Pennine Way to Holy Island (via St Cuthbert's Way)

[peregrino_tom]

The Pennine Way runs up the spine of England for 270 miles from Edale near Sheffield to Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders. The St Cuthbert's Way passes through Kirk Yetholm on its 100km way from Melrose to Holy Island.
This August I wanted to see whether I could take a long walk in England which ended at a place of Pilgrimage. So I walked the Pennine Way and turned right at its conclusion and walked the 30 miles to Holy Island.
The Pennine Way is a hard walk, especially in poor weather. I took an ultralight tent and a small stove in my 50L 'camino' pack and mixed camping with youth hostels and camping barns. I didn't especially look for points of pilgrimage - and I didn't really find any. The most awe-inspiring moment was arriving atop the astounding glacial valley of High Cup Nick. It was a moment of wonder.
My camera gave out during the trip so half of it was documented on a cheapish mobile phone
https://www.flickr.com/photos/peregrino_tom/sets/72157646671356830/

Although I only walked half of the St Cuthbert's Way it was delightful and reminded me in some respects of the camino Ingles - they are about the same length and have similar hill challenges, with the SCW being perhaps a little gentler. There are even places in the official guide to add your 'sellos' in each town/village - but receiving the certificate of completion is no longer dependent on obtaining these.
http://stcuthbertsway.info
I will definitely go back and do the whole of it at some point. There is nothing quite like the 3km walk across the tidal sands and mud flats, especially if you do it in your bare feet, following the perfectly lined staves to the island
https://www.flickr.com/photos/peregrino_tom/14894406368/in/set-72157646666058057

If you are thinking of planning to walk the SCW the first thing to check before you set your dates is the tides!
http://www.northumberlandlife.org/holy-island/
cheers, tom

 

[Kiwi-family]

stunning photos - thanks for sharing

 

[michryan]

Thanks for sharing. I recently bought a BBC DVD on the pilgrimages of the UK. It starts at Holy Island and talks a lot about the history as it heads down eventually getting to Cambrige. Does also do a short bit about the Camino de Santiago Frances route then onto the Via Fracigena to Rome. (Which I will be doing next year). Really interesting on how many pilgrimages there are. Hope to head back one year to do more walking in the UK. Walked the Coast to Coast last year from St. Bees to Robin Hoods Bay. That was fantastic. Again thanks for sharing.

 

[amorfati1]

The Pennine Way runs up the spine of England for 270 miles from Edale near Sheffield to Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders. The St Cuthbert's Way passes through Kirk Yetholm on its 100km way from Melrose to Holy Island.
This August I wanted to see whether I could take a long walk in England which ended at a place of Pilgrimage. So I walked the Pennine Way and turned right at its conclusion and walked the 30 miles to Holy Island.
The Pennine Way is a hard walk, especially in poor weather. I took an ultralight tent and a small stove in my 50L 'camino' pack and mixed camping with youth hostels and camping barns. I didn't especially look for points of pilgrimage - and I didn't really find any. The most awe-inspiring moment was arriving atop the astounding glacial valley of High Cup Nick. It was a moment of wonder.
My camera gave out during the trip so half of it was documented on a cheapish mobile phone
https://www.flickr.com/photos/peregrino_tom/sets/72157646671356830/

Although I only walked half of the St Cuthbert's Way it was delightful and reminded me in some respects of the camino Ingles - they are about the same length and have similar hill challenges, with the SCW being perhaps a little gentler. There are even places in the official guide to add your 'sellos' in each town/village - but receiving the certificate of completion is no longer dependent on obtaining these.
http://stcuthbertsway.info
I will definitely go back and do the whole of it at some point. There is nothing quite like the 3km walk across the tidal sands and mud flats, especially if you do it in your bare feet, following the perfectly lined staves to the island
https://www.flickr.com/photos/peregrino_tom/14894406368/in/set-72157646666058057

If you are thinking of planning to walk the SCW the first thing to check before you set your dates is the tides!
http://www.northumberlandlife.org/holy-island/
cheers, tom

Thanks sooo much for posting these MARVELOUS photos and the other links. had me swoon ....
After the Portuguese Caminho I stayed in Hebtonstall for 2 wks in June (and visited in Hebden Bridge almost daily) and walked part of the Pennine Way in twinky sections ... but still enjoyed the amazing sights of the landscape. Hence I was so pleased to see these images.... - (will be back there in November ... hope it won't be all foggy then on the moors)
Thanks again - saluti!

