Crossword Genius

Load skirting bleak area and heading for grand holy expedition (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pilgrimage

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'expedition' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'load skirting bleak area and heading for grand holy' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'bleak' could be 'grim' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'grim' is present in the answer.
'area' could be 'a' (maths abbreviation) and 'a' is located in the answer.
'grand' could be 'g' (G is short for grand as in a thousand) and 'g' is present in the answer.
'load' could be 'pile' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'pile' is found in the leftover letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for pilgrimage that I've seen before include "What Chaucer,s travellers were engaged upon" , "journey to shrine" , "Journey to a sacred place" , "Religiously inspired journey" , "Religiously-inspired journey" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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