - 2nd November. Mount Saint Bernard Abbey is a place of welcome. It lives the virtues of hospitality... Gaelic Rune of Hospitality I Gaelic saw a stranger yestreen; I put food in the eating place, Drink in the drinking place, Music in the listening place, And in the name of the Triune He blessed myself and my house, My cattle and my dear ones, And the lark said in her song: Often, often, often, Goes the Christ in the stranger's guise, Often, often,…
Paths of Light
Saturday 19th October 2019
Paddy Allen (Journeying Leader)
Isn't it awe-inspiring how God makes his presence real in the sudden unmanufactured moment that happens in the middle of the mundane. There I was taking the dog on his before bed walk last night. A big moon was making a path across the sea and a heron glimmered among the wavelets on the sand, flexing and stretching his neck waiting, waiting. Then quietly and carefully he stepped across the path of light and slipped his head neatly under the ripples. Then up with a bright silver fish wriggling and sparkling in his beak. He paused for a moment (saying grace?) then a tidy gulp and that was it - a satisfied stomach. Poor fish! I painted a rather stylised…
Journey Diaries - Croagh Patrick, Ireland
Sunday 13th October 2019
David Gleed
Our first trip to Ireland coincided with that wonderful year of peace, 1994. Sweeping down the road that leads from Castlebar to Westport, Co. Mayo, the pilgrim group caught its first glimpse of Croagh Patrick, Ireland's foremost Holy Mountain and our intended destination. We unpacked and settled into Westport Hostel. Things were still a little formal. Conversation at the evening meal, although interesting, was not yet flowing. However, with pudding over, the film crew pointing cameras at views and not people, and the first 'chore group' busy in the kitchen (sharing the washing up is a great way to make friends and break barriers) things began to feel more relaxed. TV Producer, Jeffrey Milland had made contact a few months earlier,…
Poems, Prayers and Reflections
Friday 11th October 2019
Phil Craine
Poems, prayer and reflections are a key part of the Journeying experience. Please send us a poem, a thought, a quote from a verse and let us know why it inspires you and we'd be happy to publish it in the blog. To start us off, here is a poem by George Herbert along with an introduction by one of our leaders, Phil Craine, on why it inspires him: "This poem is simply a list of metaphors attempting to grasp different aspects of prayer. They are all different but still ring true to my ear. Prayer can be angry, desperate, consoling and comforting - and the poet's vivid images bring life to these qualities. I think too that…