 

[Houlet]

Last year I did almost the same but stayed in Hostels and Bunk Houses.

I walked the Pennine Way but unlike you I turned left at Kirk Yetholm and walked home on the St Cuthberts Way to Melrose Abbey

I can recommend the St Cuthberts Way as well as the Borders Abbey Way which is a circular route around the Border Abbeys if any of you are in this part of the world.

http://www.bordersabbeysway.com/

More challenging is the Southern Upland Way but no pilgrimage type history as far as I know.

http://www.southernuplandway.gov.uk/cms/

 

[alansykes]

Glad you had a good time on the Peninne way - I live a few miles off the path, and have just picked a good crop of chanterelles at lovely High Cup Nick.

I enjoyed St Cuthbert's Way very much. The stretch from Melrose, where St Cuddy was a monk and later abbot, over the distinctive bulk of Trimontium, near one of the Romans' rare incursions into Scotland, and past the abbeys of Dryburgh and Jedburgh. The path over the border from Kirk Yetholm is in some of the loveliest countryside in the country, especially now when the heather is at its spectacular best. I also enjoyed seeing the feral goats up there.

And that foot massage going barefoot over the sand to Holy Island is just wonderful!

I did some blogs of the four day trip for the Guardian website:

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/the-northerner/2012/sep/01/walkingholidays-scotland

 

[peregrino_tom]

wow, great responses - I wasn't sure anyone was going to view this thread!
Rachel, thanks, I guess you are back home now in NZ
michryan - someone on the PW told me the coast to coast is now known as the 'toast to toast' because there are so many bed & breakfast establishments along the way...
amorfati1 - quite a contrast between the Portugues (and California!) and Yorkshire. I hope you get that clear weather in November.
Houlet - thanks for the links. Nice to be able to end your journey walking up to your front door..
Alan - thanks for the links to the Guardian blog - that's filled out the background nicely. BTW the waymarking on the SCW is excellent now. You are living in a very special place. Dufton YHA must be quite near you then? Simon and family run a great operation there.
cheers, tom

 

[Margaret Butterworth]

By chance, I heard a radio programme in Australia today about a poet who walked the Pennine Way, giving readings of his poems en route in order to finance his trip through donations: a modern day troubadour. He has written a book about his travels entitled "Walking Home", available on Amazon I believe. It is full of anecdotes about people he met and lists everything he raised by donation each day. This just about financed his walk. Budding Camino poets could give it a go!

The photos on this thread were lovely. I was born in West Yorkshire at Holmfirth and miss those moors.

 

[Pelegrin]

Very interesting information and great photos.

 

[peregrino_tom]

Margaret - when I saw your name was Butterworth I immediately thought... Yorkshire! One of the pleasures of the walk was becoming acquainted with so many names that were new to me such as buttertubs, shake holes, and a plethora of mysterious and austere-sounding moors.
Actually I met very few people along the PW. Two going the same direction as me gave up around the time of hurricane Bertha and I walked for a while with another two from the Netherlands and met one other travelling light and fast. There were probably 8-10 coming the other way of which two were end-to-enders - walking from John O'Groats to Lands End... good luck to them I say!
The fellow managing the Crowden campsite said that the PW was much more popular in the 60s and 70s and that during the holidays then there might be around 100 walkers coming through. But since then we've discovered cheap flights to Europe and elsewhere and the youth hostel infrastructure has (perhaps as a consequence) fallen apart a bit. I imagine that 40 years ago there were probably more people living and working on the land and in the villages. And these would have been interesting people to meet. I got the impression that villages like Garrigill were now almost completely comprised of holiday homes. Shepherds are no longer lean withdrawn men of the hills, but often rather weighty characters racing around on quad bikes!
I was told that both the BBC and ITV are making documentaries about the PW to be broadcast next year to celebrate its 50th anniversary, so I'll be looking out for them.
cheers, tom
Pelegrin - thank you

