Scottish Catholic Observer

Scotland’s Catholics are being urged to support the ‘Caledonian Camino,’ a planned new walking pilgrimage from Iona to St Andrews.

Organisers the Scottish Pilgrim Routes Forum (SPRF), a network dedicated to establishing pilgrimage routes for Scotland’s Christians, hope it will emulate the famous Camino de Santiago, the Spanish route that attracts 200,000 walkers a year.

The 185 mile cross-Scotland pilgrim way (right), which would follow the route of medieval pilgrims from the Isle of Iona to St Andrews, has been under discussion for some years but supporters believe they are now close to a breakthrough. It is one of five routes the group are promoting.

Nick Cooke, secretary of SPRF, said that the time had come for a ‘Caledonian Camino.’

“We’re knocking on an open door,” he said. “People like combining outdoor exercise and a degree of personal spirituality; it taps into a lot of different agendas. By setting up routes we are also helping to regenerate communities socially and economically. It enables more than just the spiritual.”

He admitted that much remains to be done, as the full route must be accepted by landowners, way-marked and have links with both public transport and accommodation, but he stressed that at a community consultation event last year there was a hugely positive response from local communities.

Another route backed by the Forum, the Fife Pilgrim Way, has been back by the Heritage Lottery Fund with a sum of £400,000, and should be established by 2018, which he hopes will spur interest in the longer cross- Scotland route.

Local support

Despite significant progress being made in generating both public interest and physical establishment of the route, the SPRF are still keen to garner support from local communities and interested pilgrims, including those from the Catholic community.

“We welcome anybody into it who has an interest in Christianity and the role of pilgrimage and what it can do for people today,” Mr Cooke added.

Mr Cooke explained that the surge of interest in established pilgrimage routes is not just a Scottish venture, but part of a revival of pilgrimage routes throughout Europe. Compared with the hundreds of thousands of Catholics walking the Camino de Santiago every year, he said ‘it’s going to be a while before we see something like this with all the infrastructure in place.. That’s what we don’t have in Scotland—we’ve got the destination but not the infrastructure yet.’

Five-year plan

It’s the setting up of this infrastructure to which the SPRF wishes to commit, with the forum now having a five-year plan to fully establish their priority routes in Scotland. In the meantime, it is important for people to walk the routes now, with established routes then able to follow suit.

“We are very keen to get boots on the ground,” he said. “These are long-distance routes, but anybody can walk sections of them.”

The SPRF has already felt a strong swell of Catholic support from Craig Lodge in Dalmally, who will host the forum’s upcoming meeting next month and who have already popularised their own pilgrimage route between Dalmally and Oban, St Conan’s Way. Catholic MSP Roseanna Cunningham has also been a long-running sup

Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews & Edinburgh has also previously lent his support to the venture, and a spokesperson for the diocese said: “The rise and rise in the popularity of pilgrimage is a Europe-wide phenomena that is very encouraging to witness and, so, we are delighted to encourage the work of the Scottish Pilgrim Routes Forum as they continue to re-establish the city of St Andrews as a destination for pilgrims from across Scotland and beyond.”

Mr Cooke said you don’t have to be a Christian to walk the new route—anybody can be a pilgrim. “It’s a completely ecumenical group,” he said, “but we don’t try to be overly religious. Having said that, indeed churches and church denominations play a big part in our work.”

“Come and join us!” he urged Scotland’s Catholic population. “The forum is literally an open network.”

—This story ran in full in the August 12 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.