It is certainly true that in the midst of competing claims on their time and energy, for many people formal worship is relegated to a leisure-time activity. The latter sort are more likely to explore spiritual paths. The path of pilgrimage offers new settings that can stimulate us, make us more alert and open to wonder, fascination, and awe. Thus pilgrimage consists of more than a physical movement away from home to new surroundings, for it is an inward journey as well as an outward journey, into the self as well as to new places. A helpful image for me is that of pilgrims needing bifocal vision, so that they can look at objects and places from far off as well as close up.
Pilgrimage consists of both a visit to a place and a meditative consideration within oneself.
Thus a pilgrim's exploration of movement is not a distraction from the spiritual quest, but the quest itself. I have become aware that my silence at a holy shrine is not because I have ceased to look for new details, but comes from a feeling of reverence. I am willling simply to be a pilgrim. I wondered if I could slow down the passage of time without impairing the sense of freedom that my first week had brought. In my pocket was a British Rail pass, an open two-week railway ticket purchased before leaving home.