In 1983, following the successful performance of Shaun Davey's work The Brendan Voyage the previous year, The Festival Interceltique de Lorient commissioned Davey to compose The Lorient Festival Suite for orchestra and Celtic soloists representing the seven Celtic countries or regions (Scotland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, Galicia) and it was a recording of this concert that was released, on vinyl, in the same year by Tara Music under the title of The Pilgrim.

Despite the success of the initial performance and subsequent LP release Davey realised that the work needed a thread to hold it together.

He introduced the concept of a journey by St. Colum Cille through the Celtic countries which provided the missing thread from the earlier work.

With a number of performances scheduled for the piece in the millennium year, Shaun took the opportunity to revise and extend the suite.

As the overall length of the suite was now beyond that of a conventional CD, the additional tracks were on a later release 'May We Never Have To Goodbye' also on the Tara Music label.