0:00:02 > 0:00:06For centuries, pilgrimage was one of the greatest adventures.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11Epic journeys around the country.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17You're going the wrong way! This is the Pilgrims' Way to Canterbury.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19And across the world!
0:00:28 > 0:00:33I'll be retracing the steps of our ancestors.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35HE GROANS
0:00:35 > 0:00:40This is the spot where...Jesus is said to have been born.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44Exploring the hidden...
0:00:44 > 0:00:48- KNOCKING - Some people might think this is quite macabre.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50..and the darker side of pilgrimage.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54What this gives a sense of is the scale of prostitution.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59And discovering why so many modern pilgrims are taking to the road.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03- ALL CHANT - Come on, now, that was incredible!
0:01:04 > 0:01:07My journey takes me from the north of England to Canterbury,
0:01:07 > 0:01:10then through France into northern Spain,
0:01:10 > 0:01:14across the Alps to Italy and on to the Eternal City.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16Rome!
0:01:18 > 0:01:21I travel East into Turkey, across the Mediterranean,
0:01:21 > 0:01:25into the Holy Land, and on to my final destination...Jerusalem.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30It's a gob-smacker. It's a breath-taker-awayer.
0:01:44 > 0:01:49My starting point was the beautiful and wild coast of Northumberland.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54From here I would head south on a 400-mile journey
0:01:54 > 0:01:56learning about the history of pilgrimage
0:01:56 > 0:01:59and visiting spectacular sights along the way.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07So how do we define a pilgrimage?
0:02:07 > 0:02:09One of the best definitions I've seen
0:02:09 > 0:02:12is that it's a journey away from home
0:02:12 > 0:02:15in search of spiritual well-being.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18And it's part of every major faith.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25I'm...not a religious person, although I wish I was.
0:02:25 > 0:02:30I was brought up as a Methodist, but that faith lapsed long ago.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34I think the main reason I'm doing this is because I'm a traveller.
0:02:34 > 0:02:39I'm fascinated by how our ancestors travelled
0:02:39 > 0:02:43and what inspires people today to go on pilgrimage.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48It seemed right to begin my journey at one of the earliest sights
0:02:48 > 0:02:52of Christian pilgrimage in Britain, the mystical island of Lindisfarne.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56Just look at the sea out here!
0:02:56 > 0:02:59It's like molten silver.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04The island is three miles off the coast.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08I followed a line of posts that mark out the pilgrims' crossing
0:03:08 > 0:03:11which emerged from the North Sea twice a day at low tide.
0:03:13 > 0:03:14HE SIGHS
0:03:16 > 0:03:20It's a bit muddy...but then every journey needs a bit of jeopardy.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24It helps you to feel alive.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26Oh, goodness!
0:03:26 > 0:03:29Look, you can just make out the top of somebody's welly...
0:03:29 > 0:03:32which didn't quite make it.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39The sensible thing, of course, is to go round.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41Ahh!
0:03:41 > 0:03:43HE LAUGHS
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Well, at least I kept my boots on!
0:03:50 > 0:03:55Medieval Britons were told that journeys of endurance, suffering and sacrifice
0:03:55 > 0:03:58to a holy site could help them to find a place in heaven.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01Back then, pilgrimage was an integral part of their lives.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08Look at all these...cars! I'm blown away by this.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15Clearly there are easier ways of getting to Holy Island,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18but...not as much fun as walking.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Some of the country's first pioneering Christians
0:04:21 > 0:04:26went to Holy Island during the Dark Ages more than 1,300 years ago.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30Now more than half a million visitors make the crossing every year,
0:04:30 > 0:04:34drawn largely by history and wild nature.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38It is absolutely beautiful here.
0:04:39 > 0:04:44In coming here, I am travelling in the footsteps
0:04:44 > 0:04:48of two monks turned saints called Aidan and Cuthbert,
0:04:48 > 0:04:53who respectively founded and then ran a monastery here.
0:04:53 > 0:04:59They became legends. They helped to spread Christianity throughout Britain...
0:04:59 > 0:05:03and their story stills draws pilgrims to the island now.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08Aidan arrived here in the year 635.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12Choosing this dramatic but windswept haven in the North Sea
0:05:12 > 0:05:16as a place for prayer and a base from which to convert the pagan mainland.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20I'm sure the...remoteness of this island
0:05:20 > 0:05:25will have helped the monks to lead a life of contemplation.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28Part of the reason they chose the island
0:05:28 > 0:05:31was because, actually, it's very connected.
0:05:31 > 0:05:36In early medieval times, people will have travelled by sea because it was easier
0:05:36 > 0:05:40and it was safer than travelling by land or on foot or on horseback.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44So rather than being isolated, this island was actually a transport hub.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49It was one of Aidan's followers, Cuthbert,
0:05:49 > 0:05:55whose saintly deeds on Holy Island really captured the imagination of Dark Age Britons.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57Tales about him spread around the country
0:05:57 > 0:06:01and pilgrims were soon arriving here, hoping for miracles and healing.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05Cuthbert's now regarded as the patron saint of the north.
0:06:05 > 0:06:06GULL SCREECHES
0:06:06 > 0:06:08Oh, it's beautiful!
0:06:08 > 0:06:11It's just got that simple wildness.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16Reverend Graham Booth came here as a pilgrim 11 years ago.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18He now runs a retreat on the island.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23What do you think were the elements of Cuthbert's life
0:06:23 > 0:06:28that would have been interesting and, I suppose, inspiring really
0:06:28 > 0:06:31to our ancestors more than 1,000 years ago?
0:06:31 > 0:06:34You can see this water and you know what it's like here,
0:06:34 > 0:06:38- it's pretty chilly.- Hmm. Even on a sunny day?- Even on a sunny day.
0:06:38 > 0:06:44To go and stand in that and to pray takes a level of devotion that most people don't have,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47and that becomes something that people look up to.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50There's a story associated with him
0:06:50 > 0:06:54about the night when he spent a lot of time praying up to his chest in the water,
0:06:54 > 0:07:00and came back up the beach and it was witnessed
0:07:00 > 0:07:04that some otters came and warmed and dried his feet.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07- Otter foot-warmers! - Otter foot-warmers, yes.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12I wanted to understand pilgrimage.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18I wasn't trying to be a pilgrim, but I was still keen to get any hints and advice from Graham
0:07:18 > 0:07:20about how a modern pilgrim should be travelling.
0:07:23 > 0:07:29For me, there's a clear sense that the exterior, the landscape,
0:07:29 > 0:07:36is something that helps us to begin to identify what our inner landscape is actually like
0:07:36 > 0:07:38and what that tells us.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41So should I be looking for my inner landscape on this journey?
0:07:41 > 0:07:43Well, perhaps you should.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47- I'd love to know if I've got one. - Well, I'm sure you have got one.
0:07:49 > 0:07:54During medieval times, huge numbers of Britons went on pilgrimage.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56Some local, some long distance.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03In the UK now, religious pilgrimage is no longer the mass movement it once was,
0:08:03 > 0:08:06but people are still drawn to Lindisfarne,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09whether for religious reasons or just for its sheer beauty.
0:08:11 > 0:08:18People were coming here as visitors and pilgrims 1,300 years ago!
0:08:19 > 0:08:23It is an astonishing sweep of human history.
