A NORDIC explorer is today heading out on her next great expedition – in and around Lincolnshire.

Performance artist Agnes Nedregard will be using costumes, props and her surroundings as she travels from Woodhall Spa to Lincoln.

The Norwegian will be playing the role of the fool, commonly depicted in history as a jester, during her two-day pilgrimage, which starts at 9am.

Miss Nedregard is planning to reach Washingborough this evening before finishing her journey by walking from the Stonebow arch in High Street, Lincoln, up to Lincoln Cathedral.

Shoppers and city visitors are being urged to join the 34-year-old from 1pm tomorrow, when she will be acting out a new performance on the cathedral grounds.

Glasgow School Of Art graduate Miss Nedregard, originally from Bergen, said she first visited Lincoln in March.

She said: "I was really surprised. The city is so pretty and I was interested in how the cathedral stands on the landscape, on top of a hill. It's really fantastic.

"That is why I chose to do this piece.

"I've been told the cathedral becomes a blind spot for the local population in their minds. I find it fascinating – it's a holy space, but it attracts people for secular reasons such as its architecture."

The pilgrimage route will follow the Viking Way for the first part of the journey before moving near the canal from Fiskerton to Lincoln.

Miss Nedregard said she enjoyed the concept of the jester, but that did not mean she would be behaving like one.

She said: "I am making an image, but I am being myself. I don't act as a jester, but in a way I do.

"I imagine when walking, if people join me we can have conversations about the journey and life."

The work is the latest idea from the Lincoln Art Programme, run by Amelia Beavis-Harrison and Alan Armstrong.

Funding for the group's forthcoming projects was provided by the Arts Council England and Lincolnshire County Council.

University Of Lincoln art graduate and artist Miss Beavis- Harrison said she will be taking part in the walk, which was routed in the history of pilgrims visiting the city.

She said: "We just contacted Agnes and she had never been to Lincoln before. It was interesting for her to come here, being from Norway.

"Sometimes artists are just given an exhibition space but we want to take them out and put them in the city."

For more information on the journey, visit www.lincoln artprogramme.co.uk/foolroute. html