All around are signs of worship and piety. Men are wearing black.

Except this is not Israel but Iraq, and I’m in Duhok on Friday evening, prayers over.

Have I messed up my travel arrangements, pressing ‘Iraq’ instead of ‘Israel’?

Did I make a mistake on my airline ticket?

No, I’m with Lupine Travel on a glorious 21-day journey full of eastern promise from Wigan to Iraq.

Yes, we are starting in the cold, ex-coal-mining, Rugby League stronghold of Wigan and journeying mostly by train — sleeper, Avanti-styled inter-city, cattle truck, if we’re lucky, plus rocky minibus where Saddam didn’t uproot the tracks — all the way to Iraq.

My mission is to find at least one synagogue or some signs of Jewish life in each location.

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