Pilgrimage: The Road Through North Wales: Michaela Strachan, Sonali Shah, Spencer Matthews, Amanda Lovett, Christine McGuiness and Eshann Akabr
You can tell it’s Easter, and not just because of the chocolate eggs stockpiled in supermarkets . Another harbinger of the Christian calendar’s holiest weekend is BBC Two’s annual walkie-talkieEach participant appeared to have personal reasons for undertaking this 220km trek from the Dee Estuary to Bardsey Island on the western tip of the Llyn Peninsula – in Michaela Strachan’s case it was the recent death of a close friend from breast cancer.
Previous pilgrimages have led to Santiago de Compostela, Rome, Istanbul, the Scottish Isles and Portugal. This Welsh excursion follows a route dedicated to Celtic and early Christian saints. Their first stop was a shrine to the 7-century Catholic martyr St Winefride, where McGuiness received a blessing from Bishop Peter of Wrexham and Rosental brought a rosary from the gift shop .
Spencer Matthews was the only celebrity treating the pilgrimage more as an outward-bound exercise than an opportunity for introspection, although in a snippet from a later episode, the formerstar did admit to a certain vulnerability. He talked about how, when he was growing up, crying and other such perceived weaknesses weren’t tolerated in his family. Presumably not at Eton either.
Akbar and McGuiness had no trouble openly weeping as they clambered high above the Conwy Valley and were invited to ponder the magnificent view. Akbar was mourning his mother, McGuinness expressed her fear of death, while Rosenthal thought he could glimpse heaven in the view. And whatever your beliefs, it’s refreshing to have spiritual matters aired outside ofThe latest census for England and Wales made headlines after it revealed that fewer than half of respondents now identify as Christian.