0:08:24 > 0:08:30And I suppose being here now I feel like another tiny link in the chain
0:08:30 > 0:08:34that connects me back with distant ancestors.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37Perhaps that's part of what draws us to places like this,
0:08:37 > 0:08:42to have a connection with the past, be part of something meaningful.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45I think it certainly does for me.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51Lindisfarne was one of the first,
0:08:51 > 0:08:56but by the 1300s there were shrines to saints across the entire country.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01I was heading south to visit the star attraction of the time,
0:09:01 > 0:09:05the shrine of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11Becket was the archbishop whose murder by Henry II's knights,
0:09:11 > 0:09:13because he refused to submit to the King,
0:09:13 > 0:09:16captured the imagination of the Christian world.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22Canterbury became THE major British pilgrimage site.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25Up to an astonishing 200,000 medieval pilgrims
0:09:25 > 0:09:27would travel there each year.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29That's almost one in ten of a national population
0:09:29 > 0:09:32of just two and a half million.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34Pilgrimage...got Britain on the move.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41I still try and get a nice cuppa in of an afternoon
0:09:41 > 0:09:44wherever I am on my travels.
0:09:44 > 0:09:50Perfect! A refreshing brew...to keep the weary pilgrim on the road.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57There would have been many reasons why our ancestors went on pilgrimage.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Some of them would have been devoted Christians, of course,
0:10:00 > 0:10:01they would have been pious.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04Others would have gone more for reasons of punishment
0:10:04 > 0:10:07or for penance for their sins.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11Some would have been hoping for a better life or for healing.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13And then there would have been some, I'm sure,
0:10:13 > 0:10:17who would have gone because it was a chance for adventure.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19Remember, they were tied often to the land,
0:10:19 > 0:10:23and pilgrimage could have been their one opportunity in life
0:10:23 > 0:10:25to see what was over the hill.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30The pilgrimage journeys of medieval Britons
0:10:30 > 0:10:34could vary from a trip to a shrine in the next parish
0:10:34 > 0:10:39to a long trek across the country and even beyond into foreign lands.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41The offerings pilgrims took with them
0:10:41 > 0:10:44financed some of our most treasured religious buildings.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50The legacy of their journeys
0:10:50 > 0:10:53are the network of holy sites peppered throughout the country.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01Any medieval pilgrim heading south from Holy Island in the North East
0:11:01 > 0:11:04would have the option of stopping at dozens of shrines along the way.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09They could have gone to the cathedral at Durham,
0:11:09 > 0:11:11that great statement of Norman power.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15They could have visited the city of York,
0:11:15 > 0:11:16the second holiest in the country.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21But they wouldn't have wanted to miss the building I headed to next
0:11:21 > 0:11:23in the city of Lincoln.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26CHURCH BELLS CHIME
0:11:26 > 0:11:30700 years ago, Lincoln was one of the largest cities in Britain.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33It was also a major centre of pilgrimage
0:11:33 > 0:11:35with travellers coming from across the land
0:11:35 > 0:11:38to visit one of the great wonders of the age.
0:11:40 > 0:11:41HE GASPS
0:11:42 > 0:11:44It's...spectacular!
0:11:46 > 0:11:53Just imagine the holy shock a medieval pilgrim would have felt
0:11:53 > 0:11:55arriving here for the first time
0:11:55 > 0:11:59and seeing a building of this...size!
0:11:59 > 0:12:01Of this scale!
0:12:03 > 0:12:06From the early 1300s right up until the Tudor period,
0:12:06 > 0:12:10this was the tallest building on the planet.
0:12:16 > 0:12:17HE GASPS
0:12:19 > 0:12:22It does take the veneration of the Almighty
0:12:22 > 0:12:27to inspire and to justify the creation of this building.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30There's a depth and a meaning
0:12:30 > 0:12:33that is completely lacking...from modern life.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41Through patterns and codes the architecture of the cathedral
0:12:41 > 0:12:45reveals a pathway through life and into heaven.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47The building itself spoke to our ancestors
0:12:47 > 0:12:50in a language they could understand.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53John Campbell, the dean's verger,
0:12:53 > 0:12:57was on hand to translate the building for me as a modern visitor.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00You're on a journey, you've been walking a long way,
0:13:00 > 0:13:02and those medieval pilgrims
0:13:02 > 0:13:05might have thought the journey was at an end, but they were just starting,
0:13:05 > 0:13:10because the journey from that end of the cathedral to the east end of the cathedral is a journey through life.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14We're in the nave of the cathedral, comes from the Latin "navus",
0:13:14 > 0:13:16the navy has its ships that take you on a journey,
0:13:16 > 0:13:18we have the navus ship, the vessel,
0:13:18 > 0:13:20to take you on a journey from this world.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25When you looked up at the cathedral there was a lot of symbolism.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27Look at the ribs of the vaults going up there.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30Turn it upside down and you've got the hull of a ship,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33the vessel to help you on that journey through life.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36And then gave you a foretaste of heaven even more so
0:13:36 > 0:13:39as you go further east...in what I call the God spots,
0:13:39 > 0:13:42some people call it the church within a church.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44- Can we see the God spots?- Let's go to the God spot.
0:13:44 > 0:13:49Because this is what we're about here, we're walking through the body and through this pilgrimage
0:13:49 > 0:13:53and here we're coming to the outstretched arms of the cross.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55Christ opening his arms to welcome people in
0:13:55 > 0:13:59and inviting them to go further and to give them a foretaste of heaven.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05Now you get heavily carved areas.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09You get richness, you get fragments of medieval paint,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12blue, red and maybe even gold.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15Most medieval pilgrims arriving here and seeing this for the first time
0:14:15 > 0:14:18would never have seen a sight like this.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22Beautifully painted, vivid, dramatic colours,
0:14:22 > 0:14:25drawing you in, it's advertising almost,
0:14:25 > 0:14:27"If you're good enough, come through."
0:14:27 > 0:14:29- It's almost saying the best is yet to come.- Yeah.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36So here's the church within a church.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40All of a sudden it becomes ecclesiastical, it becomes ordered.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42This is the brains, this is the intellect,
0:14:42 > 0:14:44this is where the preaching and the teaching
0:14:44 > 0:14:47has gone on for years and years and years.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52We're now going to go to the mystery, into the unknown,
0:14:52 > 0:14:54into heaven itself.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59You're arriving at that new Jerusalem.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01This is that which lies beyond.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05And when you look up here, you can see a lot of clear glass to let light in.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13Medieval pilgrims arriving here in the 1300s
0:15:13 > 0:15:17would have sought salvation and healing at the shrine of St Hugh,
0:15:17 > 0:15:19a former Bishop of Lincoln.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24In life, he oversaw the building of the cathedral.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26In death, he was held responsible for miracles.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31Although if you wanted his blessings,
0:15:31 > 0:15:34it helped if you gave generously to his church.
0:15:43 > 0:15:48For my family and friends and...and for travellers.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53Pilgrims of all types.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05The desperation and donations of pilgrims
0:16:05 > 0:16:07once helped to make this cathedral rich.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13Lincoln still draws in the visitors but not the crowds of the past,
0:16:13 > 0:16:17and most today seem to marvel more at the architecture
0:16:17 > 0:16:20than at the message it once conveyed.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24With church attendance on the slide and donations from pilgrims falling,
0:16:24 > 0:16:28I wonder what the future holds for these monumental buildings.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33The cathedral is already on the English Heritage At Risk list.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36What's really surprised me about coming to the cathedral
0:16:36 > 0:16:39is just how few people there are here.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41They get thousands of visitors, of course they do,
0:16:41 > 0:16:45but they don't get tens of thousands like other attractions in the country,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49who would provide the money to keep the place going,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54It's a crying shame. This is...this is Britain.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56Britain rendered into stone.
