As a writer and photographer, I have always tried to visited places of incredible beauty and hope to capture the perfect moment in order to preserve it forever. Partially this is to bring such profound wonder to the attention of others for their appreciation. It is also as a record for myself as my spiritual pilgrimages because, I find it is only in places of true wildness that I feel I am successful in seeking the divine. I have found that I naturally seek out those places that have been created by humans and long abandoned to become enigmatic symbols of our ancestral presence within the landscapes of time and place.  Often these places ask more questions than they answer, leaving us with a treasure trove of tantalising clues. Pilgrimage is an integral part of my life, and I follow a spirituality that is my guiding force, part of everyday, in everything I do, say, or think.

I hope the following account will inspire you to seek these wild edges in pilgrimage.

A few years ago, now, I had the privilege to walk in a truly wild and remote part of the British Isles – Stronsay, Orkney – a two-hour boat trip from Kirkwall, the capital and main port on Mainland. Stronsay is remote – a timeless place of elemental rugged coast and unpredictable seas. Ever present is the faint feral smell of nesting gannets mingled with salt and weather.  Bog cotton heads wave anxiously from side to side, warning of the ubiquitous danger of Scotland’s other watery environment, bogs.  The spongey grass and heather underfoot are uneven, untrodden, and the peat, which I swear is alive, makes several attempts to devour our boots. Artic Turns glide on air currents overhead, hanging momentarily as if waiting – and just as silently disappearing. The sapphire blue sea below begins to reveal many pairs of curious eyes watching as we walk, our very own grey seal audience! As we turn the corner at the headland, we are met with a dozen common seals basking in the late summer sunshine, beach beauties who barely lift a flipper at our passing, (or even seem to mind being photographed). In Orkney, as in many of the Scottish isles, there are many stories of Selkies, seals who slip from their skins to become seductively beautiful women who marry unsuspecting island men, one day they inevitably heed to calling of the sea, never to be seen again.  I glace back at the shapely sunbathers and wonder if maybe I might find an empty seal skin as I walk along the shingle.  The shoreline sand is a perfect glistening silvery grey, only adding to the magical enchantment as we walk towards what seems to be some sort of building. As we turn inland, evidence of human inhabitation begins to appear, intricate fallen and unkempt stone walls which mark forgotten boundaries of overgrown fields.  Foot-warn paths become prominent, eventually becoming uneven roadways. Barley crops sway like wild animal pelts in the breeze and cattle curiously eye us up as we walk by. Then a House with a car and bean wigwams, the distant boxed sound of music and laughter and 21^st century life return us to linear time as we head back to catch the boat.

My thoughts flow as the island fades into the quiet empty seas, sunset brings a golden yellow hue to the place where the island once was.  A place that is truly wild, a place that still has the tantalising edges of magic at its heart. In my mind I still see the Selkies and wonder if they are dancing on that beach, as the sun sets – free of those cumbersome skins? I wonder if those fields of barley crops, writhe, stretch and move, as though waking from a long slumber, revealing paws and teeth here and there. Becoming the beast of Stronsay who only appears when the tourists leave.

Next month, I will take you back to Orkney on a pilgrimage to visit the beautiful Papa Westray – Amy Liptrot’s inspirational island home featured in the forthcoming film of her bestselling book, The Outrun.

Thea is a Heathen and a pilgrim. She likes to think of herself as a Nemophilist, which means a ‘haunter of woods’. She spends most of her free time walking in the wildest remotest lands, places that still make the gods tremble, and she loves the challenge of finding connection through nature to the divine. She writes prolifically, read equally, has a passion for learning, taking photos, grow things, and spend time with her family. she works in education and lives in the south of the UK.

For more details: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/moon-books/authors/thea-prothero