The Kindness of Others
Over a year ago, while I was living as a volunteer at Hilfield Friary, in all my conversations and prayers, I was led back to one thing.
A great pilgrimage, exploring the UK, seeking God in all things, and finding the beauty in this land.
I’m relying on the kindness of others, seeking hospitality within the many traditions and cultures which make up this country.
I’ve set the Holy Island of Lindisfarne as my finishing point, but I don’t know if I’ll be finished by then, and it’s not about getting there.
It’s about looking for answers, looking for joy, spending time with God, and the great adventure of it all.
An excerpt from my blog:
The night before I set out
It’s 11pm on Sunday 12th October, and tomorrow morning I set out on my great adventure.
For the last 2 years, I have made my home at Hilfield Friary, in Dorset, living in community with others, learning practical skills, like catering, gardening and land conservation, but much more significantly, changing so much as a person, becoming more comfortable in my own skin. I moved here when I was 19, unsure, anxious and with no idea what the future would hold.
I still have no idea what the future will hold, at least long term. But I am placing the next period of my life into God’s hands, and seeking my future. I will walk where it pleases me, looking for the divine in all things, and in every person I meet along the way. I am absolutely terrified.
I have trust in my planning. It’s been well over a year of planning my pilgrimage, gathering the things I need, mapping routes, finding places to stay. I’m mostly worried that I don’t have the mental fortitude to actually go through with what I’ve been dreaming of for the last year. I worry I’ll give up when it gets painful and difficult, mostly because I’ve never tried anything like this before.
There are two big questions I don’t have a concrete answer for. The first is: when will I finish my pilgrimage? I’ll be finished when I’m finished, is my only answer. I have plans that take me through to next October, but I don’t know that that will mark the end of my pilgrimage. Perhaps the end of one chapter. The second question is: what will you do afterwards?
I don’t know. I don’t know at all. I’m not taking a break from something else to go on a pilgrimage, then to return. It may be the case that I return to live at the Friary, but it may not. I hugely recognise the privilege I have to be able to do what I am doing, and I am so grateful for the financial, practical and emotional support I have received, from friends and online.
I will be changed, by this experience. I am only 21, which is the oldest I’ve ever been, but I feel so small. And I am ready to be sculpted. I am so, so excited for a great journey, a big adventure, and to be changed.
Amy’s Blog
You can follow Amy on her Pilgrimage:
BBC Sounds Interview
Here you can hear Harry Kille-Smith talking to Amy Claire Bowen
TikTok Pilgrim leaves Dorset Friary behind
Amy Claire Bowen is from Southampton and for the last two years she has lived at Hillfield Friary, a Christian community in Dorset.
On October 13th she set off from the Friary, intending to spend a year on pilgrimage to Lindisfarne in the North East.
Amy Claire is an avid TikTok-er and, alongside living in community at the friary, enjoys selling her wares and teaching her followers about life at a friary.
Harry Kille-Smith met her as she made a pit-stop in Swanage.