0:16:56 > 0:17:00Our passion, our history, our beliefs!
0:17:03 > 0:17:08This for me is also...one of the finest buildings in the world.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18I feel like I'm learning a lot about pilgrimage,
0:17:18 > 0:17:21but I'm not meeting many pilgrims.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25And there's an event at a remote village in Norfolk
0:17:25 > 0:17:26that I really want to get to,
0:17:26 > 0:17:29so I've hired a car and I'm heading there.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32I've just got time for one stop along the way.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34My fascination with pilgrimage
0:17:34 > 0:17:37isn't just about what past travellers believed,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40but also how they travelled and what they ate.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43Ohh! Caroline? I stopped off at a transport cafe
0:17:43 > 0:17:46to meet medieval food historian Caroline Yeldham.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48Simon Reeve. Hello.
0:17:49 > 0:17:55As a medieval pilgrim, it wouldn't have been uncommon for strangers to take me in and feed me.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58Monasteries considered it their Christian duty
0:17:58 > 0:17:59to offer at least a meal.
0:17:59 > 0:18:05And there were a growing number of inns springing up along highways feeding merchants and pilgrims.
0:18:05 > 0:18:10Now to me, that looks...like there's a certain medieval quality to it,
0:18:10 > 0:18:12big hunks of meat there.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16Is this the sort of thing that would have been eaten in the medieval times?
0:18:16 > 0:18:20If you're of the right social status or in the right household,
0:18:20 > 0:18:23on days when you're allowed to eat meat,
0:18:23 > 0:18:26which excludes Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
0:18:26 > 0:18:31And at Lent and Advent and Pentecost there are dietary limitations as well.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34- And as a pilgrim?- You should be eating fish.
0:18:34 > 0:18:39There is a Latin pun between carne, which means meat, and carnality.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42And they discouraged anybody
0:18:42 > 0:18:48who was dedicated in a religious way particularly from eating...from eating meat.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51Because it was in some way associated with or seen
0:18:51 > 0:18:53as an encouragement to sin.
0:18:53 > 0:18:58- Absolutely.- In other meaty, fleshy ways, shall we say?
0:18:58 > 0:19:01Whereas fish, which are watery in nature,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04are much less likely to entice you to sin.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06- They do look good though. - SHE LAUGHS
0:19:06 > 0:19:09That's part of the point, you're resisting temptation,
0:19:09 > 0:19:10it's good for your soul.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14Caroline had graciously agreed to cook me up a taste of the past.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24We travel further and we travel faster now,
0:19:24 > 0:19:30but...it's lost some of its allure, I feel, and certainly romance as we've speeded up.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34There was a time when cars pottered along slowly,
0:19:34 > 0:19:38and obviously a time before that when horses cantered,
0:19:38 > 0:19:43and people would...they would take in the journey.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47Perhaps that's part of the pilgrimage for me
0:19:47 > 0:19:54is just a chance and an opportunity to just take it a bit slower and reflect a bit more.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58And, of course, then eat.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00Ohh!
0:20:00 > 0:20:03- That's a full tray. - SHE LAUGHS
0:20:03 > 0:20:05Thank you so much.
0:20:05 > 0:20:06What have we got?
0:20:06 > 0:20:09We have a vegetable potage,
0:20:09 > 0:20:14some fried perch served with a green sauce...and apple fritters.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17- Apple fritters?!- Yes.
0:20:17 > 0:20:18Oh, fantastic! Pud.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20So we start with the potage.
0:20:20 > 0:20:25The potage is made from broad beans and mixed herbs and vegetables.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28- Leeks and carrots and onions.- OK.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35- It's very good!- Thank you.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39Medieval food has quite a bad reputation, I think.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41- You don't...- It does and it's completely undeserved.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45I think the dishes are delicious and healthy
0:20:45 > 0:20:47and more people should try them.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50I think I'm just hungry, I'm just greedy.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52SHE LAUGHS
0:20:52 > 0:20:57Many medieval workers consumed up to 5,000 calories per day.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00that's almost twice our recommended intake.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04But experts think the low-fat vegetable rich medieval diet
0:21:04 > 0:21:07was often better for the heart than modern starchy diets.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09OK.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13It's delicious!
0:21:13 > 0:21:16Apple fritters, when does the recipe for these come from?
0:21:16 > 0:21:19It's late 14th century.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21All that time. Is this sugar?
0:21:21 > 0:21:23There is a little sugar on there.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25Probably ought to have used honey for a pilgrim,
0:21:25 > 0:21:27but I thought I'd treat you.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29HE LAUGHS
0:21:30 > 0:21:33Thank you. That was absolutely delicious.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36A real joy to eat and fantastic to learn about.
0:21:36 > 0:21:38I'm just hoping I can sneak this away.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45Well, that was fascinating and I loved the food.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47Now on to Walsingham.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53Some religious sites around the world attract millions of pilgrims.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56I was heading to a small Norfolk town
0:21:56 > 0:21:58which is one of the few places in Britain
0:21:58 > 0:22:00where pilgrims still go in large numbers,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03some 300,000 every year.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07These pilgrims are part of a tradition
0:22:07 > 0:22:10dating back almost 1,000 years.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14A shrine was established here by a Saxon noblewoman.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17In the year 1061, she had a vision.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21The Virgin Mary asked her to build a replica of the house in Nazareth
0:22:21 > 0:22:25- where the Angel Gabriel announced she would give birth to Jesus. - ALL SING
0:22:25 > 0:22:28By Tudor times, hundreds of thousands of Britons
0:22:28 > 0:22:31were trekking here from across the country.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33- So you come here regularly every year?- Every year.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36- Gives us a chance to catch up. - We catch up with people.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38Is it an opportunity also for you
0:22:38 > 0:22:42- to recharge your spiritual batteries?- Recharge, yeah.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44- Yes. Yeah.- Ever so.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46- Can I slot in with you?- Yes.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50- Why are you here today, can we ask? - This is my first time.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53- First time? Is it going OK so far? - Yep, lovely.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56- There are worse ways to spend a bank holiday, aren't there? - That's it, yeah.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59ALL SING
0:22:59 > 0:23:01In the places I've visited so far,
0:23:01 > 0:23:06I've often felt that many of the people there were visitors and tourists rather than pilgrims,
0:23:06 > 0:23:14but here now, this feels as close as I've really got to an encounter with genuine real pilgrims.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18- ALL SING - But for centuries, pilgrimage was a rare sight here.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20500 years ago, Henry VIII
0:23:20 > 0:23:23split the Church of England from Catholicism
0:23:23 > 0:23:26and turned the country into a Protestant nation.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29It was the time of the Reformation.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33Shrines, the idolatry of saints, and many pilgrimages like this,
0:23:33 > 0:23:37all seen as rituals of the Catholic church, were banned.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39And some Protestants think they should be today.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44"The invocation of saints..."
0:23:44 > 0:23:47"..is vainly invented... Repugnant to the word of God."
0:23:47 > 0:23:49And you're protesting that the Church of England,
0:23:49 > 0:23:52the Anglicans here are behaving like Catholics.