 

[AudTrekker]

Margaret - when I saw your name was Butterworth I immediately thought... Yorkshire! One of the pleasures of the walk was becoming acquainted with so many names that were new to me such as buttertubs, shake holes, and a plethora of mysterious and austere-sounding moors.
Actually I met very few people along the PW. Two going the same direction as me gave up around the time of hurricane Bertha and I walked for a while with another two from the Netherlands and met one other travelling light and fast. There were probably 8-10 coming the other way of which two were end-to-enders - walking from John O'Groats to Lands End... good luck to them I say!
The fellow managing the Crowden campsite said that the PW was much more popular in the 60s and 70s and that during the holidays then there might be around 100 walkers coming through. But since then we've discovered cheap flights to Europe and elsewhere and the youth hostel infrastructure has (perhaps as a consequence) fallen apart a bit. I imagine that 40 years ago there were probably more people living and working on the land and in the villages. And these would have been interesting people to meet. I got the impression that villages like Garrigill were now almost completely comprised of holiday homes. Shepherds are no longer lean withdrawn men of the hills, but often rather weighty characters racing around on quad bikes!
I was told that both the BBC and ITV are making documentaries about the PW to be broadcast next year to celebrate its 50th anniversary, so I'll be looking out for them.
cheers, tom
Pelegrin - thank you

Fabulous photos Tom. The walk looks amazing
Maybe one day I'll get to come over from Ireland to do it.
(not too far for me to travel )
Audrey

 

[peregrino_tom]

Audrey - thanks. There may not be a long distance path through it, but you have wonderful Donegal.

 

[AudTrekker]

Audrey - thanks. There may not be a long distance path through it, but you have wonderful Donegal.

I'm embarrassed to say that I went to Donegal last year for the first time. I went on a walking weekend in April. We went to Slieve League cliffs, Horn Head peninsula and Glenveagh national Park.
The scenery was amazing and I liked it so much that I rented a house there in the summer for a week.
I'll definitely go back at some stage though my family and extended family that I dragged with me may not be so enthusiastic - was a bit too wild for them!

 

[Kiwi-family]

By chance, I heard a radio programme in Australia today about a poet who walked the Pennine Way, giving readings of his poems en route in order to finance his trip through donations: a modern day troubadour. He has written a book about his travels entitled "Walking Home", available on Amazon I believe. It is full of anecdotes about people he met and lists everything he raised by donation each day. This just about financed his walk. Budding Camino poets could give it a go!

I read this book earlier this year - plenty of pilgrimage books I've read I would not recommend, but this one was great.

 

[johns]

I read this book earlier this year - plenty of pilgrimage books I've read I would not recommend, but this one was great.

hi tom walked bit of PW over the years but not the full trip what was your daily walk.

 

[William Garza]

Wonderful Photos!
I would love to walk those quiet paths and hidden places, must be very quieting to the Soul!

 

[Houlet]

hi tom walked bit of PW over the years but not the full trip what was your daily walk.

