Day 7: Fenwick to Holy Island

 

I can't believe it's the last day of the walk. In some ways it's gone so slowly - looking back on the posts from day 1 and 2 seem so long ago. And somehow it's gone so quickly, too!

 

Now, I promised some interesting challenges. This was the first one - crossing the A1. It's quite a busy motorway and I had to wait several minutes before finally finding a gap in the traffic and leaping across to the other side. 

 

Then a short walk down this little road to...

 

... a nice, soft, sheltered trail. 

 

 

 

It was just a short walk through some very flat fields until I was met with my next challenge. The Mainline Rail Tracks. 

 

Now, this was new to me. My guidebook helpfully said that I must call the signalman, tell him how many in my party (I've been partying on my own all week long!) and how long it'd take me to cross the track. So I did this. I picked up the phone and a man with an impenetrability strong Northumberland accent asked me all of the above questions. Having never crossed a mainline track before, I erred on the side of caution and told him it'd take me two minutes. He hummed and said that I'd better wait because he had a train passing shortly and when it goes by I should ring again. 

So I waited. And waited. About 5 minutes later a train sped past, which was rather exciting, and then I noticed that a gaggle of lady walkers were approaching me. Then the phone rang. I picked it up and the man said, 'Are you ready to cross?' and I said I was but now I was a party of nine. (Party on. 🎸) These marvellous ladies then all lept over the fence together as I tried to say 'we haven't had permission yet'! But thankfully the signalman said we had enough time and I ended up being the last one across. On the other side, as instructed by the signalman, I rang him back to say we'd survived, all nine of us, and then the ladies asked for a photo. I obliged but not before I could stop them as they picked up the phone to pretend they were calling - only to realise it was a direct dial and the poor signalman heard from us again. What a palaver. 

 

Anyway, here I am, safely on the other side of the tracks despite their best efforts. 

 

 

 

It was a short walk down to the seaside and past some enormous concrete blocks which used to form part of the tank defense of the English coastline during World War 2. They're enormous - and go on for hundreds of metres as far as I could see. I realised that I'd mis-timed my walk and was too early to cross the causeway safely - so I found a shady concrete block and settled down to eat my sandwich and read my book for a while until the tide was down. 

 

 

 

Finally, the time was right and I made my way the last four miles of St Cuthbert's Way. Lots of people walk the sands to get to the island but I don't think I had quite the right footwear - but the causeway was just as lovely. 

 

At last, I made it! 62 miles in total!! This is Lindisfarne Priory, the end of the walk. I will spend the day on Holy Island tomorrow and intend on taking in all it has to offer then, but I wandered a bit today to get some pictures for the blog. 

 

A wooden sculpture of the monks carrying St Cuthbert from Lindisfarne to the mainland. This is at St Mary's Church. 

 

The priory, the churchyard and the castle in the background. 

 

A view to the south. 

 

St Mary's Church. 

 

And my final stamp on my journey. Hurrah! Thank you for coming along with me! It's been lovely having your company. 

E. xx

Oh!!! And I finally saw a bear!! 😊

 

Day 6: Wooler to Fenwick

 

Well, I'd like to say I had a good morning walking... but it was definitely the least enjoyable part of the walk so far. 

 

 

 

Now, don't get me wrong. I did have a lovely day today. And it started out very nicely with a little climb up the hill east of Wooler and then it descended to the valley on the other side at Weetwood Bridge...

 

 

... but then it followed paved and dirt roads for four miles. Four miles. That's hard on the old feet. And with another lovely, sunny day, having almost no shade the whole way makes it a little tedious after a while. 

 

 

 

But, I shouldn't complain. The rest of the walk when I finally joined up with some proper trails was an absolute treat. I found this life size wooden sculpture of St Cuthbert (he had a thing for otters) and some amazing views of the Cheviots before coming to the highlight of my day:

 

St Cuthbert died at Inner Farne but was buried on Lindisfarne. Eleven years after his death his grave was opened and his body found to be perfectly preserved. This led to his canonisation and ultimately to the cult of St Cuthbert. After some particularly devastating Viking raids on Lindisfarne some of the monks took his body (or perhaps just some relics) and hid in what is now St Cuthbert's Cave. 

