'Pilgrim' abandons cashless 'peace walk' to India - because the French thought he was an asylum seeker

But when Mark Boyle set out on a mission to show he could survive on peace and love instead cash, he was a pilgrim who didn't make much progress ... thanks to the tightwad French.

The aim of the firebrand anti-captialist was to walk 9,000 miles from Britain to India totally penniless, relying on the generosity of human beings in pursuit of his dream of a money-free global economy.

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"Most of the problems in the world such as greed, fear and insecurity, manifest themselves in money," he declared.

"So I'm going out and instead putting my trust in the universe."

However, just 250 miles later, when he got to Calais and asked the French if they shared his Utopian vision, the answer was a resounding 'Non'.

Instead, they accused him of being a "freeloading backpacker" and refused to help him and his two companions.

Eventually - cold, tired, bedraggled and hungry - they decided to call off the pilgrimage, less than a month into the planned two-and-a-half year trek.

To add insult to injury, the three were forced to use the hard currency they hate so that they could get back to the UK.

Their plan had been to reach Mahatma Gandhi's birthplace in India by offering labour and friendship in return for food and shelter.

Writing on his blog, 28-year-old Mr Boyle, a member of the Freeconomy movement - which encourages barter instead of money - said of their French experience: "Not only did no one speak the language, they also see us as just a bunch of freeloading backpackers, which is the complete opposite of what the pilgrimage is really about."

That really scared us, and given that we now were pretty much out of food, hadn't slept in days and were really cold, we had to reassess the situation.

"We spoke to a few people who were willing to talk and they said that France would not go for this unless we could speak fluent French, which none of us could.

"The advice was to make a beeline for Belgium, as folk said they would be more likely to want to speak English.'

But the nearest big Belgian town was Bruges, 105 miles away.

"All we had was three tins of soup, a bag of trail mix and a chocolate bar to sustain us. As it was unlikely that we would get a chance to help or be helped by French people in the journey getting there, the task looked daunting to say the least.

"Deflated, we sat down and thought about what on Earth we were going to do - head off on the three-day hike to Bruges with practically no food and hope the situation there got better, or to call it all off."

Mr Boyle, the former boss of an organic food company, left his job in July to concentrate on the Freeconomy movement and he and his companions set off on the India trip from Bristol on January 30.

Covering 15 to 45 miles a day, they planned to walk through France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, before arriving at Gandhi's birthplace in Porbandar, on India's west coast.

Mr Boyle said: "I have touched money to get back here and I want you all to know that. But that has happened and I can't change that now. All I can do is make a resolution to not be so weak in the future."

And he's not giving up entirely on the pilgrimage idea. He now plans to walk around Britain instead.

•To follow Mr Boyle's progress, visit www.justfortheloveofit.org/blog.php