0:23:52 > 0:23:57They are. We want them to return to what their church professes to believe.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59Have you ever had a situation when you've been here
0:23:59 > 0:24:03when people who've been on the march have actually said, "No, you're right,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06"I'm going to cross the barrier, as it were, and not do this again?"
0:24:06 > 0:24:10We know people who have come out of it. And...
0:24:10 > 0:24:12Come out of it? You make it sound like a cult.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17Well, it is a cult. It's occult. It is occult.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20The biggest occult system in this world is the Church of Rome,
0:24:20 > 0:24:22because they actually worship the dead.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Even at the height of its popularity before the Reformation,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30Walsingham and other pilgrimage sites had their critics.
0:24:31 > 0:24:36Visitors to shrines were often sold holy souvenirs of dubious origin.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Walsingham was once branded Falsingham.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44There was a period where there were claims that salesmen
0:24:44 > 0:24:46were lining up on the side of the road
0:24:46 > 0:24:50to sell the Virgin Mary's breast milk!
0:24:53 > 0:24:57Corruption and the exploitation of the beliefs of ordinary pilgrims
0:24:57 > 0:25:00encouraged Henry's dramatic break from Rome
0:25:00 > 0:25:02and his assault on the old Church.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06This is really powerful.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10These bits of stone have come from buildings from cathedrals
0:25:10 > 0:25:14from churches that were attacked
0:25:14 > 0:25:18and in many cases destroyed during the Reformation.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21So we've got...from Chester here,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24some of them have got writing on them,
0:25:24 > 0:25:26from Beeston, Rosedale, Lincoln.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29It's a graphic illustration
0:25:29 > 0:25:33of just how damaging and destructive the Reformation was
0:25:33 > 0:25:38to the religious infrastructure of Britain.
0:25:38 > 0:25:43Also, of course, it represents the destruction of shrines
0:25:43 > 0:25:48and thus the end of the golden age of pilgrimage in Britain.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54Catholics built a new shrine in Walsingham in 1897.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58And a new Church of England shrine was constructed in 1922.
0:25:58 > 0:26:03So after such a long time, what sparked a revival in pilgrimage?
0:26:04 > 0:26:06I met up with Bishop Lindsay Urwin,
0:26:06 > 0:26:10who took me to see the restyled Anglican shrine.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12One of the things I love about this house
0:26:12 > 0:26:17is the sort of the darkness of it and the walls, because that's all caused by the smoke of candles.
0:26:17 > 0:26:22You receive hundreds of thousands of pilgrims here every year,
0:26:22 > 0:26:27is that evidence of a revival of interest in pilgrimage?
0:26:27 > 0:26:30I think it's interesting that in a society
0:26:30 > 0:26:33that probably doesn't quite know where it's going...
0:26:35 > 0:26:37..the notion of people making pilgrimages,
0:26:37 > 0:26:43of making intentional journeys...is sort of resurfacing.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46The crucial element there is the notion of the journey.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49Looking, seeking a destination, finding one here,
0:26:49 > 0:26:54of finding purpose and meaning in life as a result?
0:26:54 > 0:26:59When people come on a pilgrimage to a holy place, it's a staging post.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01People come to the holy house
0:27:01 > 0:27:04and it's the end of this particular pilgrimage journey,
0:27:04 > 0:27:07but it's only to be a reminder to them of the great hope
0:27:07 > 0:27:13that actually at life's end...there is a resting place.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16There is more.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19- Life is a pilgrimage. - Life is a pilgrimage.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25The decline of pilgrimage was a real loss for many ordinary Britons.
0:27:27 > 0:27:32Not only did many believe in the power of shrines to absolve sins and provide healing,
0:27:32 > 0:27:36but pilgrimage was a chance to have a real adventure.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40And for some it was an excuse to do a little sinning away from home.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45And where better to do that than in the country's capital city.
0:27:48 > 0:27:53Medieval London was the gateway for pilgrims heading to Canterbury.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56A place that provoked fear and promised excitement.
0:27:58 > 0:28:03Can you imagine the wide-eyed astonishment of a medieval traveller
0:28:03 > 0:28:05arriving in London for the first time?
0:28:05 > 0:28:09It wouldn't have been a big city then by comparison with today, of course,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12but in the Middle Ages it would have felt like a mega-city.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16Arriving here 700 years ago,
0:28:16 > 0:28:19I would have entered a walled city built north of the Thames.
0:28:19 > 0:28:2440,000 residents were joined by merchants, pilgrims and travellers.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28The gates of the city were locked at night,
0:28:28 > 0:28:30so anyone wanting an early start to Canterbury
0:28:30 > 0:28:32would have crossed London Bridge
0:28:32 > 0:28:36to spend an evening surrounded by danger and temptation.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39For more than 1,000 years,
0:28:39 > 0:28:43this area over here, the area around Southwark and Borough,
0:28:43 > 0:28:48has had a reputation for being a bit edgy, shall we say?
0:28:48 > 0:28:50Actually, that's probably putting it rather politely,
0:28:50 > 0:28:53in medieval times it was positively sleazy!
0:28:55 > 0:28:59South of the river was where London dumped many of its unwanted.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02It was a home to pickpockets, tricksters and highway robbers.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05Not an ideal place for pious pilgrims,
0:29:05 > 0:29:08but an eye-opener for the more adventurous.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11This was an area of inns and ale houses
0:29:11 > 0:29:15and, by the early 1500s, around 18 brothels.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20Ironically, rent from the brothels
0:29:20 > 0:29:24was paid to the landowner, who was the Bishop of Winchester!
0:29:24 > 0:29:28Prostitutes around here actually became known as Winchester geese.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33Today, Southwark is up and coming,
0:29:33 > 0:29:34but I was looking for a spot
0:29:34 > 0:29:38that offers a glimpse of the area's murkier past.
0:29:38 > 0:29:39And this is it.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44It's quite eerie at night.
0:29:48 > 0:29:54There are thought to be up to 15,000 people buried in here.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00Among them are countless prostitutes and illegitimate children
0:30:00 > 0:30:05who the Church didn't want buried on consecrated ground.
0:30:05 > 0:30:10It's now a hugely valuable piece of real estate in the centre of London,
0:30:10 > 0:30:15but local people, when they found out about it, have gathered together
0:30:15 > 0:30:19and turned it into something of a shrine to try and stop it from being
0:30:19 > 0:30:24developed without consideration given to the long-term residents.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28It's really moving, actually.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35I think what this wall and the graveyard gives a sense of
0:30:35 > 0:30:38is the scale of prostitution that was under way
0:30:38 > 0:30:42on this side of the Thames as travellers would have crossed from London.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45It wasn't just a couple of girls on the corner, this was an industry.
0:30:45 > 0:30:47And it was there to tempt pilgrims, of course,
0:30:47 > 0:30:49but I suspect it was also there
0:30:49 > 0:30:51partly because that's what some of the pilgrims wanted.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54They didn't just come for reasons of piety,
0:30:54 > 0:30:57they came because they were away from their communities
0:30:57 > 0:31:00and it was an opportunity to sin.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06Pilgrims would have left their communities with pious intentions,
0:31:06 > 0:31:10but been sucked into the world of vice after running out of money.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13There was a medieval saying about pilgrimage for women,
0:31:13 > 0:31:16"Go a pilgrim, return a whore."
