A happy band of nine pilgrims, mostly from St. Mary Magdalene’s, completed the 63 mile walk along St. Cuthbert’s Way in mid September. We did walk all of it, but were very grateful for the sponsorship of a minibus to take us form Clitheroe to the North East and then to ferry us to and fro between the places where we stayed and the walk for each day.
St. Cuthbert’s Way begins at Melrose Abbey where Cuthbert started his life as a Benedictine monk and ends at Lindisfarne Priory on Holy Island where he became Prior and then Bishop. He spent much of his time walking from village to village telling people the Good News of the Gospel. Towards the end of his life he lived as a hermit on the island of Inner Farne but still received many visitors, and on his death he was brought back to Holy Island for burial.
A hundred years later the Viking raids became to fierce that the monks had to flee, taking with them a coffin containing St. Cuthbert’s body. There’s a wooden sculpture depicting this in St. Mary’s church next to the priory.
It’s quite possible that the monks spent the first night of their long journey in a sandstone cave a few miles from the coast. It’s called St. Cuthbert’s Cave, and we were privileged to be able to share Holy Communion there. It took more than a hundred years after that before the saint’s body reached its present resting place in Durham Cathedral.
Our journey took us from Melrose across the Eildon Hills and then along the River Tweed for a while. The next day we walked along the Roman Dere Street which once saw Roman soldiers marching from York to Edinburgh.
In fact it was surprising to find out that what today seems a very peaceful part of southern Scotland and northern England has in the past been fought over many times.
The further east we went, the hillier it became. The top of Wideopen Hill was one of the highest points on our travels.
High up on windy moorland we crossed from Scotland into England. The trail continued along the edge of the Cheviot Hills into Wooler, after which we were back into undulating farmland and woodland until on the seventh day of walking we reached our destination. It was a pilgrimage, a long walk, a wonderful experience.
