J2APilgrimage.htm

Here we are at Redeemer about to board the bus that will take us to Dulles for the flight to Great Britain.

Click on the following pictures to see larger images.

We landed in Glasgow, Scotland where we met our guide Douglas Hamilton and our driver Robert, a scottsman with an attitude. After driving through some absolutely beautiful mountains and lochs, and stopping long enough for some of the boys to unwind, we reached our destination, Inverary, a mill and tourist town for lunch (some of us tried Haggis for the first time here). Then it was off to the thirteenth century Inverary castle owned by the Dukes of Argyll of the clan Campbell.

We stayed a couple of nights in the Royal Hotel in Oban (like "open" but with a "B"). Some of us had an afternoon visit from a winged bandit who even entered one room to beg for cookies (sorry, we call them "biscuits" now). Click on the picture to the right to get a better view of Travis' seagull. From the hotel we climbed to McCaig's tower for stunning evening vistas, although it was still light at 11 pm and again by 4 am! From there we left by ferry to the Isle of Mull where Robert practiced all his race car driver's skills driving to Fionnphort where we caught another ferry across Martyr's Bay to Iona.

The trip to Iona was cold and wet and once ashore we went to a little restaurant where we were allowed to celebrate the Eucharist before lunch and heading out to the abbey. The abbey is still in use today for retreats and stands as a reminder of the celtic roots to our Christianity under St. Columba and the struggle to reach more roman ties under St Cuthbert. After touring this simple but splendid site we returned to Mull where we just made it to the last ferry back to Oban and from there to Edinburgh where we stayed two nights at Le Meridian hotel.

With enough down time to take our luggage to our rooms our guide Douglas, a former British army sergeant, marched us across town to the Beluga, a sheik restaurant where we enjoyed supper together. The walk back left everyone ready for bed so we thought.

The next day we lost our driver Robert, who had another assignment after driving us up to Edinburgh castle, a defiant symbol of Scottish resistance to English control. The reader may understand that to mean either Robert or Edinburgh castle! Our castle guide was well informed and humorous. We saw cannons that could never work, the Scottish crown jewels and some of us even went to the cellar to taste some scotch.

We then walked the Royal Mile past the Heart of Midlothian, a heart shaped in the cobblestone sidewalk, commemorating the spot where the English executes so many Scots and where to this day passer-bys spit.

We explored John Knox's house a structure from the 16th century. John Knox brought Protestantism to Scotland and is the founder of Presbyterianism. He is known for his constant struggle with queen Mary and all others of Romish persuasion.

Our last stop before an afternoon of shopping was to Holyrood Palace and Abbey. Holyrood which translates as "holy cross", is the royal family's Scottish residence. The Abbey is in ruins, a victim of HenryVIII's banishment of the monasteries.

We crossed the border from Scotland into England and stopped to pose with a bag piper and hear those mystical tunes one last time. Our new driver was Wallace, ANOTHER Scottsman with an even bigger attitude, but did we ever fall in love with him! We stopped at Hadrian's Wall, a second century attempt to contain the Picts. We were able to see how the Romans built their fortifications, a factor that allowed a more peaceful spread of Christianity.

The Archbishop of Durham has a crown at the base of his miter indicating that he is royalty, a prince. As such he may even issue his own postage stamps. Durham itself is a working class city (a city is defined by the presence of a cathedral) which has turned to the tourist trade. There is a festive feeling in the air and the streets are packed. The Cathedral is Norman, quite ancient and gently holds the remains of Cuthbert (see Iona) and the Venerable Bede who wrote his History of Christianity in Anglo-Saxon times among many other gifts to humanity and the Church. Nest to his tomb is an African statue of the Man/Woman; Jesus/Mary (pictured) which clearly sows this cathedral as being on the cutting edge of Theology. Our Pilgrims were given an extra delight to learn that the cathedral close and commons were the filming location of scenes in the movie Harry Potter.

Like many medieval cities York is a walled city which allows the pilgrim to walk its circumference and see many gardens, homes and the cathedral. It has the same festive atmosphere but features a much larger shopping area known as the Shambles. The cathedral is magnificent and we arrived in time to take a tour and then join in Evensong led by the Men's/Boy's choir. What a joy! Earlier we had visited Jorvik which is a center for Viking studies. We were overbooked at the York youth hostel so some adult volunteers agreed to "rough it" at the Quality Inn which, incidentally, staged a midnight fire alarm for us.

Warwick Castle is a "hands on" experience. We watched archery, swordplay and jousting. The castle itself had a dungeon, a palace and many displays and food courts. Our pilgroms were kept very busy just trying to take it all in. Most poignant was the wax likeness of Princess Diana.

We had a brief walking tour of the famous bard's hometown before heading to Le Meridian at Yorkshire where we had supper, a Eucharist in the garden, and a birthday party for Josh. The next day we visited Anne Hathaway's house and really learned what it was like to live in a well to do 16th century home. Later we witnessed the finer points of falconry before heading off to Bath an ancient Roman city known for it curative waters, shopping and fine Cathedral. We held a Service of Healing for our brother Alex (see Alex Coin).

