Retreat from the world

Sara and I sat on the pebbles as Zoë, her dog, skittered ahead on her sharp claws. Like a spiritual goal, Zoë disappeared at intervals, where the beach dipped or a boulder proved too irresistible a surface not to pee on.

Sara had recently returned from a 40-day, silent retreat in the Sinai Desert.

‘I like desert silence better than any other sort,’ said Sara. ‘Because it is very, intensely silent.’

I had come to south-western Scotland to talk to Sara Maitland – writer, Catholic convert and recluse – about her decision, 24 years ago at the age of 47, to break with family and friends and commit to a life of silence and solitude.

Compared with the great highland