The clock is ticking on this pilgrimage as it winds down. I’m writing from a campground in Melvich on Wednesday. And, God willing (everything is God willing), I will walk into John O’Groats on Saturday morning.

So many of my thoughts have been turning to some sort of summary, or gathering together of loose threads, or working out what I have learned from this 1,000 mile walk the length of the United Kingdom.

You won’t get that in this post.

It will take me a good long while to put together some sort of “what I did on my spring break” report. But I can probably dribble out smaller, shorter posts over the near future.

There is this: after I get to John O’Groats, my time here is not quite over. I’ve been given the chance to spend a few days on the island of Iona (no direct relation to the college that bought my New York alma mater’s campus). It will be a time to sit still with this experience and to begin to work out some of its implications for the rest of my life.

This sitting and reflecting is something that I think would be helpful to Appalachian Trail hikers. Usually, they are in a hurry to get back to their off-Trail lives. They’ve been away for 5 or 6 months. But my situation in life is different. And I can afford the time.

And I’m blessed with a wife who understands these things better than I do.