PILGRIMAGE RETURNS TO BBC TWO FOR NEW SERIES, CELEBRITY LINE-UP AND ROUTE REVEALED

With Easter approaching, the annual Pilgrimage series is returning to BBC Two and iPlayer next month, as seven well known personalities, of differing faiths and beliefs, tackle a challenging 300km pilgrimage, through the majestic and awe-inspiring Austrian and Swiss Alps.

Across 3 x 60 minute episodes, the brand new, Pilgrimage: The Road Through the Alps, will follow celebrity pilgrims, as they take a personal journey along a revived medieval Catholic route, travelling from just outside Innsbruck on the Austrian Camino and finishing near Lake Zurich in Switzerland. 

Taking part in this physical and spiritual journey are; agnostic Jay McGuiness, singer from boy band, The Wanted; actor and comedy legend Helen Lederer who is from a mixed heritage background, with a culturally Jewish father and a Protestant mother; practising Catholic, Harry Clark - The Traitors (series two) winner.

Plus standup comedian Daliso Chaponda, who grew up in a Christian family but is exploring the Baha’i faith; presenter Jeff Brazier, who went to Catholic schools but now is spiritual and meditates as part of his everyday life; retired Paralympian and practising Christian Stef Reid and journalist Nelufar Hedayat, who refers to herself as a modern Muslim.

The seven pilgrims begin their Camino in the picturesque village of Inzing, 17km outside the Tyrolean capital. Over twelve days, they will face strenuous climbs, high into the Alps, even reaching the snow line.

They will follow the ancient path west across the Arlberg pass, the highest point on the Camino, and continue to their final destination in the foothills of the Swiss Alps, Einsiedeln Abbey.

Originally inspired over a thousand years ago by followers of the famous hermit St Meinrad, the abbey attracts almost a million pilgrims and visitors every year. They are drawn by its venerated Black Madonna, its unique history and the Benedictine monks who live and worship there.

Armed with a backpack each, the pilgrims will stay in local guest houses, as well as sharing rooms in a convent and pilgrim hostels. Pilgrimage: The Road Through the Alps will be part of the BBC's forthcoming Faith and Hope Season, details of which will be announced soon.