Scottish Catholic Observer

The route is something Ms Coupar has been invovled in promoting before, while working as the coordinator for Religious Education in Motherwell Diocese.

She first began promoting the St Andrews Way after organisers got in touch with her, culminating with a project that was undertaken with school pupils where they explored what a pilgrimage was, as well as looking at the St Andrews Way and the Ladywell Route, which travels from Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral, Motherwell, and travels via Carfin, Linlithgow, and the Forth Road Bridge before joining the St Margaret’s route to St Andrews.

The project also saw pupils design a pilgrims badge that those starting the route from Motherwell could wear.

“Our heritage and traditions in terms of pilgrimage are really strong,” Ms Coupar, director of the Scottish Catholic Education Service, said. “The places to stop and the support isn’t quite there yet to be able to take large groups, but it would be really admirable for schools to consider. If the possibility of a safe route becomes more distinguished, it would be certainly something into which I would look into and see if we could support it.”

The west to east walk from Iona to St Andrews has seen widespread public support from various walking groups and local communities, the Scottish Pilgrim Routes Forum (SPRF), and Cabinet Minister for Environment and MSP Roseanna Cunningham, with Ms Coupar now hoping schools and young people will also get involved.

The route, which would see pilgrims journey from Iona to St Andrews, also includes the Three Saints Way, a section of the route that follows the travels of three prominent Celtic saints, St Fillan, St Serf and St Kessog on their evangelisation missions, and has been described as ‘a tremendous narrative about Scotland and Scotland’s history’ by Ms Cunningham.