'The magic of pilgrimage is that it has something to offer everyone' 

David Gleed introduces Journeying, an ecumenical organisation which plans an annual programme of pilgrim-journeys

 
Journeying was founded in 1988. Since then, it has been an adventure! We have travelled to many of the most remote and seemingly inaccessible places of pilgrimage in Britain and Ireland; 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…
 
Non-profit seeking and ecumenical, Journeying comprises a team of people from a wide range of Christian traditions, who both run the organisation and plan and lead the annual programme of pilgrim-journeys. All are volunteers who have discovered a closeness to God through travel to remote places and have a passion to share this with others.
 
Formerly known as Pilgrim Adventure the origins of Journeying lie in Celtic spirituality and pilgrimage, and both elements continue to form a thread woven through all that we do. 
 
The magic of pilgrimage is that it has something to offer everyone! Journeying embraces this. And even though we are a Christian organisation (and perhaps because of it too) we welcome people of all traditions, of other faiths and none.
 
Wherever we travel in these islands, it’s those special moments that ‘just happen’, that often take us deeper and remain in the memory… I remember one summer, returning to the mainland across a turbulent sea from the Skellig Isles off the coast of County Kerry, an hour out with our small open boat rising and falling, a strange calm descended. It was almost as though the boat and its passengers had become one with the elements. Together we were cutting a safe passage. There was a sense of time and timelessness, of early pilgrims with us, battling their way to and from that remote outpost on the edge of the world. We were caught up in the pilgrim experience. We felt close to God, the elements and fellow pilgrims stretching back across the years. We were on a journey but we were not alone – it was a great feeling.
 
Some of our most popular destinations are centred around those places where the Celtic saints of old once lived - places that often feel quite ‘thin’, as if heaven and earth might only be a tissue breadth apart. But of course, Celtic-ness is something we bring with us, and isn’t dependent on location. So, while we might not always journey through known Celtic lands, a sense of the Celtic is part of every Journeying adventure.
 
Journey groups are informal and small; rarely more than twelve including two members of the Journeying team who lead and stay with the group throughout. The shape of each journey is determined by the leaders but, even with different personalities leading, there are elements common to each journey:  accommodation is usually of a self-catering style, just occasionally somewhere on a full-board basis; gentle reflective worship takes place at the start and end of each day and perhaps also at other times on the hill or by the shore; walks of varying length and the communion that is found so often when you are doing the washing-up together.
 
We are always pleased to hear from people interested in discovering more about team membership.
 

Contact details:

• Email: info@journeying.co.uk

• Write to: Journeying. 4 Main Street, Llangwm, Pembrokeshire SA62 4HP, Wales.

• Telephone: +44 7896 285 839.

• Website: www.journeying.co.uk       

 
David Gleed – on behalf of the Journeying team.