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| Every Tuesday come rain, hail or shine, some of the resident members of the Iona Community lead a pilgrimage around the island. It covers about 7 miles and takes about 6 hours of gentle walking, pauses for reflections and plenty of time for chatting. Like all pilgrimages, I guess, this one starts at the cross. This time its St Martins cross dating from the 8th century. |
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| Jamie is a resident staff member of the Iona Community and has lived on the island for the last 18 months. She is an ordained minister of the Reformed Church of USA - a delightful lady and I wonder if we could tempt her to visit us sometime. She was standing at the only point on the island where 2 roads cross and invited us to consider crossroads in our our lives and read the Robert Frost poem - The road not taken. |
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| The labyrinth at St Columba's Bay |
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| Most of the walk was fairly easy with some gentle climbs and weather favourable. |
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| Some of the going was a bit more diffilcult - sturdy boots were essential. |
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| This glam couple are waiting for the summer to begin |
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| At St Columba's bay where he was thought to have landed from Ireland in 563. He was making a fresh start and we were thinking about that too. |
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| Meeting people from all over is one the other good things about being here. Sharon ( black hat) is a priest from Somerset. We became very good friends in a short time and I'm sure we'll keep in touch. Mary in pink is a teacher and Caroline is a minister from Nebraska. |
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| The heather is in full bloom all over the highlands as well as Iona |
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| LOTS of bogs even on the high ground and not always possible to leap across them. Even our good walking boots weren't quite up to keeping our feet dry. |
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| One reflection is at the nunnery dating from 1203. It is the most substantial remains of any nunnery in the whole of Europe. It is within the village of Iona, close to the school, shop and houses and suggests the nuns related more to the locals than the men of the Abbey which stands outside the village in some seclusion. At the end of the walk we put our boots out to dry - it took 2 days before they were completely dry.  |
