Why Walk in February?

The orders of prayer I was putting together on Friday have been given a ‘run out’ over the weekend and seem alright to me. However, to avoid the excoriating criticisms of those who would recognise how far removed from the prayers of prime, terce, sext, nones and compline, my productions actually are, I’ve renamed them ‘Prayers with breakfast/lunch/afternoon tea/supper/cognac (cocoa during Lent)’.

Three Saints are at the heart of the pilgrimage that I’m beginning next week. St Columba founded a monastic community on Iona; St Aidan travelled from Iona to Lindisfarne to found a Columban community there; St Cuthbert was the great Bishop and hermit of Lindisfarne. So this week you can look forward to me sharing all the things I’ve learned about them. Clear your diaries.

And I must start getting my notes typed up and collated. I want to head North with a great set of crib cards, so that I can send you posts along the lines of, ‘Today I passed beneath the shadow of Ben Gunn, where tradition has it that the bloodthirsty Dugal of the Silver Finger was finally defeated in a battle which raged bloodily for three blood-sodden days and nights. Locals whisper that when the moon is full, the cries of phantom warriors still drift across the silvery heather’; instead of what you’re likely to get, ‘Walked past a big hill today. It’s still raining.’

Best of all, at some point this week you’ll get the answer to the question which all nine of you have been asking, ‘Why walk in February?’.