Again, a wonderful breakfast this morning, with the great company of my gracious hosts, and then I was off for my day of walking. Because I was going to stay in Wooler for a second night, I was able to leave my big bag at Millyard House and wear just my daypack today, which felt very freeing, and I set off with good energy for my 21 km day.
I walked first on a paved road past a school, very aware that back home today was the first day of a new school year. I felt only a teensy-tiny bit of sadness that I wasn’t there this year, much less than I had thought I would. It helped that I was here in this beautiful part of the world doing this walk. The road climbed a hill and soon the way turned left into path along the edge of a field. I zoomed in to take a photo down towards Wooler and the beginnings of the Cheviot Hills behind it.
Soon I reached a sign saying that I was rising up to Weetwood Moor. The bracken made room for heather and grasses, with some conifer plantations scattered in the distance. It had a very different atmosphere compared to yesterday’s moor as the wind was barely a whisper and the air was warm and sleepy. It was very calm walking along and I only passed one morning walker.
The path continued through a series of sheep fields. These sheep by the gate looked like they were plotting an escape, but as I approached they did what sheep do and followed their instinct to “run away!”.
It was in a further sheep field that I lost my way for the first time on this walk. Saint Cuthbert’s Way is extremely well signed, and there had only been a few times during my entire walk when I had wondered if I was on the right path (I always was) or felt that I needed to check with my guide book or map. This morning though I was in a day-dreamy mood and missed a signed turnoff. I soon realised my error when I reached the end of a sheep field, with no marker on the gate exiting the field, or on the gate at the other side of the field. So, I retraced my steps to the last marker that I had seen, a matter of only about 15 minutes of walking, and I was back on the right path. Pay attention Christine!
All too soon, the path descended off of the moor to cross a road and then a rather picturesque bridge, dating from the 16th century which was restored in the 18th century and again in 2005. After the bridge, there was quite a long section of road walking along country lanes up and over the horizon’s edge, with pastoral views all around.
At one point, as I started to grow a little tired of the road walking, I let out a sigh, and that frightened a pheasant out of the hedgerow! So pretty! He quickly ducked back out of sight in the thick vegetation but I had seen him and it cheered me immensely. Then, Saint Cuthbert’s Way finally veered off of the roads and onto a path that bordered a field and a wildflower meadow, where I was cheered again and inspired to take some flower photos, though my old friend the wind was back and making it difficult to focus my camera on the swaying flowers.
I walked happily down the path and then saw about ten young pheasants at the edge of the field. They are timid like sheep and rather than flying away (though one or two did), most of them ran directly away from me for some distance before finally deciding to escape either to the left or the right. I wished I had my zoom lens with me! (I have some photos of some brown specks but I won’t share them!)
The next excitement of the day was the approach to Saint Cuthbert’s cave, up this road and into the forest beyond it.
For those walkers doing Saint Cuthbert’s Way as a pilgrimage, the cave is a very special place as it is reputed that the monks of Lindisfarne hid here in AD875, during the time of repeated Viking raids, with the body of Saint Cuthbert and other relics from the monastery at Lindisfarne in order to protect them from the invading Danes. The cave is very atmospheric upon approach, as you can see from the photos below.
But for me, the association with this place is murder (!) – due to an episode of one of my favourite British crime drama series, “Vera” starring the wonderful Brenda Blethyn. In the episode, a body was found, wrapped in black plastic in the back of the cave to the left, and another body was later found buried in front of a large rock on the right. “Get forensics up here with shovels,” might have been the line delivered by Vera!
All morning I had walked alone, except for one brief hello in the morning to a walker on Weetwood moor. I was quite surprised to be alone at the cave as I had expected that there would be quite a few Saint Cuthbert’s Way walkers about, or local walkers. But, I had not seen a soul during miles of walking. As I approached the cave, there was no one about and I was feeling a little creeped out. What if there was a copy-cat murderer who had loved that episode and was just waiting for me? I very quickly took a few photos, and when I turned to leave I spotted the silhouette of two people at the bottom of the trail, half-hidden in the brush. My heart skipped a beat! But, of course they were just a polite English couple, out for a walk. We conversed for a few minutes (they had heard about the episode but not seen it so I didn’t feel it was a good idea to describe it to them). Then, another walker came up the trail right after them, with a big pack, and just behind him a group of ramblers. I scooted away quickly, wanting to regain my solitude.
I re-connected with the path, travelled up along the edge of the forest, and saw a rocky outcropping off to the left, on the other side of a stone fence, and also a long narrow hill, completely covered with purple heather and topped with a cairn.
I quickly scampered up to the top of the rocky outcropping to see my first views of Lindisfarne!
And further down the coast I could just make out Bamburgh castle.
While behind me were fields and the start of the Cheviot hills.
After sitting and enjoying the views from the outcropping, I was very eager to also climb up to the top of the heather-covered hill before any of the other walkers arrived so I scampered back down the rocks, climbed the stile over the stone fence, and quickly set off up the narrow beckoning trail towards the cairn at the top of the hill.
The views were wonderful! I sat at the top for a while, happily alone, to rest and soak it all in. I had walked all the way to here! It was such a great feeling. I drank some water, ate a light snack, and decided to air out my boots and change into dry socks. As I rested, I thought to look at my guidebook and map to estimate the remaining distance and time down to Fenwick. But, something didn’t make sense. My hill wasn’t on Saint Cuthbert’s Way! That was the second time today I was off trail! Thank goodness I looked at my map because otherwise I would have kept right on going down the other side of that hill to who-knows-where. It was a easy fix, just head back down the hill and past the rocky outcropping to the edge of the forest. No wonder none of the other walkers were showing up on my hill! I was a little perturbed to be off-trail twice in one day, but also rather glad that I had made that mistake as otherwise I might not have climbed on the hill. I got back on the right path, and it descended and rose across fields towards the sea.
The path turned and went towards and then into a forestry plantation for a good long while. I was feeling a little tired, but mostly good striding along, and the forest section reminded me of home.
I noticed from the marker badges that Saint Cuthbert’s Way was now sharing the path with the Northumberland Coast Path and with Saint Oswald’s Way. And, then I saw a very welcome sign, “Fenwick, 2 miles.” Almost there!
The path emerged from the forest and continued past some fields of pink clover. The sweet smell was wonderful and I picked a few flower heads to nibble on as I walked.
Finally the path joined a paved road that descended towards the tiny community of Fenwick, with views across to where I would be walking tomorrow, across the sands to Lindisfarne. I felt overcome, and started to cry with happy emotion.
Bob, my B&B host who had kindly offered to pick me up, arrived at the Fenwick Village Hall only minutes before I did, and he zipped us quickly along the country lanes and into Wooler. It was yet another wonderful day of walking on Saint Cuthbert’s Way, with a peaceful moor, lovely countryside, a dramatic cave, and my first exciting views of my final destination, the Holy Isle of Lindisfarne. Goodnight.