0:31:21 > 0:31:23The precise number of pilgrims
0:31:23 > 0:31:27who passed through London on their way to St Thomas Becket's shrine is uncertain,
0:31:27 > 0:31:31but strong evidence that Southwark was once a gateway to and from Canterbury
0:31:31 > 0:31:34is being found along the banks of the Thames.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38Archaeologists have dug up an extraordinary range
0:31:38 > 0:31:41of pilgrim badges dating back over 500 years.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46These badges were sold to pilgrims at shrines.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49A nice little earner for the Church.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52Mary Olgeeter is a curator from the Museum of London.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55They're probably my favourite objects in the museum's collection.
0:31:55 > 0:31:57- Really?- I find them incredibly evocative.
0:31:57 > 0:32:02And you just sort of think about the people's very fervent beliefs at the time
0:32:02 > 0:32:04- kind of embodied in these objects. - Hm.
0:32:04 > 0:32:09These are touch relics, cos they have been physically touched
0:32:09 > 0:32:12against a saint's shrine or their remains.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16So a pilgrim will have got their badge or their souvenir,
0:32:16 > 0:32:17I suppose,
0:32:17 > 0:32:21from a shrine or somewhere and will have just pressed it
0:32:21 > 0:32:26against the bones of a saintly... a saintly relic.
0:32:26 > 0:32:27Yes. Yeah.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31So these aren't really a kind of "I Heart New York" kind of souvenir.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34HE LAUGHS This is proper religious stuff.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36So, St Thomas Becket.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40It would have had a pin on the back. You can't really see it,
0:32:40 > 0:32:43that's the top of the pin, so that has snapped off.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46So that would be attached to your cloak or your hat.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50And why would people have pinned it to their clothing?
0:32:50 > 0:32:54Was it really just to say, "Look where I've been?"
0:32:54 > 0:32:55It's look where I've been, you know,
0:32:55 > 0:33:00if you've had time off work and you can prove to your boss or your spouse
0:33:00 > 0:33:01when you've got home,
0:33:01 > 0:33:03"Look, I did go and do that important pious act."
0:33:03 > 0:33:09By touching them, you can sort of have some of the saint's virtue
0:33:09 > 0:33:13and you can be cured of illnesses and things like that.
0:33:13 > 0:33:17It is...astonishing to think of the meaning, the power,
0:33:17 > 0:33:21- that's imbued in these relatively simple souvenirs.- Hmm.
0:33:21 > 0:33:26- What's this one here?- This depicts the martyrdom of Thomas Becket.
0:33:26 > 0:33:28- And this was a badge?!- Yes.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30Look at the...the work involved in this!
0:33:30 > 0:33:34I know and they're so delicate. It's amazing that they have survived.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37These are the four knights who went to attack Thomas Becket.
0:33:37 > 0:33:39This is the murder scene, isn't it?
0:33:39 > 0:33:40The murder scene, yeah.
0:33:40 > 0:33:42One of their heads is missing but there are four people here.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44And there's poor Becket,
0:33:44 > 0:33:48who's fallen to his knees in front of the altar having been struck.
0:33:48 > 0:33:54It says "Thomas MA," meaning martyr...at the bottom.
0:33:57 > 0:34:02Shrines around Britain had enormous power of course,
0:34:02 > 0:34:04but I hadn't realised before now
0:34:04 > 0:34:08just how mobile that power could become.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12The badges were a real connection with the holiest of holies
0:34:12 > 0:34:17that a pilgrim could take back to their village in any part of the country.
0:34:17 > 0:34:22I think there wouldn't have been any part of Britain that couldn't have felt, through those badges,
0:34:22 > 0:34:25a connection with a relic or a saint.
0:34:30 > 0:34:35Medieval pilgrims would have followed...well-worn tracks.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37They would have asked directions.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40And that's what would have taken them from community to community,
0:34:40 > 0:34:42village to village.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45Now, of course, we've all got smartphones.
0:34:46 > 0:34:51What is great about this, of course, it means I don't have to ask anyone where I'm going,
0:34:51 > 0:34:53a very un-male thing to do.
0:34:55 > 0:34:57It's this way.
0:34:57 > 0:34:58Careful now.
0:34:59 > 0:35:01Heading out of London from Southwark,
0:35:01 > 0:35:05I was following in the footsteps of some of our most famous pilgrims.
0:35:05 > 0:35:11Their tales were told in one of the first and greatest works of literature in the English language.
0:35:11 > 0:35:13Here we are.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17"Geoffrey Chaucer, 1342 to 1400.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19"England's greatest medieval poet
0:35:19 > 0:35:21"and author of the Canterbury Tales. The Tabard Inn.
0:35:21 > 0:35:25"Site from which Chaucer's pilgrims set off in April 1386."
0:35:25 > 0:35:28Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote,
0:35:28 > 0:35:32the droughte of March hath perced to the roote...
0:35:32 > 0:35:37Henry Eliot takes groups of Chaucer enthusiasts on the 65-mile trek
0:35:37 > 0:35:41along the same route used by the fictional pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45..that slepen al the nyght with open ye,
0:35:45 > 0:35:48so priketh hem nature in hir corages.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55Fantastic! Excellent. With the prologue from the Canterbury Tales
0:35:55 > 0:35:57whetting our appetite for pilgrimage,
0:35:57 > 0:36:00I set off with Henry and his merry band on the journey out of London.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07We're treading in the exact footsteps of medieval pilgrims.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10I find that really exciting, even though so much has changed today.
0:36:10 > 0:36:15This... Borough High Street, the buildings may have changed but this route is the same.
0:36:16 > 0:36:22We were using roads that once formed Watling Street, the Roman road used by Chaucer's pilgrims.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26It runs all the way to Canterbury and onwards to Dover.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31What does Chaucer tell us about...
0:36:31 > 0:36:35Or teach us, in fact, about the medieval time and particularly pilgrimage?
0:36:35 > 0:36:37Sure. Well, I suppose the main thing
0:36:37 > 0:36:41is how many different types of people were going on pilgrimage.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44Everyone from the knights down to the ploughman.
0:36:44 > 0:36:45Pilgrimage was a situation
0:36:45 > 0:36:48in which people from every level of society could meet.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50Would come together and that was quite rare.
0:36:50 > 0:36:55In Chaucer's time, much of the route between London and Canterbury was through thick forest.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59Pilgrims from all classes stuck together, carried weapons
0:36:59 > 0:37:00and kept to the road.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02We're just approaching the place
0:37:02 > 0:37:05where Chaucer's pilgrims stopped for their first tale.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07Are we?! This crossroad?
0:37:07 > 0:37:10Chaucer described it as "the watering of St Thomas."
0:37:10 > 0:37:15- Right.- Which was a little stream with a holy well attached to it,
0:37:15 > 0:37:18dedicated to St Thomas Becket, which was just here.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24Hear now, the Knight's Tale for friends.
0:37:24 > 0:37:29- The chivalry of this tale will make you cheer. - ALL CHEER
0:37:29 > 0:37:32- The bravery of this tale will make you gasp. - ALL GASP
0:37:32 > 0:37:35- And the sorrow of this tale will make you weep. - ALL SOB
0:37:35 > 0:37:39And because it is a knight's tale, friends, it is apt that it begins upon the battlefield.
0:37:39 > 0:37:45So this is the tale of two princes locked in a tower together who crave the love of a fair maiden.
0:37:45 > 0:37:51Step forward, Arcite. The other prince of royal blood, Palamon!
