I find the mountains to be a spiritual place, somewhere that stretches me beyond my limits and my sense of what I know. I’ve written a short book about this, Following Jesus in the Great Outdoors (which, as the picture above shows, made it to the summit of Kilimanjaro), and I run mountain pilgrimages for different churches and Christian organisations. If you’d like me to organise something like this for you, get in touch.

Mountain Pilgrimages

The next Mountain Pilgrimage events will be held at Abernethy Kilmalieu in Ardgour, near Fort William, from 24-28 May 2027 and 3-7 September 2027. Keep an eye on their Retreats page for more information.

Wisdom From The Wilderness

Wisdom From The Wilderness is a free online course produced by the Guild of Health, based on a lecture I gave for them in 2022, filmed over 2 days on Blencathra in the Lake District. You get to watch the 30-minute lecture as part of the course.

Take the ‘Wisdom From The Wilderness’ course

Through this course, you will explore how creation, community and quietness can bring healing and deepen your relationship with God. You will also be invited to notice how wilderness wisdom can shape everyday life, helping you cultivate attentiveness, simplicity and a sense of travelling light.

Richard’s approach is rooted in paying close attention to people and place. He teaches others to read the land, notice the conditions and understand themselves, walking with the natural rhythms of the day. His hope is to create space for learners to move beyond their limits, to tread lightly and to consider the kind of footprints they want to leave in the world. Whether on a hillside or in everyday life, he invites us to explore what responsible, ethical and faith filled adventure can look like (From the course information page)

Following Jesus in the Great Outdoors

This short book is an expanded version of the material used in the ‘Wisdom From The Wilderness’ course.

“Mountaineering should not and cannot be only about oneself. ‘The geography helps in forcing a breakthrough to something beyond our previously-conceived limits of being’ (Belden Lane, 1998, The Solace of Fierce Landscapes). God becomes possible. From the biblical narratives of Moses and the people of Israel in the Sinai desert, through Jesus’s own wilderness temptations to the example of the early desert monastics in Egypt, Palestine and Syria, wilderness landscapes have featured significantly in the development of Christian spirituality” (Following Jesus in the Great Outdoors, p11).

“I come to the mountains not to conquer them, but to immerse myself in their incomprehensible immensity – so much bigger than we are – to better comprehend humility and patience” (Alex Lowe, in Joe Simpson, 2003, The Beckoning Silence).