St Oswald's Way Wander and Wonderings

 We left lovely Rothbury and followed the route of St Oswald's Way towards the coast at Warkworth, with its ruined, imposing castle. It wasn't the castle I wanted to visit, but the beautiful walk along the River Coquet. We had left behind the wild windiness and walked in sunshine, shaded at times by lush woodland that grows beside the footpath, whilst orchids sheltered amongst the long meadow grasses. We stopped at the mooring for the boat to the Hermitage before taking the road up towards the castle, walking beside golden barley and back to the town.  The afternoon took us Northwards towards our stay on Lindisfarne and the rain swept in from the west. By the time we reached the latter stages of the A1 we were driving in monsoon conditions, which continued as we crossed the Causeway. We had about half an hour before the end of the 'safe crossing' time, before the tide comes in and the Causeway is impassible. As we turned towards the Island a stream of cars were travelli

Today we left our lovely cottage at Acomb and returned to St Oswald's Way. The bed was so comfy that if the countryside had been any less astonishing I might never have climbed out of it! I had hoped to walk all 97 miles of St Oswald's Way but it turned into a bit of a logistical nightmare when I realised I would only be able to manage a few miles each day, so as not to get too tired, and my health can be unpredictable at the moment. Just last Sunday I was throwing up due to the Lodger (my name for my cancer) causing problems with my digestion, if this happened on the walk it would obviously impact my walking schedule and the planned accommodation.   So, I'm having a bit of a wander along St Oswald's Way and doing different parts of it over a two week period. This week will be Heavenfield to Lindisfarne, via Rothbury, staying in land, and next week I'll move onto the coastal stretches.  After yesterdays detour to Hexham and Hadrian's Wall it was time to pick up

 I wandered from St Oswald's Way today, called instead to the 7th Century Abbey at Hexham and the wildness of Hadrian's Wall. The Abbey was founded by St Wilfrid, he was born into a noble family but at 14 he went to train with the monks on Lindisfarne.  At 19 he travelled to Rome and was impressed by their ability to build in stone, rather than in wood as was the Anglo Saxon tradition. In his early 20s he was made Bishop of Ripon. Rather annoyingly, to me at any rate, in his 30s he helped persuade King Oswy, at the Synod of Whitby, that the Northumbrian Church should follow the hierarchical Christian practices that came from Rome rather than the more egalitarian Celtic Christianity from Ireland. The following year he was made Bishop of Northumbria. However, he did befriend the East Anglian Princess Etheldreda who was married to Prince Ecfrith of Northumbria, she was 29 he was 15. Eventually Wilfrid persuaded her husband, then King Ecfrith, to grant her a divorce so that she cou

 'The place is called in English Hefenfelth, meaning the heavenly field, which name bestowed upon it long ago, was a sure omen of events to come, portending that there the heavenly sign could be set up, a heavenly victory won and heavenly wonders shown'.   Ecclesiastical History of the English Speaking People, Bede ....And as we arrived in the late afternoon it surely was a heavenly place. Wide blue skies held a bright sun and the meadow grasses, with purple clover and yellow rattle, flanked the mown path from the wooden cross, that commemorates Oswald's faith in God as he went into battle, to the church of St Oswald that stands on the crest of the hill shielded by tall trees. This marks the end of the St Oswald's Way walk from Lindisfarne to Heavenfield but I feel it should, in fact, be the start of the walk. This is where Oswald returned from exile in Scotland to win a great battle against Cadwalla of Gwynedd, King of the Britons, in 633/634. Cadwalla, after killing t