A pilgrim who stayed
![Iain Tweedale [Caldey]](https://stdavids.contentfiles.net/media/images/thumbnail_Iain_Tweedale_pic.width-500.jpg)
Iain Tweedale describes the consequences of a life-changing journey…to Caldey Island
Although I was raised as a Christian, I rejected it as a teenager and got on with my life, choosing to ignore my roots. Years later I returned following an inspirational Alpha course. The course led me to become a ‘Christian of the Mind’ but I only became a ‘Christian of the Heart’ following a visit to Caldey Island.
The twenty-minute boat ride from Tenby transported me to another world, a thin place in Celtic terms, where the gap between heaven and earth is small. The feeling of peace was almost tangible in the walk from the landing slip into the village. One day on a walk through the woods, that also happen to be home to seventy or so red squirrels, I felt an incredible sense of peace, empathy and love. I can only describe it as an experience of the Holy Spirit and it changed everything from my goals in life through to my prayer life.
The same spiritual energy had also attracted the early Christians with the first monastery on the island being established in the sixth century. The current abbey is the finest example of Arts & Crafts Movement architecture in Wales, and was established before the First World War by Anglicans seeking to revive monasticism in the Church of England. Today the abbey is home to eight Roman Catholic Cistercians of the Strict Observance, also known as Trappists.
Once I got to know the monks it became clear that my expectations of a rigid and dogmatic way of life couldn’t be further from the truth. They taught me how to apply some of their practices such as meditation and lectio divina (divine reading) to life in the outside world and their wisdom and friendship is a constant source of spiritual growth.
In more recent times I have come to help run the island and I love to share what I have learned with some of the 50,000 visitors who come to Caldey each year. My hope is that some of these people who arrive just as visitors get to feel the spiritual energy of the island and end up leaving as pilgrims on their own spiritual journeys. In the words of Jesus: “Come and See.”
Caldey Island is open from Easter to October, with boats travelling from Tenby harbour every Monday to Saturday, weather permitting.