In this first episode, the intrepid eight arrive in Martigny, Switzerland, and find out for the first time who will be sharing their pilgrim adventure. They make their way by mountain train to the start of their pilgrimage in Orsieres, high up in the Swiss Alps. The Via is based on a journey taken to Rome in 990AD by Archbishop Sigeric of Canterbury, which crosses the Alps at 2,500m and goes over the Great St Bernard Pass. Like Napoleon, his 40,000 strong army and the pilgrims before them, the group also have to make their way up the challenging mountain path. Despite Greg’s help, the unfit and inexperienced members of the group – Dana (a practising Catholic), Lesley (Jewish, but doesn’t strictly follow her faith) and Katy (who was an evangelical Christian in her teens) - are defeated by the severity of the climb. Those who make it to the top can only admire how pilgrims before them battled their way through Death Valley, especially in the winter months when the pass is covered by 15 metres of snow. Lesley, Dana and Katy meet the famous St Bernard dogs, which for centuries helped monks who lived in the monastery at the pass to rescue stranded and dying pilgrims. Late that afternoon, they cross into Italy and reach their hostel. It is very basic accommodation, and the pilgrims have to make the best of it - even Mehreen (a committed Muslim) who has never even used a sleeping bag before. In the morning, Greg (a lapsed Jehovah’s Witness) comes to realize that his decision to sleep outdoors at altitude, in a plastic igloo, wasn’t such a good idea. At the hostel, the group are given their pilgrim passports, which need to be stamped wherever they stop along the way, before they pack up and start moving south. On the road, Lesley, Greg, Mehreen and Stephen, who hopes this journey will be one of discovery, approach the small town of Tromello. They are greeted by 80-year-old Carlo, who takes it upon himself to cycle the fields searching out passing pilgrims