 

 

 

 

It's a beautiful, quiet place and I could just imagine the monks hiding there with their precious cargo after their particularly harrowing time the night before at Lindisfarne. It's also a wonderful place to sit in the shade and have a cup of tea. 

Then, just another 200 metres up the hill...

 

... I had my first peek at the sea - and Lindisfarne! 

 

 

 

The route then descended towards the valley near Fenwick. There was indeed a bull in that field but thankfully he was too busy keeping his ladies happy to notice my rather hasty walk through his field. 

 

 

 

 

The trail then followed the edge of a wood for a piece and then joined up with St Oswald's Way (a mentor to St Cuthbert) and through the woods where I saw lots of interesting wildlife including a tiny little lizard/gecko/newt thing which couldn't have been more than four centimetres long and was very camera shy. The woods smelled exactly like the trail to Michael's Point back home and I found myself getting a little homesick. It was a particularly lovely part of the walk. 

 

At last I've settled into my swanky little room and I'm looking forward to a G&T to celebrate the day. Tomorrow is the last day of the walk and poses some of the more interesting logistical challenges of the journey. Stay tuned...!

Day 5: Kirk Yetholm to Wooler

 

I couldn't have had better weather today. 

It was sunny and hot (21C) all day long and I had a (mostly) gentle breeze to cool me off all the way from Kirk Yetholm to Wooler. 

 

   

The day started with a steady climb up the Pennine Way passing hillforts and valleys. And sheep. And cows. Quite a few cows, actually. Nice break from the sheep. 

 

 

The climb peaked at the border between Scotland and England, where no one checked for my passport or the size of my carry on luggage. I then made my way across a fairly plain but rolling hillside to the valley below. 

 

  

I had a bit of a break from the beating sun in a little pine plantation. It's somewhere around here that Lord Collingwood (Nelson's Number 2) attempted to plant some oak trees to eventually build Royal Navy ships with. Unsurprisingly, the trees didn't grow well because the soil is more suitable for conifers and the wind would stunt their growth. Anyway, Collingwood is now buried next to Nelson at St Paul's Cathedral and I may have to go have a word with him about trees when I get back. 

 

    

After the wood, I passed a little sheep farm where the farmers were heading out in their quad bikes to see their sheep. There were four dogs with them - lovely Border Collies - who could barely contain their excitement about their trip to the fields. They sped off so fast I could barely get a picture ... but you might be able to spot them in the photo below. 

 

The trail then meandered slowly down to Hethpool, where I got a little lost. 

 

 

 

No worries, though, as the trail became evident again and I made my way up (again) over heather-covered, scrubby land with many, many rabbits and no bears. Yeavering Bell was quite a sight to see (the panorama photo above) and is Northumberland's largest hillfort, apparently, and still has rubble on the top where the fort was. There are also wild goats that live on (and near) it. I saw things that could have been goats - or sheep - so I don't know if I actually saw one. They have spectacular horns, and I didn't see any evidence of that. 

Now. If I could pause here to tell you about something that I learned today: the popular and mystifying sport of Hill Running. I met a Hill Runner today who told me all about it. As far as I can tell, it is a sport in which 60-80 year old men dress in as little as possible and run up and down these hills while making a noise something like a horse with acute emphysema. It's rather alarming. The man I spoke to said he was worried that the sport was dying away, and I chose not to say "Maybe if you didn't try to kill yourselves running up and down these hills...". Anyway, good for them, and I would never in my life want to do that. I think I saw about six Hill Runners including one who sneaked up behind me in the *middle of nowhere* and nearly scared me to death. He wasn't doing the horse impression well enough. You may be able to spot him running off into the distance, below. He's wearing red. 

 

Anyway, back to the walk. 

 

 

As I carried on over the hills, my OS Maps App promised me Grouse Butts. Sad to say, I didn't see a single Grouse Butt, but I saw a lot of sheep butts. The one above walked ahead of me for some time before finding something more interesting to do. 

 

 

Finally, some shade. I stopped in the wood to have my tea and granola bar and then eventually ended up in Wooler (which is just in the distance in the photo above) and found my B&B. It was a long walk today in the sun but very enjoyable - and I'm very much looking forward to my dinner at the local Italian restaurant tonight! Another similar walk tomorrow but with less up-and-down so the guidebook promises! Time to put my feet up!