
WALKING ST OSWALD'S WAY
St Oswald’s Way is a long-distance walking route, exploring some of the finest landscapes and fascinating history of Northumberland. The route links some of the places associated with St. Oswald, the King of Northumbria in the early 7th Century, who played a major part in bringing Christianity to his people.
From Holy Island (Lindisfarne) in the north, St. Oswald’s Way follows the stunning Northumberland coast, before heading inland across beautiful countryside to Heavenfield and Hadrian’s Wall in the south.
Emma, who is one half of Stay On The Hill, recently set out on this fabulous route…
“A couple of friends and I decided to walk St Oswald’s Way earlier this year. We wanted to explore parts of our own county that we often miss by driving straight past. We decided to tackle the 97-mile route by starting in Hexham and finishing on Holy Island. It is possible to walk it all in 5-7 days, but we chose to take one day per week off work and taxied ourselves to and from the start of each section.
We battled some adverse weather conditions and muddy swamps one week, and then the following week, we were basking in sunshine, enjoying a cheeky shandy pitstop looking out across the North Sea
The contrast of scenery has been incredible – rustic, rural farmland; quaint, sleepy villages; ambling river paths; vast forests; wild moorland; tourist hot spots; dunes and impressive coastal castles. I have thoroughly enjoyed this adventure and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to explore more of our amazing region. We are now in discussion about what to do next – maybe Kielder to the Lake district!”
For more information about walking St Oswald’s Way, click here