St Oswalds Walk

May 23rd 2012

St Oswald’s walk

This is a 97 mile walk from Lindisfarne (Holy Island), following the Northumberland coast to Warkworth, then going inland and south to end at Heavensfield on Hadrian’s Wall. The route links some of the places associated with Oswald, who was King of Northumbria from 634 until his death.

Oswald, the son of King Aethelfrith of Bernicia, came to rule after spending a period in exile at Iona; after defeating the British ruler Cadwallon at Heavensfield, Oswald brought the two Northumbrian kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira once again under a single ruler, and promoted the spread of Christianity in Northumbria. After eight years of rule, in which he was the most powerful ruler in Britain, Oswald was killed in battle.

Lindisfarne early history is strongly linked with the Bishops Sts Aidan and Cuthbert and there monastic community who produced the illuminated Lindisfarne Gospels. 

Today all that remains are the ruins from the re-founded 11^th century priory.

Also on Lindisfarne is the castle built in 1550 on a dramatic rocky out crop on the south eastern side of the island. It is a compact island in a beautiful dramatic setting with an air of tranquillity and spirituality well worth visiting and exploring in its own right.

Finally after a year waiting we have managed to orchestrate the Pilgrims Way crossing of the causeway, suitable days off work, favourable weather and most importantly correct tide times. We travelled to Holy Island the previous day and booked B&B at The Manor House Hotel http://www.manorhouselindisfarne.com/  ready for a good start next morning.

The morning view out of the bedroom windows was spectacular with the imposing castle set against clear blue skies, small fishing cobbles bobbing on clear seas and the haunting cry of the sea birds.

After a wholesome breakfast of fresh local produce we were keen to start.

The walk commences at the priory and passes through the village follows the main road down to the sands and Chare Ends.

You have the choice of walking along the road or over the causeway sands, which ever way you choose it is only passable when the tide is out, you must ensure you have sufficient time to complete the crossing before setting off.

 

Our route was 3 miles over the sands the way marked by a line of long wooden poles which must be followed closely to avoid any quick sand. The tide was safely out as we surveyed our route. The ground to begin with was firm damp and littered with broken shells so walking bare footed was discounted, and it was very uneven due to   the lugworms that produced highly coiled casts in the sand like miniature mole hills. This favourite bait of fishermen is not allowed to be extracted within 50 metres of the wooden posts and they seem to know this judging by the huge number of casts so we had to walk over a very bumpy surface for a couple of miles.

Although the tide was out there were channels of shallow water to cross resulting in wet feet for me. My sensible companion had donned practical leather boots a much better option especially when the going turned to thick gooey sticky mud about the half way mark.

 We had a refreshing coffee at the car park with an opportunity to dry my feet and put on a lovely pair of dry socks before setting back along the road to the island and collect our car to head home.

Our 3 mile Pilgrims Way crossing was a round trip of 7 miles a great days walk!