Somewhere to go
Well. Synchronicity being what it is I was pottering around the web page for the Isle of Arran (gorge walking? what gorge walking? ah yes, that gorge walking) and I came across the section about Holy Isle:
A quick click to the Holy Isle link takes me to a meditation course being held there next week, a quick phone call (yes, they still have places) and I'm booked in. All in the space of about five minutes.
It would appear to be a sort of meditation lite course run by some TV celebrity who, given that I don't watch TV, I've never heard of. Still, sounds like just what I need. It's part of some variety of Tibetan Buddhism but I'm assuming that's not a major part of the content.
No animals allowed, so no Maizy. All booked and sorted. Eight days on Holy Isle, five days camping, walking, bird-watching and picture-taking on Arran. Gosh I can be so decisive. I hope it doesn't rain too much.
This small island lies a mile off the Arran coast and rises a thousand feet out of the sea. It was the site of an early Christian monastery, but today it is the home of a Buddhist retreat. In 1263 before the Battle of Largs, the Norse king Haakon anchored his fleet in Lamlash Bay. The cave of Saint Molaise has Viking inscriptions which may have been made by sailors at this time.
A quick click to the Holy Isle link takes me to a meditation course being held there next week, a quick phone call (yes, they still have places) and I'm booked in. All in the space of about five minutes.
It would appear to be a sort of meditation lite course run by some TV celebrity who, given that I don't watch TV, I've never heard of. Still, sounds like just what I need. It's part of some variety of Tibetan Buddhism but I'm assuming that's not a major part of the content.
No animals allowed, so no Maizy. All booked and sorted. Eight days on Holy Isle, five days camping, walking, bird-watching and picture-taking on Arran. Gosh I can be so decisive. I hope it doesn't rain too much.
posted by tournesol at 11:02 am
7 Comments:
Have a good un. I was about to suggest the Yorkshire Dales on the earlier post but you'd sorted the perfect thing before I got here.
This promises to be quite the adventure for body and soul! Can't wait to hear the report...
This does sound wonderful... I hope for your sake it doesn't rain but we're so parched, here, that it sounds like bliss to me. Sorry about Maizy, though.
who is the minor celebrity? there are some dodgy Scottish Buddhists around.
Sounds wonderful indeed. That patch of sunlight is shining on you - may it continue to do so. I look forward to reports and photos. I think I saw something about standing stones and other ancient creations....
The minor celebrity is called Alistair Appleton and he blogs so he can't be all bad. And his most recent post is about a ceremony held on the island. The "flavour" of Buddhism is the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. So probably not so dodgy.
Someone called whiskey river has posted a poem by the extremely undodgy Seamus Heaney. It's the one that starts, "The annals say: when the monks..."
I connect that with these posts by you.
I wish I could hop on a plane and go gorge-walking with you. I remember with great fondness a long walk in the Cairngorms with a group of Scottish methodists.
But you're probably better off on your own.
Have a marvellous time.
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