Join us as we discover the Celtic Saints. We started in Northumbria, where our church's patron saint, St. Aidan, lived and taught as the first Bishop at Lindisfarne. Weeks 1 to 13 charted a journey up the coast and into the interior of Northumbria as we learned about the world St. Aidan inhabited. We are in the process of posting more information about each of the Celtic saints, and how they are connected to St. Aidan.

Week 6: Haltwhistle to Alnmouth

 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

We then follow paths through the moorland in Northumberland National Park, past the wind and ice sculpted Dove Crag (below) where wild goats are seen, and past Lordenshaws where we find Neolithic rock art and an Iron Age hill fort.

Image: John Watson , https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/431209, no changes

Passing through Rothbury, a market town at the River Coquet crossing that had a church in the 7th century, we walk east along the River Coquet valley for 29 km to the coast. As the river winds its way back and forth along the valley floor, we cross many bridges and pass through several forested areas. Warkworth, on the coast, is situated in a tight bend of River Coquet, with an impressive 12th-century castle and a 12th-century church built on the site of a previous church dating from the 7th-century. Click here to read more about it:

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

Walking north to Alnmouth, we walk along the dunes and saltmarsh. Below is Church Hill, probably the site of an early church, with newer churches built on the same spot, looking across to the village of Alnmouth.

Image: Andrew Curtis, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5870454, no changes


Present-day Alnmouth was founded in 1152 and became a busy port until a huge storm in 1806 broke through the dunes and changed the course of River Aln, silting in part of the harbor and cutting off Church Hill from the village.
Image: BazzaDaRambler - Alnmouth, Northumberland ... the last of summer, probably., CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22035776


The river mouth has always been an important harbor and has been lived in since Mesolithic times. It was well protected, built on a spit of land extending out into the sea, with the river protecting its other side.  Although there was no Roman fort here, the harbor was used to transport goods and soldiers. There has been a long history of a Christian presence here as St. Cuthbert was elected Bishop of Lindisfarne at a Synod held here in 684 and there have been churches and monasteries here since then.


Our next post will have us walking from Alnmouth to Alnwick.


[britainexpress.com, Walking St. Oswald’s Way and St. Cuthbert’s Way (Rudolf Abraham)]