In October 2016, aged 53, and needing a change, I stepped out of my front door in Edinburgh for an adventure. First visiting relatives by train in the New Forest, England then it was a boat from Portsmouth across the Bay of Biscay to Santander where I started walking.
I exchanged Shiatsu for hospitality, as I still do, meeting some wonderful people in the process. This time, I walked the Camino de Santiago from Pamplona to Santiago de Compostella (400 miles).
After that autumn in Spain, I returned many times. Walking other solo caminos such as the Via de la Plata (1000 kms) from Seville to Santiago, and from Porto in Portugal also to Santiago (it is said that all roads lead there) were amazing experiences. I made pilgrimage in other parts of Spain too, notably in Cataluna. I walked the Via Sacra in Austria, and shorter routes in Estonia, Greece, Norway, Hungary, France, Switzerland, Croatia, in Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
It was in Scotland that I joined the Pilgrimage for COP26 (2021) and later I walked the St Margaret Way and the St Magnus Way on Orkney.
Secular pilgrimages are often long-distance walks that involve walking to places of spiritual significance. Whilst I don’t follow any religion or subscribe to a particular Way, I have studied Taoist philosophy and have attended a Buddhist sangha for many years. If I had to choose a deity, it would be Gaia, goddess of the Earth, because being part of nature and walking the landscape is a vital and necessary part of my life. Walking day-by-day, from place to place, one step at a time, is a meditation. Sometimes, the routes are named and prescribed in advance; at other times, I wander or drift in the spirit of psychogeography, following my intuition or signs around me. These walks are part of my art practice as well as being seen as pilgrimage: walks with an intention, for the chance to muse and remember, to commune with the ground, air and something ‘other’. I walk to see where the path takes me.
Walking secular pilgrimage is a simple act in many ways. To keep moving, passing through village, town and city, meeting people and saying goodbye, is humbling and an exercise in letting go. Never staying long, paying my respects and being respectful, I am a simple visitor, a traveller.
Someone who travels, wanders
Peregrination is related to the Peregrine Falcon. The fastest animal known, with dives measuring upwards of one hundred and eighty-six miles per hour, the Falco peregrinus can be found all around the globe and the peregrinus part refers to a wanderer. Jess Jennison in WordOriginStories.com breaks the etymology of the bird’s name down into per meaning through and agr- land. This is further extrapolated to coming from abroad and travelling or migratory. The word apparently changed over time, from peregrinus to pelegrinus (with an ‘l’) then became to pelerin in French and pilegrim in Old English. Over the years, peregrine (the adjective) came to mean having a tendency to wander, and a pilgrim, someone who travels to a holy place.
Community pilgrimage
The Girona mini pilgrimage is an example of a community pilgrimage. Part of the Walking Arts Encounters in Cataluna, 2022. It was followed by two more in other parts of Cataluna: Olot and Vic. I walked solo pilgrimage along parts of the Cami Sant Jaume before the Walking Arts Encounters began, and to Montserrat afterwards.
Art and Pilgrimage
As I walk, I frequently make Wayside Shrines – a way of showing appreciation to place. I collect things as I walk, dropping them into my pocket, and when a suitable ‘altar’ presents itself, I assemble what seems right in order to make an offering. It may be that ity does not last long. Perhaps it becomes covered with snow or dry leaves, is taken apart by birds or animals, or simply blown away in the wind; it doesn’t matter. The gesture has already been made.
Walking with Ants was a 2025 major project involving the creation of a new stitched art work for the Line(s) of Enquiry exhibition at Hardwick Gallery, Cheltenham and a pilgrimage. The Pilgrimage for the Small Things walked from Chepstow on the English-Welsh border, in the Forest of Dean, along the River Severn, and through the Cotswolds, arriving at the associatied symposium at the University of Gloucestershire.
All my pilgrimages and long-distance walking can be found on walkingwithoutadonkey.com. The role of the donkey through literature, historically and in pilgrimage can be found In Praise of the donkey.
Walking without a donkey 