0:37:51 > 0:37:56- Ah!- Palamon.- Called upon. Called upon.- Pious, wise,
0:37:56 > 0:38:00thoughtful, brooding, aloof. Perhaps slightly less handsome than Arcite.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04It's completely mad! We're on a crossroad on the Old Kent Road.
0:38:04 > 0:38:09Palamon cannot believe that Arcite has also fallen in love with Emily and he beats his chest.
0:38:09 > 0:38:11Beats his chest.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14- Howls at the moon. - HE HOWLS
0:38:14 > 0:38:16- LAUGHTER - Shoves gravel down his...
0:38:16 > 0:38:18I'll see how far you're going to go with this. No.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21And the two set immediately to fighting!
0:38:21 > 0:38:24So step forward. Step forward before me now and brace your...
0:38:24 > 0:38:27It's certainly a novel take on The Knight's Tale.
0:38:27 > 0:38:28I was loving it.
0:38:28 > 0:38:30And as they say in these things - Allez!
0:38:30 > 0:38:35Arcite puts his back...with all his force and pushes Palamon down!
0:38:35 > 0:38:38Down! Down to the ground!
0:38:38 > 0:38:40Yes! Arcite wins!
0:38:40 > 0:38:45That was fantastic. There you go, on a crossroads in the middle of South East London.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49What a ludicrous location, but absolutely fantastic.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52- Bonkers but brilliant, eh? - That's it. Yeah.
0:38:52 > 0:38:53- All the best.- ALL: Wah!
0:38:53 > 0:38:56Before setting out on this journey,
0:38:56 > 0:38:59I thought pilgrimage was something that had to be suffered.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01A penance for sins.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04Leaving London, following Chaucer's route,
0:39:04 > 0:39:08I was beginning to see that for most travellers, past and present,
0:39:08 > 0:39:11pilgrimage can be both pious and fun.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18I've reached a real landmark on the journey.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21The delights...of the M25!
0:39:24 > 0:39:28I'm going to wait here and meet a bloke who should be turning up.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31A man who does pilgrimage the hard way.
0:39:34 > 0:39:36It's definitely him.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39For the last 26 years, careworker Lindsay Hammond
0:39:39 > 0:39:43has spent much of his spare time on a very unique kind of pilgrimage.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47You...must definitely be Lindsay.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49I am, Simon. HE CHUCKLES
0:39:49 > 0:39:50Goodness me, Lindsay!
0:39:51 > 0:39:54How far have you carried that?
0:39:54 > 0:39:57Well, I think it's about 5,000-plus miles now.
0:39:57 > 0:40:02- Why?- Erm...I've received a lot from Jesus, you know,
0:40:02 > 0:40:05I've received a new life, received forgiveness of sins, you know,
0:40:05 > 0:40:08so I want to give it away. That's why I carry it,
0:40:08 > 0:40:10I want to give away what I've received.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13And what's the longest journey you've done with the cross?
0:40:13 > 0:40:17Well, the longest one was... Berlin to Moscow.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20CAR HORN That was...that was three months.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23- Three months of walking with the cross?- Yeah.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26- With your kit?- With my kit, yes.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30Lindsay, do you think you're what's commonly known as...
0:40:30 > 0:40:32a little bit of a nutter?
0:40:32 > 0:40:34Yeah. HE LAUGHS
0:40:34 > 0:40:37Yeah, I do, I think in some ways.
0:40:37 > 0:40:42This is a large piece of timber to be lugging around, isn't it?
0:40:42 > 0:40:44- I mean, even with the wheel on the back.- The wheel.
0:40:44 > 0:40:48Everybody wants to make a big thing and say Jesus didn't have a wheel on his cross.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50- Is that what they say to you? - I could be a millionaire
0:40:50 > 0:40:53if I had a pound for every time somebody said that.
0:40:56 > 0:41:01- Are you a pilgrim or are you a preacher?- Both. Both, really.
0:41:01 > 0:41:06I want to spend hours and hours and hours on the road with Jesus, that's what a pilgrim does, you know.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10I want to travel from place to place doing it, that's what a pilgrim does.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15The cross seems to break down barriers, they seem to trust me very quickly.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19Er...and maybe my humour helps, you know.
0:41:19 > 0:41:23- But the...- It's your cheeky grin. - It's the cheeky grin, yeah.
0:41:23 > 0:41:25- Spreading the word. - Spreading the word.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27Because we're living in a time
0:41:27 > 0:41:30where so few people are doing what you're doing,
0:41:30 > 0:41:33is it sort of...? Hm. Now this is interesting.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37- So...?- Where are you off to? Canterbury?
0:41:37 > 0:41:41Eventually. He's carrying his cross around Britain, around the world.
0:41:41 > 0:41:43That's it. Well done.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47What do you think when you look at him and you see him carrying the cross?
0:41:47 > 0:41:50Christ.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53- That's a good response.- It all comes back to you.- Isn't that brilliant?
0:41:53 > 0:41:57- That's great.- Does it worry you that he might start talking to you about...?
0:41:57 > 0:42:00No, no, no. I'm a Catholic. I'll talk to him if he wants to talk to me.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04- Is there anything you need? Any water? I'm- fine, mate. Thanks.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07That's lovely of you. Thank you. We appreciate that offer, kind sir.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09No, that's all right.
0:42:09 > 0:42:11I can't share the faith yet,
0:42:11 > 0:42:14but I'm fascinated to know how much the cross weighs.
0:42:14 > 0:42:16- Can I try it on the shoulders? - Of course you can.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19That's 25K but it's OK.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24It's OK to do... Well, let's see.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27I can imagine this will be OK for a short distance. Can we walk on?
0:42:27 > 0:42:28Yeah.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31- Across the road?- Whoa, whoa. No. No, no, no.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33- Reverse?- Yeah.
0:42:33 > 0:42:34Cross reversing.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37Maybe not when the articulated lorry's going past.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40You see...amateur driver there.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43- I'll stop them. I'll stop the traffic for you.- Safe to go out?
0:42:43 > 0:42:45Yeah, come on then.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53- It's already hurting my bony shoulder. - LINDSAY LAUGHS
0:42:53 > 0:42:55- So just pop up.- Yeah, there you go.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59I think your level of faith, Lindsay, frightens me a bit,
0:42:59 > 0:43:03intimidates me, but I also... I'm also a bit jealous of you.
0:43:05 > 0:43:07I don't really believe in much any more.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11I don't feel worthy of carrying the cross.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15I think it should be returned to the...the rightful owner.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17It's back on the shoulder. Over to you, sir.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20- LINDSAY LAUGHS - I wish you...
0:43:20 > 0:43:22This isn't light, I tell you.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28- I wish you all the very best on your travels.- Simon, thanks, mate.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30You're doing it in a way I can barely imagine.
0:43:30 > 0:43:32Good luck on the road, Lindsay.
0:43:38 > 0:43:43Before all this TV travel started for me, I used to write books
0:43:43 > 0:43:46and investigate terrorism. It made me very cynical,
0:43:46 > 0:43:50and it made me somewhat frightened of people who believe too strongly
0:43:50 > 0:43:52in anything.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54Lindsay is one of those people,
0:43:54 > 0:43:56but you spend a little bit of time with him
0:43:56 > 0:44:00and you realise he's a lovely, lovely bloke.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03And even just now as we were leaving and vans are going past,
0:44:03 > 0:44:05I felt quite protective of him.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09I didn't want anyone to lean out of the window and shout "nutter" or anything worse.
