How BBC’s Pilgrimage left Adrain Chiles feeling ‘spiritually dispirited’

While borders have been closing around the world in response to the coronavirus pandemic, one show fans of foreign travel should still be able to enjoy is BBC Two travelogue Pilgrimage, which is returning for a third series.

Hot on the heels of their famous predecessors, who journeyed to Santiago and Rome, seven new celebrities have embarked on their own journey of discovery – this time to Istanbul.

Taking part this time was journalist Adrian Chiles, a converted Catholic; former politician Edwina Currie, a lapsed Jew; Olympian Fatima Whitbread, a Christian; broadcaster Mim Shaikh and TV presenter Amar Latif, both Muslims; and two confirmed atheists, comedian Dom Joly and actress Pauline McLynn.

The group spent just over two weeks living as simple pilgrims following an ancient 1,000km military route, which has been transformed into a modern-day path of peace.

Starting in Serbia’s capital city Belgrade, the pilgrims travelled through Bulgaria and the mountainous Balkans, before crossing the border into Turkey, with their goal of reaching Istanbul and the Suleymaniye Mosque.

Chiles says: “I just thought, ‘Well, I do really like talking about faith’ and I think there’s a misconception that people who come on and talk about faith get hammered for it.

“I did a little series called My Mediterranean, which was about God, and I never got any stick for it at all. I’m quite relaxed talking about faith and I thought there would be interesting things to learn and discussions to have.

“I found it spiritually dispiriting, if I can put it like that. Every place we stopped, there was evidence of unspeakable things that had been done to people in the name of religion, which was bugger all to do with religion.

“I’ve been asked, ‘Could you be a Muslim? A Jew? But it’s a meaningless question. It’s not about which religion, it’s where you are on the loony spectrum.”

Joly has a different take. “I’m totally non-religious and I just wanted to spend two weeks arguing with religious people and telling them how ridiculous they were, but actually they were all quite reasonable, so that didn’t really happen.

“I travel a lot; I write travel books and I like dark tourism. I walked across Lebanon last year so I thought that I needed another walk and my big hero is Patrick Leigh Fermor, who walked in the 1930s from London to Istanbul, so the idea of being able to do the same-ish journey as he did was just unbeatable.

“Everyone we met along the way was lovely and friendly, and yet you knew the things that they believed in are used to divide. That’s my problem with religion.

“I think it’s just the extraordinary contrast between the friendliness of the people but knowing that there’s this really deep-set division underneath it.”

Whitbread says she found the trip a moving personal experience.

“I am Christian; however, I am not devout. I believe in God and a higher power.

“I find that praying helps me in times of need. (This). He.  was a spiritual and eye-opening experience, both religiously and culturally. I thoroughly enjoyed the mountaineering, as well as walking through the villages and seeing local life in its simplicity.

“Experiencing a religious journey first hand has deepened my faith (but) I feel that it hasn’t changed me as such, it’s just increased my understanding of other people’s faith and increased my knowledge. It was an emotional journey that culminated in a powerful wholesome feeling when we arrived in Istanbul. It was one of my best experiences ever.”

Pilgrimage: The Road To Istanbul starts on BBC Two on Friday, March 27.