Interview: Rebecca Swirsky  

 

Where would you wake up on your perfect day?  

Devon or Cornwall, where I can hear the sea. Or Bridport (Dorset) is also extremely peaceful.  

 

What’s your favourite walk?  

I do love the Cotswolds. A nice five-mile circular walk from Stow-on-the-Wold comes to mind.  

 

Who would be your ideal walking companion?  

In a fantasy world, Joan Collins! I’d love to hear her stories and views on the world. In real life, my husband. He likes to be silly on walks, but he has interesting thoughts eventually. We have good walks together – although sometimes I’d like him to talk more!  

Was the countryside a part of your upbringing? In my family, we didn’t go out into nature or do country walks, but at my all-girls school in Birmingham we were constantly on trips involving geography, compasses and camping. The Peak District wasn’t far away, but it was a different landscape. We went on exciting adventures and I did the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. My school snaps all show us in anoraks and wellington boots, in Bockleton in the Malvern Hills, Castleton in the Peaks... Loads of the girls have carried on trekking with their families, so it’s stuck.  

 

Why is educating young people about nature important?  

I taught kids in deprived, inner-city comprehensives in Dagenham, Enfield and Tower Hamlets. Generally, there were no parks nearby. Unless we took the kids on a trip, or played David Attenborough films, nature was an alien entity. But when we did take these kids out, they loved it. Nature is healing, restorative, creative; it’s good for your health, mind and body. But, until the trips, the kids didn’t know about these benefits. If you’re brought up in a one-bed flat in Tower Hamlets with no garden, you won’t have any interest in nature. You won’t feel any connection. 

 

You’ve lived in London, Birmingham and Manchester – which is your favourite to explore on foot?  

I live near Primrose Hill in London, which is really nice, though my walks are mainly to the shops. Birmingham is a bit built-up for walking. You need to get outside the city for a good ramble. Although it rains a lot, I’d say Manchester is the best as it’s so scenic, with a lot of parks.  

 

Tell us about participating in BBC Two’s Pilgrimage…  

I didn’t think I’d enjoy it as much as I did. The pilgrimage was 15 days, from Donegal in Ireland to Iona in Scotland, taking in the Outer Hebrides. I don’t talk about religion much, but visiting religious sites while on amazing walks with interesting people and incredible scenery was a stunning combination. There were so many laughs and the walking brought out rich conversations. Everyone was at a different stage in life. Reaching the top of Iona, the tiny island where St Columba established a monastic community, it seemed we could see the whole world. We felt close to the sky and earth. It was special and powerful.  

 

What were the highs and lows?  

We visited a monastery and slept on the church floor in sleeping bags. It was damp and cold and the guys were snoring so loudly it felt like church bells ringing all night. A high was another monastery where we spent the day with incredibly devout monks who got up at 5.30am to pray eight times a day. They grew their own food and did their own gardening – the grounds were beautiful.  

 

Do you feel a connection between spirituality and landscapes?  

I’d been on a pilgrimage to Mecca 20 years previously. The BBC series was a Christian pilgrimage as we followed the journey of a 6th-century Irish monk. And I’ve just returned from Mecca again in the last 10 days of Ramadan. When you reach a point of exhaustion, you also reach a level of spirituality. The fatigue, climate and barefooted-ness push you to think things you wouldn’t normally. On the St Columba route, we walked through dark forests dense with nature. Environments like that made us universally agree there has to be something greater than ourselves, because none of it is human-made and it is breathtaking. Whatever you call spirituality – God, angels, energy, whatever – there is something greater than ourselves.  

 

Watch Shazia’s Pilgrimage journey on BBC iPlayer – search ‘Pilgrimage’ and select The Road to the Scottish Isles.