0:44:11 > 0:44:13He's doing pilgrimage the hard way.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25I've come slightly off track...
0:44:25 > 0:44:28because this is the M2 up here.
0:44:28 > 0:44:34This is the old Roman road that Chaucer's pilgrims were supposed to have taken, but I've come down here,
0:44:34 > 0:44:37because I want to get onto this pathway, Pilgrims' Way.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43It's Britain's most famous pilgrimage trail.
0:44:43 > 0:44:44The 120-mile track
0:44:44 > 0:44:49once bustled with thousands of medieval travellers heading to and from Canterbury.
0:44:49 > 0:44:54Many enjoying a welcome break from the difficult life of a feudal peasant.
0:44:56 > 0:44:58This really opens up now.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02The track itself follows this low chalk ridge.
0:45:02 > 0:45:07It runs all the way from Winchester, past Canterbury and on to Dover.
0:45:07 > 0:45:08The history of Pilgrims' Way
0:45:08 > 0:45:11has been documented by author Derek Bright.
0:45:12 > 0:45:14It would be used for trade.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18It would have been used by people coming in to the country.
0:45:18 > 0:45:23Probably going back to after the last Ice Age receded.
0:45:23 > 0:45:29- So this was a track for people long before Christianity came to this island.- Sure.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33This wasn't just a pilgrims' way, this is a peasants' way and a travellers' way
0:45:33 > 0:45:36going back several thousand years.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41More travellers on the way. Hello. Good morning to you.
0:45:41 > 0:45:45You're going the wrong way. This is the Pilgrims' Way to Canterbury.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48- It's this way! Oh, you've been? - THEY LAUGH
0:45:48 > 0:45:50Returning home.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54Tens of thousands of medieval pilgrims
0:45:54 > 0:45:57walked and rode to Canterbury each year.
0:45:57 > 0:45:58Treasures from their adventures
0:45:58 > 0:46:00have been unearthed all along Pilgrims' Way.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05- So what is this?- This is an ampulla.
0:46:05 > 0:46:08If you feel it, Simon, it's made of lead, so it's fairly heavy.
0:46:08 > 0:46:10Feel the...feel the weight.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13What's the thinking? What would this have stored?
0:46:13 > 0:46:16A little bit of holy water of some type or...?
0:46:16 > 0:46:18It may have holy oil or holy water,
0:46:18 > 0:46:23- but at Canterbury it would have been filled with the blood of Becket.- Hm.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27Because we know from reports from the monks
0:46:27 > 0:46:29that were there at the time of his death,
0:46:29 > 0:46:32that one was asked to actually shovel up
0:46:32 > 0:46:35the brains and the blood of Becket.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38They stored the blood in a lead cistern
0:46:38 > 0:46:42- and topped this up every day with red ochre and water.- Hm.
0:46:42 > 0:46:48And for 200 years they were giving it to pilgrims...or maybe they were selling it to pilgrims.
0:46:48 > 0:46:50More than that, though, because it would have carried
0:46:50 > 0:46:54something that people believed was powerful, that had a healing ability.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57Very much so, yeah. And also for Canterbury
0:46:57 > 0:47:00a never-ending source of blood which they could top up every day.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07Medieval pilgrims needed places to eat and rest on their journey.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12In the valleys below Pilgrims' Way were the inns and monasteries
0:47:12 > 0:47:14that would have accommodated them overnight.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19I headed to Aylesford just 30 miles from Canterbury.
0:47:24 > 0:47:26- I am Brendan.- Brendan. Brother Brendan?
0:47:26 > 0:47:29Just Brendan. We have a large guest house. It's not The Ritz.
0:47:29 > 0:47:32I'd come to stay at a Catholic priory
0:47:32 > 0:47:35which was taking in weary pilgrims more than 700 years ago.
0:47:35 > 0:47:37Thank you.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39And continues to do so today.
0:47:39 > 0:47:42- Oh, my goodness! - So it's very simple.
0:47:42 > 0:47:46People pay huge sums for this sort of experience.
0:47:46 > 0:47:48You shouldn't be marketing this as simple,
0:47:48 > 0:47:53you should be marketing this as a journey back in time.
0:47:53 > 0:47:54- Well...- Look!
0:47:54 > 0:47:58Once you've finished your journey, you can come back and give us some real concrete advice.
0:47:58 > 0:48:00- BOTH LAUGH - What, help with marketing?
0:48:00 > 0:48:04- That's it.- I don't know about that. I'm just going to look at the view this side.
0:48:04 > 0:48:08Oh, I should have mentioned, there's a simple toilet and shower.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11Brendan is one of eight Catholic Carmelite friars
0:48:11 > 0:48:15who look after the 200,000 visitors who come here every year.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19OK. Good evening, gentlemen. Thank you for letting us come in.
0:48:19 > 0:48:21- Simon Reeve.- I've seen you on the TV.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24You've seen me on the TV. All right, may I join you?
0:48:24 > 0:48:26- You may.- Thank you very much indeed.
0:48:27 > 0:48:32Apart from deep philosophical, spiritual questions,
0:48:32 > 0:48:34what else do you discuss around the table at dinner?
0:48:34 > 0:48:37It varies from opera to football,
0:48:37 > 0:48:42- especially we know if Arsenal or Celtic have done badly. - HE LAUGHS
0:48:42 > 0:48:45What, by the looks on people's faces?
0:48:45 > 0:48:48Yes. Arsenal are playing at this very moment.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51No greater sacrifice could he make.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54- THEY LAUGH - I'll watch the highlights later on.
0:48:54 > 0:48:56THEY LAUGH
0:48:58 > 0:49:03After dinner, Brendan agreed to give me a rare glimpse of one of the priory's treasured relics.
0:49:07 > 0:49:12We call it a reliquary, because it houses the relic of St Simon Stock.
0:49:12 > 0:49:19Generally, a relic is a piece of something belonging to St Simon Stock or a piece of him?
0:49:19 > 0:49:23In this case, we have his cranium, so...
0:49:23 > 0:49:26- Really?- ..if we would like to, we can look inside.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30This doesn't normally happen, but I've arranged for Father David
0:49:30 > 0:49:34to come along and open up the reliquary for us, if you'd like?
0:49:34 > 0:49:37Yes, please. Thank you.
0:49:37 > 0:49:41St Simon Stock was a prior at Aylesford 700 years ago.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44He's said to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50And there it is. Quite a large part of the skull.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53The whole of the top half of the skull.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56Is this the holiest...relic that you have?
0:49:56 > 0:50:00We have a whole collection of various bits and pieces,
0:50:00 > 0:50:03but none as large and spectacular as this.
0:50:03 > 0:50:07Does it still have a place in Britain in the 21st century?
0:50:07 > 0:50:10All religious traditions have relics, Buddhists and things.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13First of all, simply as a memento.
0:50:13 > 0:50:15And yet many people watching this
0:50:15 > 0:50:19might think of a souvenir or a memory of somebody you treasure
0:50:19 > 0:50:25- as being an item of their possession rather than part of their skull. - Yes.
0:50:25 > 0:50:29- Erm...- Some people might think this is quite macabre.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33Oh. I hadn't thought of it like that.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36Every Catholic church has relics in it.
