WALKING ST. CUTHBERTS WAY

Who was St Cuthbert? He is thought to have been born and raised in the Scottish Borders and started his ministry at Melrose monastery in about 650AD, he spent much time on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, travelled far and wide making many pilgrimages between the mainland and the Island.  Thus, the 62.5 mile long St Cuthbert’s Way, between Melrose and Lindisfarne is thought to closely follow paths he would have trodden.

Our adventure started in Kelso at the Borders Showground site, where old buddies were reunited and we welcomed new walking rallier Steve Lewis (who kept winning all the Smarties!).  We were to walk on seven of the ten days, with a move to Wooler after four days and one day off for good behaviour.

On Monday morning the bus arrived on time to take us to the start of the walk at Melrose Abbey and picked us up at the end of the day’s hike at St Boswells; that became the routine each day.  Some days saw us in a teashop or pub taking welcoming sustenance whilst waiting for the afternoon pick up..

The Scottish Borders and Northumberland offer some spectacular scenery varying from lowland farmland to undulating hills (of which we climbed a few), covered with heather; this is sheep country and they were in abundance.  There were times when the mud almost got the better of us, but considering the awful weather prevailing that week, we stayed dry for most of the time – perhaps St Cuthbert had a hand it that. 

Sandy & Jo’s quizzes and conundrums kept us occupied along the way, with the promise of Smarties for those wide awake enough to find the clues,  By and large we were a very well behaved group, until the penultimate walk, when one of our  senior members went AWOL for a comfort stop and caused a panic.  However, he was eventually heard bleating “wait for me” and emerged from the trees.  For those unitiated in the rules of walking, it’s a hanging offense to leave the group without telling the backmarker.   

Thus our adventure was reaching its finale and what a finale it was.  We had had a glimpse of Holy Island at the end of the previous day, which left us eager to tackle our goal.  Everyone managed to be up and ready for the bus at 8 a.m. which dropped us at Fenwick.   Not far into the walk we had to cross the main-line railway between Edinburgh and London, where it is compulsory to telephone the signalman for permission to cross and when the crossing is complete to call again and confirm all are safe.  That achieved, we were soon on the foreshore of the mainland and in sight of Lindisfarne Castle which sits high upon a rock .We encountered several massive concrete blocks here, which were part of the WWII coastal defences. 

It is only possible to gain access to the Island at low tide, cars and walkers can cross by the Causeway and keep their feet dry, but most of us had elected to go via.the sands, known as the Pilgrims Way, about 2 3 miles.  It is unlikely in St Cuthbert’s time there was an option to stay dry.  The sun glistened on the sand as we approached the Causeway, Val checked the tide timetable, and all was well.  It was a short walk along the Causeway to the start of the ‘Way marked by long poles in the sands, the excitement grew as we stepped onto the sand. Hosrength of the wind was blowing the sea back into the channel and within a few yards our boots were waterlogged, we were wading through 6/9” of water.  Two sensible people came with wellingtons and had the laugh on us.  Our leaders gave us the option of abandoning ship but with strong hearts we battled on until we landed on the Island, mud splattered but we’d done it.  We poured the water out of our boots, wrung out our socks and set off to find some dry ones before exploring the wonders of Lindisfarne.

We were to be picked up by bus and HAD to be back spot on time or be marooned until the next low tide, so no time to hang about, there was the castle to see (the shuttle bus is a great time-saver) the ruins of the Priory, Lindisfarne Centre, with a film about the Viking raiders etc. not to mention finding lunch (wonderful crab sandwiches and a glass of chilled Chardonnay).  We didn’t manage to see everything, so a good excuse to return someday. What a fantastic day we’d had.  Life really does begin at 60 or 70 or 80+, that was the age range of  our party.  Not surprising there were a few nodding heads on the bus.  There was further celebration back at camp, a wonderful iced cake depicting our pilgrimage, washed down the remains of the Happy Hour beverages.      

Just time for a quick  shower and then it was off to the final dinner – we do scrub up quite well and all arrived looking very smart at the local hotel in Wooler, where the quiz answers and winners were revealed , speeches and tokens of thanks given in the usual manner.  Another incredible adventure and our thanks to Val & Phil and Sandy & Jo for their tireless work in reccying the whole walk previously to ensure the viability of the project, trying out the restaurants and organising the bus shuttles.  There is much toil in such an undertaking – Well Done.