The Guardian view on pilgrimage: a 21st-century spiritual exercise | Editorial

As a recent BBC series confirms, the idea of a spiritual journey has survived the decline of organised religion

In Geoffrey Chaucer's England, the arrival of spring was taken by many as a cue to take to the road. As theprologue to The Canterbury Tales begins: WheninApril the sweet showers fall/And pierce the drought ofMarch to the root, and all/...Then people long to go on pilgrimages".

Given Britain's increasingly damp climate, contemporary pilgrims are as likely to encounter persistent rain as the occasional sweet shower. But the participants in the BBC's sixth Pilgrimage series, which ended on Friday, were largely blessed with fine days as they travelled by foot and bus across North Wales. Travelling the Pilgrim's Way, the group of minor celebrities followed a Christianity-based route-map of shrines and churches, but also stayed at an eco retreat and a Buddhist meditation centre.