Why We Walk

Why is walking spiritual? Giles Fraser asks if the power of pilgrimage in it's destination, or along the pathway.

Alice Sainsbury was recovering from a serious neurological illness when she slowly started to walk again. Step by step she found herself again through walking, and small pilgrimages near her home in Cornwall. It wasn't just a physical journey for her, but a spiritual one as well.

She tells Giles Fraser why she walks. And Giles asks a panel of enthusiastic pilgrims from different faiths about the religious beliefs behind walking and pilgrimage.

Phil McCarthy, a former GP, has founded Pilgrim Ways, promoting walking pilgrimages in England and Wales. Sr Radharamana Das is a scholar in Sanskrit and Vedic literatures and a volunteer at his local Hare Krishna temple. And Professor Raminder Kaur is the leader of a project about pilgrimage and economics at the University of Sussex.

Boots laced, let's begin.

Producer: Rebecca Maxted
Assistant Producer: James Leesley
Editor: Tim Pemberton