Many in isolation are desperate for travel. I, meanwhile, have been travelling in order to find isolation.
Inspired by a 13th-century Cistercian wall at the bottom of my garden in Norfolk, a couple of years ago I began visiting some of the great religious houses of Britain and then traced the route of monasticism from the desert fathers of Egypt into Europe.
The Buddhist monasteries created another thread. All offered spiritual balm. As St Aelred, abbot of Rievaulx monastery in Yorkshire, said: ‘Everywhere peace, everywhere serenity and a marvellous freedom from the tumult of the world.’ Researching my book, The Interior Silence, I visited ten monasteries across the globe to examine different aspects of monastic wisdom. Some are harder to reach than others, but each has its own beauty.