0:50:36 > 0:50:40By definition, a permanent altar has to be contain
0:50:40 > 0:50:42fragments of two saints.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45Does it have some sort of supernatural power?
0:50:45 > 0:50:49The relic actually has no power whatsoever.
0:50:49 > 0:50:54The power comes from the faith of the believer...and the love of God.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57But surely the reason so many pilgrims
0:50:57 > 0:50:59go on long, arduous journeys,
0:50:59 > 0:51:03and have done for hundreds of years, is because they want healing,
0:51:03 > 0:51:05spiritual healing or physical healing,
0:51:05 > 0:51:11that does suggest that the people, the masses, think of them as having an immense power.
0:51:11 > 0:51:17There will always be those who will give to external objects
0:51:17 > 0:51:20powers that they don't have,
0:51:20 > 0:51:23whether it be religious objects or other objects.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26The relic itself, it just gives us a way, if you like,
0:51:26 > 0:51:32of connecting the faith of the believer with the faith of St Simon Stock...with the love of God.
0:51:36 > 0:51:40Relics still play an important role in the Catholic faith.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43They remain a potent draw for worshippers and pilgrims alike.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48It's a faith I struggle to understand
0:51:48 > 0:51:50and certainly not one I possess.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54For me, as a traveller, wherever I am, whenever I go,
0:51:54 > 0:51:57I of course get lonely, I take my own little shrine with me.
0:51:59 > 0:52:01And I think these...
0:52:01 > 0:52:05these two still provide me with my purpose and meaning,
0:52:05 > 0:52:08my wife and my son.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11Anyway, it's been a long day and we've got a long one tomorrow.
0:52:11 > 0:52:15And a big day tomorrow, we're off to Canterbury.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22And so, like millions of pilgrims before me,
0:52:22 > 0:52:25I finally arrived at Britain's holiest city.
0:52:25 > 0:52:27Before visiting the cathedral,
0:52:27 > 0:52:29I dropped in at the East Bridge Hospital,
0:52:29 > 0:52:32a 12th-century shelter for medieval pilgrims
0:52:32 > 0:52:36who couldn't afford the city's more expensive inns.
0:52:36 > 0:52:41So...there were wealthy pilgrims and there were poor pilgrims
0:52:41 > 0:52:45and this is where many of them would have slept.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49Very simple...but a refuge nonetheless.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53There's a special atmosphere here.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57One that comes from a building that's hardly changed in 800 years.
0:52:57 > 0:53:02Up two flights of stairs is a small chapel where pilgrims could pray.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08I really do feel... in some strange way
0:53:08 > 0:53:14a sense of the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and prayers
0:53:14 > 0:53:16that have passed through here.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20Maybe I'm tuning in to them.
0:53:20 > 0:53:25The chapel still draws pilgrims today.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28Their hopes and despairs are captured in a simple prayer book.
0:53:28 > 0:53:32One of the first ones I read, it's...
0:53:34 > 0:53:38..almost unbelievably powerful.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42It says the name of a baby..."that she will not need an operation."
0:53:42 > 0:53:44HE SIGHS
0:53:45 > 0:53:50There's a world of... pain and horror.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53My goodness! They're all like it.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55There's another one from America.
0:53:55 > 0:53:57Please pray for somebody on death row in Ohio.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02I'm not a person of faith, as I keep saying...
0:54:02 > 0:54:06and I can of course understand why there are people who stand up now
0:54:06 > 0:54:11and say there is no place for faith in the 21st century,
0:54:11 > 0:54:16in a society of science and learning,
0:54:16 > 0:54:21but it can be such a magnificent and marvellous support
0:54:21 > 0:54:24in difficult times.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27And how dare anyone take that away from people?
0:54:32 > 0:54:35The thing that I've learnt that's most surprised me
0:54:35 > 0:54:40is that pilgrimage didn't have to be an onerous and painful task
0:54:40 > 0:54:41for our ancestors.
0:54:41 > 0:54:46It could be a journey of adventure, of celebration and of wonder.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50And that, quite frankly, is what all the best journeys should be.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05Well, I do feel something of the expectation, I think,
0:55:05 > 0:55:12that a pilgrim would have felt as they arrived here finally at the end of a long journey.
0:55:12 > 0:55:16Quite probably tired, perhaps even exhausted,
0:55:16 > 0:55:22possibly unwell...and really ready to experience something quite holy.
0:55:24 > 0:55:26It's certainly an extraordinary building.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38It was at Canterbury just over 1,400 years ago
0:55:38 > 0:55:41that Saint Augustine, a monk sent from Rome,
0:55:41 > 0:55:44set up a monastery to convert the locals to Christianity.
0:55:46 > 0:55:51Since then, Canterbury's always been at the centre of Christian beliefs in Britain,
0:55:51 > 0:55:55but it was the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket here in 1170,
0:55:55 > 0:55:58after he stood up to King Henry II,
0:55:58 > 0:56:04that transformed this cathedral into the greatest destination for pilgrims in the land.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11Well, it's very graphic. This is the site of the murder.
0:56:11 > 0:56:13And you can see here on the floor
0:56:13 > 0:56:15"Thomas" in blood red.
0:56:20 > 0:56:23Being here, I was reminded of the story of pilgrims
0:56:23 > 0:56:27wanting to take away Becket's blood, believing it could heal them.
0:56:31 > 0:56:33These are so graphic.
0:56:35 > 0:56:38The wailing of the desperate and the dying
0:56:38 > 0:56:42often rang through medieval cathedrals.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45We're so fortunate to have the miracles of modern medicine,
0:56:45 > 0:56:51when all our ancestors could do was drag themselves to shrines and pray and hope.
0:56:56 > 0:56:58And here we are.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02This is the spot where the shrine to Thomas Becket stood
0:57:02 > 0:57:05that would have marked the end of the pilgrimage
0:57:05 > 0:57:09for hundreds of thousands of people over hundreds of years.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11By all accounts it was a shrine
0:57:11 > 0:57:14of almost heavenly beauty encrusted in jewels.
0:57:14 > 0:57:18It would have been an extraordinary end to their journey.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23The shrine was destroyed during Henry VIII's Reformation,
0:57:23 > 0:57:26along with Becket's body.
0:57:26 > 0:57:31Becket was declared a traitor and stripped of his sainthood.
0:57:31 > 0:57:37Now all that remains is this candle burning on the ground and lettering on the floor that reads,
0:57:37 > 0:57:40"The shrine of Thomas Becket,
0:57:40 > 0:57:42"Archbishop and Martyr,
0:57:42 > 0:57:46"stood here from 1220 until 1538."
0:57:46 > 0:57:51Now that date marks the end of the golden age of pilgrimage in Britain.
0:57:53 > 0:57:54It's never been the same since.
0:57:59 > 0:58:03But on the next leg of my journey, I'll be travelling through Catholic Europe,
0:58:03 > 0:58:08visiting pilgrimage sites which are booming thanks to 21st-century pilgrims.
0:58:08 > 0:58:10ALL CHANT
0:58:10 > 0:58:16I'll be joining the hardy souls trekking across beautiful northern Spain to the city of Santiago
0:58:16 > 0:58:19before I follow our ancestors into the Alps
0:58:19 > 0:58:22and travel through Italy to the Eternal City.
0:58:22 > 0:58:24Rome!
0:58:24 > 0:58:29- APPLAUSE - It's still a magnet for millions of visitors every year.
0:58:32 > 0:58:35Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd