FIVE biking vicars are heading off on a two-wheel pilgrimage from the Yorkshire Dales to the Scottish island of Iona, known as the “cradle of Christianity".
A total of ten bikes will set off on the pilgrimage next Monday, April 20, and as well as the clergy bikers there will be five lay riders and four pillion passengers.
Their 725-mile round trip will take in Kielder Forest, Edinburgh, Glencoe, Mull, Oban, Iona and then Glasgow and Gretna Green on the return leg.
They will be setting off as a group from St Matthew’s Church at Leyburn, the church of one of the vicars, the Reverend Canon Michael Hepper.
“This is very different kind of retreat to any I’ve experienced before,” he said.
“I will be riding an Indian-built Royal Enfield single-cylinder Bullet made for the India Army and flying the flag for Wensley Deanery.
“Since this will be virtually the bike's maiden voyage I hope I won’t spend the trip stranded on the roadside.”
He added: “We will be riding as a group so it will be a good exercise in caring for one another along the way.
“It should be both a spiritual experience and an adventure but we will probably all need a holiday afterwards to recover.”
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