Hi, Mine was 12 days, all in 2013 irst two in pouring rain and low visibilty, the rest in glorious sunshine. (Copy & Paste since I'm Lazy except when walking)

27th May - Edale to Torside 16 miles (16)
28th May - Torside to Mankinholes 22.5 miles (38.5)
29th May - Mankinholes to Earby 26.0 miles (64.5)
30th May - Earby to Horton 28.0 miles (92.5)
31st May - Horton to Keld 26.5 miles (119).
1st June - Keld to Balderdale 21 miles (140)
2nd June - Balderdale to Dufton 22 miles (162)
3rd June - Dufton to Alston 21 miles (183)
4th June - Alston to Holmhead 24 miles (207)
5th June - Holmhead to Bellingham 17 miles (224)
6th June - Bellingham to Byrness 15 miles (239)
7th June - Byrness to Kirk Yetholm 25 miles (264)

 

[peregrino_tom]

I read this book earlier this year - plenty of pilgrimage books I've read I would not recommend, but this one was great.

I found it - it's by Simon Armitage. looks good.

johns - I took nearly 17 days to complete the PW including a kind of rest day along the Hadrian's Wall section, detouring to the excavation and museum of the roman fort town of Vindolanda. That's an average of just under 16 miles a day. Weather often wet and windy.
houlet - whoaa, that is pretty quick!
William - very different to Texas I'd imagine!
cheers, tom

 

[William Garza]

Yes..very different, yet the soul of the place calls
the sigh of the wind over the grass. the clouds shadows over the undulations and straight places of the path
the secret language spoken to too few these days i think.
ironically,when i think of England, i see what you posted,
if i had Pictures developed, i would show the fields of Bluebonnets, with Indian Paintbrush reds and oranges, mixed into the sky blue. the green of the pastures, the weathered fence..
it must be a walkers paradise up there!

 

[peregrino_tom]

Yes..very different, yet the soul of the place calls
the sigh of the wind over the grass. the clouds shadows over the undulations and straight places of the path
the secret language spoken to too few these days i think.
ironically,when i think of England, i see what you posted,
if i had Pictures developed, i would show the fields of Bluebonnets, with Indian Paintbrush reds and oranges, mixed into the sky blue. the green of the pastures, the weathered fence..
it must be a walkers paradise up there!

William - nice one! and yet, and yet..
sometimes we can experience those things in a picture that it was hard to find at the time, because the pack was killing our shoulders, the rain stinging our face and the wind threatening to bully us off the path

 

[Houlet]

I found it - it's by Simon Armitage. looks good.

johns - I took nearly 17 days to complete the PW including a kind of rest day along the Hadrian's Wall section, detouring to the excavation and museum of the roman fort town of Vindolanda. That's an average of just under 16 miles a day. Weather often wet and windy.
houlet - whoaa, that is pretty quick!
William - very different to Texas I'd imagine!
cheers, tom

It was possibly too quick but I had booked all my accomodation in advance and of course most of it was in good weather. If doing it again I would probably plan around 15 days. I enjoyed the Hadrians Wall section and should probably do the Hadrian's Wall Path someday.

http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/hadrians-wall-path

 

[William Garza]

William - nice one! and yet, and yet..
sometimes we can experience those things in a picture that it was hard to find at the time, because the pack was killing our shoulders, the rain stinging our face and the wind threatening to bully us off the path

It was/is because of the hard road, the pain, the agony, the desperation moments of the journey, that i find beauty in the celestine moment, that somehow, it will show the beauty...
at my utmost, when the road was gone too long, and when i lay my load aside for the moment, was when the simplest and most profound synchronicity came to me.
The road is never easy, but he rewards are beyond the effort to me

 

[johns]

It was/is because of the hard road, the pain, the agony, the desperation moments of the journey, that i find beauty in the celestine moment, that somehow, it will show the beauty...
at my utmost, when the road was gone too long, and when i lay my load aside for the moment, was when the simplest and most profound synchronicity came to me.
The road is never easy, but he rewards are beyond the effort to me

hi tom. hi houlet. thanks for your replys the 17 days is more me proberly a bit longer. been on my it list the past 30 years but must get on and do it soon my age will catch up with me.got to complete the part of the north i did not complete this year in may cut short wife not well met mendiewalker in bibow he said it will wait for me to return.