Orkney Part 2
St. Magnus Way: Egilsay
For a while now I’ve been interested in pilgrimage walks, and the one major goal I had for this time off was to walk the Way of St. Francis in Italy. But as I was thinking about going to Orkney, I considered starting with the St. Magnus Way walk, which follows the possible route of transporting the body of the martyred saint from Egilsay, where he was killed, to Birsay, and then eventually on to Kirkwall, where his bones remain today.
St. Magnus was killed on the island of Egilsay in 1117, and this island is the first stage of the pilgrimage. The route here is just a walk from one side of the island, past the memorial at the site of his execution, to the beach in the far side, and then on the return, a visit to the church that bears his name.
The day started out drizzly, but not too cold or windy. Later, as you will see, the sun came out (as seems to be the weather pattern here: always changing.)
I took a little detour since I had time before the next ferry, to take a walk out to a nature reserve, and maybe find an ancient cairn that I saw on a map.
The reserve is also on a farm, and this fascinates me since it often seems that using land for agriculture results in destruction of habitat for many species. This collaboration seeks to do something different. Dad would definitely be interested in having a chat with the farmers here. So on I traipsed, through the farmyard, across fields, and totally lost the path, got wet feet in a marshy area, and never found the cairn. But it was a beautiful day for wandering.
On the road out to the farm, near the crossroads and community centre was a mailbox for the Royal Mail. Speaking of the mail and the community centre, I’m very grateful to the Royal Mail driver who passed me as I was getting off the ferry and told me about the community centre with public toilets and a place to get a cup of tea.
Onward to St. Magnus church
I decided that on this pilgrimage, I would use my solitary walking time to learn (and memorize) the parts of the Italian liturgy I will need to know to participate in services once I arrive. On this walk I learned the Padre Nostro (The Lord’s Prayer). This is a great way to memorize, since there’s no one around except sheep and cattle to listen to you saying the same phrases over and over again. (It’s more challenging when you have walking poles and/or rain and are trying to check your scrap paper with the words as you learn it.)
Padre nostro che sei nei cieli,
sia santificato il tuo nome,
venga il tuo regno,
sia fatta la tua volontÃ
come in cielo così in terra.
Dacci oggi il nostro pane quotidiano,
e rimetti a noi i nostri debiti
come anche noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori,
e non abbandonarci alla tentazione,
ma liberaci dal male.
Oh yeah, and a couple of Grey Lag geese were listening to my recitations from this field as well.
A glorious double rainbow appeared when I was on the ferry after leaving Egilsay.
Then it was off to Kirkwall to make a quick grocery run – remember how I had almost no food in my last post? And then back to Rousay and my hostel for the night.