St Cuthbert's Way

Jim Bull

22 June 2022

The plan was to walk a section of the St Cuthbert’s Way from Fenwick to Wooler so four of us (Mike, Willie, Crawford and Jim) met in Wooler at 9.30 am. We left Mike’s car there for the return journey, and drove to Fenwick in Willie’s car to meet Sue and John, who had driven there in their camper van.

We set off shortly after 10 am on a lovely warm, sunny morning and started to follow the well-signed route of the St Cuthbert’s Way. The terrain varied, initially on a quiet tarmac road, then onto gravel tracks and soon we were into lush farmland and forest. We came across a number of fallen trees, perhaps a legacy of Storm Arwen which hit the north east last year. These necessitated some crawling on all fours or clambering over as we couldn’t easily bypass them.

Our first stop was taken in a forest clearing, perched on a handy collection of felled tree trunks, then lunch was taken once we reached the site of St Cuthbert’s cave where reputedly the monks carrying his body from Melrose to Alnwick stopped for a night’s rest.

Once past the cave, we walked alongside a large area of farmland given over to cultivated poppies and daisies, many acres of them which will look wonderful when they are all out in flower.

We continued on the route and came across a wooden statue of St Cuthbert, unfortunately damaged recently and awaiting repair. Here we also met a couple of American ladies from North Carolina who were walking the complete Way and had that morning set off from Wooler to head to Fenwick, the opposite direction to ourselves.

Crawford had printed off a profile of the route and we had seen there was a sharp ascent awaiting us not long before we got to Wooler. This was probably the steepest climb of the day and had some of us panting for breath in the warm sunshine.

Once past the steep climb we then had an equally steep descent to a tarmac road which led us into Wooler. We had hoped to find a cafe where we could get some refreshment but by now it was nearly 4 pm and we discovered the cafes all closed at 3 pm. After a short break to get our breath back, Mike then drove Crawford, Willie, Sue and John back to Fenwick to retrieve their vehicles and head home.

Regards, Jim Bull.

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Next Marauders outing:

Mike has asked me to include the following message:

“David’s last hill was Ben Lawers on the Friday 23rd July 2021. It has been suggested that we go to Ben Lawers on the anniversary as a tribute and remembrance. In accordance with Marauder traditions of weekday walks, we should do this on Friday 22nd July 2022.

For those who haven’t done it before, Ben Lawers is the highest peak in the southern highlands but an easy walk. There are two good, well graded paths which enable an excellent round walk. More details nearer the time.”