St. Oswald’s Way will have a large variance of kilometers over the next 4 weeks, so walking groups can average the following amounts over the 4 weeks if they like, making it 50.5 km per week:
Week 6: Haltwhistle to Alnwick – 123 km
Week 7: Alnwick to Farne Islands Hermitage – 41 km
Week 8: Farne Islands to Bamburgh Castle – 5 km
Week 9: Bamburgh Castle to Lindisfarne Priory – 33km
To see a map of St. Oswald’s Trail, click here: https://www.stoswaldsway.com/
This week we start at Haltwhistle and head back to Hexham. It is 7.5 km from Hexham up to the village of Heavenfield, where St. Oswald’s Way starts
at the wooden cross.
Image: David Dixon, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3191606, no changes |
Heavenfield is the site of the battle between St. Oswald and the Kings of Wales and Merica in 635, when Oswald became King of Northumbria. Oswald was said to have erected a cross here before the battle and asked his soldiers to pray. Oswald’s smaller forces then miraculously defeated the much larger forces of Wales and Mercia. St. Oswald’s church now stands where a 7th-century church was built at the site of the cross. The church has never had electricity and uses gas lamps and candle-light during services. To read more about the church (below), click here:
Photo: https://www.britainexpress.com/counties/northumbria/churches/heavenfield.htm |
We walk east along Hadrian’s Wall past some Roman Forts. Hadrian’s Wall follows the Whin Sill (below), a great sheet of rock formed when molten rock oozed up through cracks in the earth’s crust 295 million years ago. It stretches from one side of the country to the other and Hadrian’s Wall is built on its hard outcrops, as well as many of its forts, Bamburgh Castle, Lindisfarne Priory, and the Farne Islands Hermitage.
Photo: Rudi Winter, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6162779, no changes |
After crossing Dere Street, we head North through small villages, farms, and fields, passing Todridge Fell (fell means hill), Duns Moor, and Bavington Crags (a Whin Sill outcrop) on our left. We pass through Kirkwhelpington (it has a 13th-century church), Knowesgate (knowe means hill and is pronounced ‘now’), Camp Hill (the site of an Iron Age hill fort), and through several forested areas. In the photo below, you can see Camp Hill to the left, and the St. Oswald’s Way path through the field.
Image: Oliver Dixon, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6162779, no changes |
Image: John Watson , https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/431209, no changes |
There is also
a hermitage carved out of the sandstone rock in 1340, accessible only by boat.
Image: Graham Horn, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1511958, no changes |
And 1.6 km offshore is Coquet Island, a monastic site in the 7th century. The present-day lighthouse incorporates parts of a 14th century monastic cell.
Image: Mat Fascione, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5870454, no changes |
Image: Andrew Curtis, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5870454, no changes |
Image: BazzaDaRambler - Alnmouth, Northumberland ... the last of summer, probably., CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22035776 |
[britainexpress.com, Walking St. Oswald’s Way and St.
Cuthbert’s Way (Rudolf Abraham)]