Shared Solitude - Pilgrimage retreats on Iona
17th - 24th April 2027 & 25th September - 2nd October 2027
A guided week long pilgrimage experience on the Isle of Iona with two local pilgrim guides and spiritual directors. Join us for this walking pilgrimage on the island of Iona. There will be time to walk in silence, reflect in companionship, and listen for the movement of God in your life.
Come as a small group, come as an individual, come as friends, come as you are. We'll journey together and linger in the ancient, wild and rugged places of Iona.
Allowing the space for Iona to do its thing.
New for 2027 - two optional group breath-work sessions with an Iona based trained breath work facilitator.
Your companions on the way
Sarah Akehurst
Sarah Akehurst
Sarah Akehurst
Sarah trained as a spiritual director in the Ignatian tradition with the Epiphany Group in Scotland. She has lived on Iona for eight years and has a deep connection to the island. Before coming to Iona, she worked for many years in the field of adoption in North East Scotland. She is an enthusiastic walker and explorer of Hebridean islands, a writer and an oblate of Pluscarden Abbey in Moray.
Wendy Lloyd
Sarah Akehurst
Sarah Akehurst
Wendy trained as a spiritual director with Sarum College, Salisbury and is also a qualified mountain leader. She often guides pilgrims across the Isle of Mull, where she lives, on their way to or from Iona. She also offers equine facilitated therapeutic groundwork with her ponies. Her first visit to Iona in 2008 was truly transformational. She has lived on the Ross of Mull for eight years.
Pilgrimage walks
Spiritual accompaniment
Spiritual accompaniment
Spiritual accompaniment
Spiritual accompaniment
Spiritual accompaniment
Guided breathwork
Spiritual accompaniment
Guided breathwork
More information
The flow of our time together
Shared Solitude is a walking pilgrimage on the island of Iona. There will be time to walk and sit in silence, reflect in companionship, and listen for the movement of God in your life.
We will walk to different parts of the island, and respond to an invitation to connect and linger there. There will be times we will share together and regular slots made available for individual sessions of spiritual direction or accompaniment.
Spiritual direction or accompaniment provides an opportunity to listen together for how God is moving in and through your life.
Dates
17th - 24th April 2027
25th September - 2nd October 2027
Location
This pilgrimage retreat is on the Isle of Iona, in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. We will stay together at Bishop's House on Iona.
Accommodation
Accommodation will be at Bishop's House on Iona and is included in the retreat fee.
Cost
£1275 per person for the week.
The retreat fee includes accommodation and all meals, guided walks and group sessions, individual sessions of spiritual accompaniment. Travel is not included.
This can be paid in 2 installments - a non-refundable deposit of 50% the cost at the time of booking and then the other 50% by a month before the retreat begins - also non- refundable. If someone cancels and the place can be filled by someone else then the money can be refunded.
We appreciate that this amount is not affordable for everyone so we are delighted that the Society of Retreat Conductors are willing to provide some financial support to those who require it. Send us an e-mail if you would like to enquire about this possible funding and we'll put you in touch.
Recommended fitness levels
This retreat includes gentle walking most days — generally 3 to 6 miles, sometimes on uneven or rocky terrain. Participants should have a reasonable level of fitness and be comfortable walking outdoors in varying weather conditions.
Travel
The journey to Iona is itself something of a pilgrimage. The Isle of Iona is reached by ferry from Fionnphort on the Isle of Mull. Mull is accessible by ferry from Oban on the Scottish mainland. We'll send detailed travel information and suggestions once your booking is confirmed.