Allusion Speculation (14): The Pilgrimage of Etheria
The earliest surviving memoir of a Christian pilgrimage was written by a French woman named Etheria in 380 AD. She traveled to many sites in the Holy Land, but one of the highlights was a trek along the Exodus route to follow Moses’ steps up Mount Sinai a thousand years earlier.
Bellamy’s climb up the mountain on Etherea will be a similar pilgrimage, retracing Bill “The Shepherd” Cadogan’s journey to enlightenment, also a thousand years earlier.
It’s been my observation that those who go on pilgrimages come back with either a renewed sense of purpose or heightened disillusionment - to the point where they can be virtually unrecognizable to those waiting for them at home.
Anyway, here is a fun trail map of the direct ascent up Mount Sinai, called the “Stairs of Repentance.”