Guided Pilgrimage

Just to give you a heads up that our 2025 pilgrimage programme is taking shape on our website and includes:

- three departures on the stunning Way of St David;
- a Teifi River Pilgrimage following the river source to sea;
- our annual weekend Penrhys Pilgrimage;
- and very excited about our new Pilgrimage Retreat combining the monastic island of Caldey with St Davids (details will be available early October).

Take a look at the website for more information - https://guidedpilgrimage.co.uk - we hope you can join us for some adventures in 2025.

📷 Carreg Wastad on Pembrokeshire Coastal Path

Fabulous weekend pilgrimage from Llandaff Cathedral to Penrhys in the Rhondda Valley, a site of miracles. Love this pilgrimage ❤️. Thanks to Iain for the video 🙏🏻

Penrhys pilgrimageJuly24 landscape Pilgrimage to Penrhys (landscape version)

LAST CALL FOR PENRHYS PILGRIMAGE - a really soul nourishing pilgrimage walking from Llandaff Cathedral to the Holywell, statue and place of miracles at Penrhys in the Rhondda Valley.

Fri 19 Jul - gather for storytelling in Llandaff
Sat 20 Jul - 10.5 miles pilgrimage from Llandaff to Llantrisant
Sun 21 Jul - 10.5 miles pilgrimage from Llantrisant to Penrhys.

More information here - https://guidedpilgrimage.co.uk/pilgrimage/guided-multi-day/penrhys-pilgrim/ - if you are interested in joining us. Just £60 for two days or £40 for one. Phone Chris on 07881 981709 if you have any queries. It would be great to have you with us.

📷 On the Penrhys Pilgrimage above Dinas

Two lovely groups in June who travelled on pilgrimage with us. We had an international flair with Pilgrim Paths hailing mostly from New Orleans and the Way of St David group from around the UK and Australia. Thank you for joining us - it was an honour and a privilege to journey with you 🙏🏻.

Thanks also to the support and professional guides who helped us with the groups - Quiet Walks and David Pepper - you were great! 👏🏻🙌🏻🙏🏻

📷 around St Davids and St Non’s, Pembrokeshire

Solstice blessings to you all at this time of light in the northern hemisphere ❤️☀️⭐️🌳🌻🪻

May we be shown how to care more deeply and compassionately for our home, Mother Earth and all beings who live here, both seen and unseen.

📷 busy bee on sheep’s bit along the coastal path in Pembrokeshire

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Some lovely scenes and flowers along the Pembrokeshire coast path. The yellow kidney vetch is where the small blue butterfly lays its eggs - plenty of kidney vetch, but not many butterflies 😟🦋

Will be walking here over the week ahead with another pilgrimage group heading for St Davids. Feeling very lucky to have this great job!!

📷 Pembrokeshire near Abereiddy

A wonderful contemplative walk as I prepare for groups coming on pilgrimage over the next 3 weeks. The Pembrokeshire Coast is looking amazing - May has to be the best month on the trail. And here at Nine Wells, the well head is surrounded by red campion, speedwell, daisies, buttercups, foxgloves, and fabulous wild grass.

Very much looking forward to showing this all off to the pilgrims who are walking with us. Feeling blessed!

📷 Nine Wells, Pembrokeshire

A nice bit of synchronicity when life strands come together...

Pictured here is the River Clettwr, a tributary to the Teifi River in Ceredigion - seen here at the beautifully named Penpompren Footbridge. This is the route for the new Taith Dyffryn Teifi / Teifi Valley Trail and I am part of the team working on getting that trail established - watch this space.

I am reading the excellent book by Amy-Jane Beer called The Flow and I come across the wonderful Cynefin (Owen Shiers) in discussion with Amy about the River Clettwr and the folk heritage of the river. If you are interested and it is well worth a listen, you can find it here on Folk on Foot - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGpPxZ0fZ14&ab_channel=FolkOnFoot . Thanks to all.....

📷 Penpompren Footbridge and River Clettwr, Capel Dewi

In 2023 we were fortunate to be the chosen pilgrimage provider for St. David's Episcopal Church Austin, Texas and arranged a week long trip for them in/around Hereford Cathedral and St Davids Cathedral in Wales. Thanks to all who helped make that trip a success.

📷 Caldey Island - view of monastery and with Fr Gildas



== Peace IS Possible ==

My favourite Christmas card from this year - Peace IS Possible! It starts with each of us! Happy New Year / Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!

My favourite type of traffic jam!

A very lovely visit to Lichfield Cathedral last week. The Gaia exhibition in the central space was breathtaking and sacred at the same time. Home to a beautiful and poignant sculpture by Sir Francis Chantrey of two sisters who died shortly after each other as well as the icon and shrine to St Chad, monastic founder and first abbot of Lichfield. And so much more to appreciate including a small girl who was blowing out all the prayer candles - fire safety!!

If you are in the Lichfield area and want to approach the Cathedral in a sacred way, you can follow the one day Cathedral pilgrimage on the British Pilgrimage Trust website [https://britishpilgrimage.org/portfolio/lichfield-cathedral-pilgrimage-in-a-day/].

Guided Pilgrimage are responsible for four walks in the new 'Walks for Mind & Spirit' published by Duncan Petersen. We have written up a walk from Solva to St Davids Cathedral, around Strata Florida (Strata Florida Trust - Ymddiriedolaeth Ystrad Fflur), along the 2-day Penrhys Pilgrimage Way and on the Llyn Peninsula based on the poetry of R S Thomas. And there are more than 40 other contemplative walks to choose from. Available from 27 October....

📷 Book cover for Walks for Mind & Spirit

Our website is now showing dates for 2024 on The Way of St David:
(https://guidedpilgrimage.co.uk/pilgrimage/guided-multi-day/st-davids-way/)

and the Penrhys Pilgrimage:
(https://guidedpilgrimage.co.uk/pilgrimage/guided-multi-day/penrhys-pilgrim/).

All other routes can be booked for private departures so if you are a group (2+ pilgrims) get in touch and we can discuss dates and routes specially curated for you.

📷 St David's Head on the Way of St David, Summer 2023

6 years ago, a group of Israeli and Palestinian women marched together in the name of Peace - Women Wage Peace. In these dark days, we send love, compassion and healing to all those caught up in the pain, terror and fear of war - Israeli, Palestinian, Russian or Ukrainian, Yemeni, Sudanese or Syrian. Do listen to this beautiful song of unity and peace.

Yael Deckelbaum - Prayer Of The Mothers (Official Video) Subscribe: https://bit.ly/3SrlO7vYaelYTBuy: https://yaeldeckelbaum.bandcamp.com/track/prayer-of-the-mothersOfficial Music Video Yael Deckelbaum - Prayer Of T...

It was lovely to walk with artist Sibylle Laubscher's Art and Barbara for a pilgrimage from Solva into St Davids on one of the hot days last week. What a treat it was to spend time with you both and a lovely welcome too from Janet at St Davids Cathedral .

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Great to take some of the US Texan group St. David's Episcopal Church Austin, Texas to the impressive ruins of Carew and the Tidal Mill. Looked after by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park it is a great place to visit and our American guests loved it.