Walking into hope on pilgrimage

Faye Smith, writer and founder of Hope Walking, shares how personal tragedy led her to discover the healing power of modern-day pilgrimage. Now guiding others on purposeful walks of reflection and restoration, she invites people of any faith or none to experience the freedom and hope she has found.

When you hear the word ‘pilgrimage’, what do you think of? Monks self-flagellating on the way to Rome, The Wife of Bath preening on the way to Canterbury? Or more recently minor TV celebrities sharing their innermost thoughts on their way to Fatima?

A modern-day pilgrimage is simply a purposeful extended journey from one place of spiritual meaning to another, having set an intention. Those intentions fall into three categories: gratitude, penitence or supplication.