Pilgrimage with Simon Reeve — Season 1

Simon embarks on a 400 mile journey to Canterbury from the north of England, beginning at the mystical Holy Island, just off the rugged coast of Northumberland. To reach the island, one of the earliest sites of Christian pilgrimage in Britain, Simon follows a line of posts marking out a crossing that emerges from the North Sea at low tide.

In Switzerland, Simon undertakes one of the oldest and most perilous pilgrim routes in Europe. The Great St Bernard Pass, high in the Alps, has claimed many lives over the centuries, including at least one Pope. Simon treks to a monastery and refuge at the top of the pass that has not closed its doors to visitors for 1000 years. He meets some young Americans there and joins in their yoga class, hears their stories, and helps them to clean the monastery.

Simon travels on to the Holy Land, following in the footsteps of Victorian travellers who used the definitive guide book of the period, published in 1876 by Thomas Cook, whose grand excursions to the Holy Land pioneered the modern package holiday.