At Wells we took time to regroup, wash clothes, explore new hair styles, and reflect spiritually about where our journey had led us thus far. The pilgrims were becoming increasingly interested in things theological and their roles in the world. "Where is God for Alex...Where is God for the cripple on the street... where is God for themselves??" were questions being asked with more frequency. The were becoming their brothers' keepers.

Glastonbury was another ancient abbey that had gradually fallen into decay after the banning of monasticism. Amidst the ruins we prayed the stations of the cross at the fourteen stone tablets that were carefully placed in the grassy areas that were all that remained of the once massive cathedral floors. Afterwards many of the kids had many questions regarding their Faith and the symbols of their religion. That evening Douglas took the group to hike up to Glastonbury Tor for a magnificent panorama. The Tor is reputedly where Joseph of Arimathea buried the Holy Grail.

What ancient civilization used these massive monoliths and for what purpose. We took an audio tour around this phenomenon just days after it was packed full of seekers during the Summer solstice.

What fun!! We all climbed the highest tower of this truly grand cathedral. What wonderful views!

We discussed the difference between crosses and crucifixes only to turn around and find an enormous wooden corpus of Jesus almost jumping out from the wall with golden rays from behind and all the funerary wrapping bursting from His arms and body. What marvelous theology!

The Magna Carta was unbelievably just laying there behind a thin sheet of glass for all of us to come as close as we would like to see it. The British attitude is that one may stand or sit or touch but just be careful!

While definitely English we were constantly surprised throughout our trip by the presence of so many American food institutions. Starbucks was our favorite (see pic) but there was a large Burger King, Pizza Hut, Mc Donald's, KFC presence as well. We stayed at the holiday Inn Express outside Canterbury which looked to be a bust but, wrong again! we had a great reflection time and sang spiritual songs and vowed to stay together as a group meeting at least every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving for Eucharist and brunch. Afterwards, Douglas took the street-wizened pilgrims for a merry goose chase in the woods where he showed them a few of his English army skills in hiding. Then just when the evening was thought to be ending we met ANOTHER J2A Group from Atlanta on their pilgrimage small world, great program (see pic). We saw each other the next day et the cathedral. This was the place where Thomas a Becket was martyred, buried, and the source of many healing miracles. Because of the latter we took the opportunity to pray for Alex and give Beth the annointing with holy oils and the laying of hands, prayerfully asking that her upcoming chemotherapy would be easy and effective.

We were supposed to spend the four days in London staying in a youth hostel, but thanks to Douglas and our tour organizers Gaye and Terri, we were put up in some pretty nice London hotels. the first was the Kensington for two nights where we learned amidst eggs being tossed at us, how to use the Underground. This was put in practice as we rode it to Trafalgar Square where we enjoyed the fountains, statues, and warm evening air. We then walked to Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square and then on to Soho where we ate Italian food in a former bomb shelter that was part of the restaurant. we walked back through Hyde Park and most of us dropped dead in our tracks by evening's end. We were, however becoming more familiar with the map of underground routes (see pic). On our second day we visited the Tower of London where we had an excellent guide, saw those fabulous crown jewels, ate lunch there and then took a leisurely boat ride down the Thames to Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey which we toured being led by a well informed docents. Then on to Starbucks (of course) and the ubiquitous underground. It was upon entry into London that we lost our bus and driver, Wallace. BUT not before walking hours on city streets past 10N Downing, the Horse Guard where we saw the changing of the guard, through St. James Park to Buckingham Palace and THEN to the underground. Douglas knows that tired campers are the best campers. We had a Bible Study and Eucharist in the hotel's garden before meeting to discuss the next day's activities. Saturday was spent moving to the next hotel Bailey's at Gloucester Road which was our last but very elegant hotel and across from many eateries and the underground. We were then "on your own" meaning that the kids could accompany the chaperones to various places of interest around London. Some went shopping at Camden, some to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham, other to the Imperial War Museum. All came together for supper at Covent Gardens before taking the long and crowded underground bak to the hotel. Sunday was spend traveling the Underground to Westminster Abbey for Sunday Eucharist which was sung by the chorister in Latin. The service included a Confirmation service for 10 choristers and ended with a full peal of those wonderful bells. This is the same place where kings and queens were crowned and Diana buried. Elisabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots and many noble people are buried there. It was a real privilege to be able to worship there. The British Museum with all its fantastic array of antiquities was next then on to Hyde Park for small boats and refreshments, then back to Soho for Fish and Chips, more walking and then the underground to the hotel, all of us just bushed (see pic). On our final day we packed, ate breakfast, celebrated the Eucharist together where we gave thanks for so many blessings in so short a time and took another bus to Heathrow where we sorrowfully said good bye to Douglas who gave us two fine weeks of his life, but not before he commended the group telling them that they were a credit to their faith and their Church and that they had done their country proud and please come again soon as we had bolstered the British economy!!