St Cuthbert’s Way Walking Holidays

Walking St. Cuthbert’s Way

Follow St. Cuthbert's Way through the pastoral route taken by St. Cuthbert, who spread the Gospel through Scotland and northern England in the 7th century. Cuthbert started his ministry in Melrose in about 650AD. He later became Prior and eventually Bishop of Lindisfarne (Holy Island) where he died in 696AD. His remains were taken from the island in 875AD after Viking raids. He was eventually laid to rest within a loop of the River Wear, subsequently becoming the site for the magnificent Durham Cathedral.

The St. Cuthbert’s Way walk begins in the quaint Borders town of Melrose with its magnificent 12th century Cistercian abbey. Our trail leads us over the Eildon Hills, blanketed in heather and offering spectacular panoramic views to the border country, to where we find the delightful village of Bowden.

The path follows the River Tweed, where St. Cuthbert’s Way encompasses the splendid ruin of Dryburgh Abbey. Leaving the Tweed to follow the Roman road of Dere Street and cross the River Teviot near Jedburgh, we come across a borders market town boasting yet another historic abbey. You continue to the towering Cessford Castle one of several spectacular sites en route to the village of Kirk Yetholm, nestling beneath the Cheviot Hills.

You now cross the Scottish border, over the magnificent Cheviot Hills to the market town of Wooler. Your route leads to St. Cuthbert’s Cave in the Kyloe Hills, which sits on a dramatic sandstone overhang. This is reputedly where monks hid St. Cuthbert’s body when they fled Lindisfarne to escape the Vikings.

The final leg of St. Cuthbert’s Way moves down to cross the tidal causeway (at an appropriate low tide) and leads on to your journey’s end at the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, where the ruined abbey and spectacular castle complete a magnificent journey through centuries of ancient Scots-English heritage.