The Route
The St Cuthbert’s Way starts at the historic town of Melrose, where Saint Cuthbert began his church life at the monastery of Old Melrose in around AD 640. It then crosses the iconic Eildon Hills which offer great views over the Scottish Borders. After some lovely woodland the trail follows the peaceful River Tweed where you should look out for otters and other wildlife. There are several interesting sights along this section, such as Melrose Abbey, the Eildon Hills with their Iron Age hill fort, Dryburgh Abbey and the wonderful bookshop cafe in St Boswells.
The Way then follows the course of an old Roman road in a straight line through a landscape of rolling farmland with lovely views over fields, meadows and landmark monuments. This is followed by attractive woodland near Harestanes and Monteviot House. After crossing a rope bridge over the River Teviot the trail follows riverbanks to Jedfoot Bridge.
You re-join the Roman road for a while before you continue through quiet fields and small woodlands that can feel quite remote as there are almost no villages along the next section. You pass the ruins of 14th century Cessford Castle before you have the option to stop for refreshments at the village of Morebattle. After Morebattle, the trail rises steeply to cross the aptly named Wideopen Hill. It is the highest point of the trail, from where you often have wonderful views.
From the quiet border town of Kirk Yetholm, which is also known as the end of the Pennine Way, the hike continues with a classic hillwalking stage that spends much of the day in the moorlands above 250m. Cross the border into England and continue over the scenic, open hills of the Cheviots, where you are often rewarded with fine views northwards towards the sea. Enjoy the peace and tranquility of the moorland until you descend underneath Humbleton Hill towards the town of Wooler, the gateway into the Cheviots.
After a gentle climb out of Wooler, you cross the Weetwood Moors and then descend to cross the 16th century Weetwood bridge. Near the hamlet of Horton, you cross the route of another Roman road. In the low lying Kyloe Hills, the romantic St Cuthbert’s Cave makes for a lovely picnic site.Here, monks fleeing from Lindisfarne with the saint’s body and other relics stopped to rest. From the next ridge you suddenly get your first clear view of the coast and Holy Island, before you continue towards Fenwick and the Lindisfarne Inn.
The short, last day is undoubtedly the highlight of the St Cuthbert’s Way for most hikers. A lovely walk through meadows and fields brings you to the coast where a causeway links Lindisfarne to the mainland. From here, you can cross to Holy Island along the road or by following the ancient Pilgrim’s Way across the Beal Sands. Allow yourself enough time to explore the island with its medieval priory, castle, coastal nature reserve and inviting cafes and pubs.
The route is mostly well waymarked. The exceptions are Melrose, at the start, and the last section, once you are on Holy Island, where you may not find markers for this trail. Those two sections are very short however and navigation there is easy using your Route Notes or GPS.
St Cuthbert’s Way can be walked at any time of year. However, the weather is generally at its finest from May to July, and as a result this period together with August sees the largest number of visitors. Sustained periods of fine weather are possible in early Spring in the Borders, on the Northumberland coast and in Northumberland National Park.
We have tried to create the best possible itineraries
The St Cuthbert’s Way is a diverse hiking route that traverses a range of different landscapes in the Borders region between Scotland and England. While each hiking day offers something new and interesting, we feel that there are some stages that should not be missed, even on shorter itineraries, while other sections may be too long or challenging for our Gentle Tours.
With that in mind we have split some longer stages, shortened others, included easier alternatives and left the steep and exposed climb over Wideopenhill out of the gentle tours all together. Likewise, on our Gentle Tours, the first 6km of the hike from Wooler to Fenwick are skipped with a transfer to East Horton for those tours.
On the other hand, we have made sure that the most interesting and varied days are included in as many itineraries as possible. These include the wonderfully diverse first day from Melrose to St Boswell’s/Maxton, the hike across the Cheviot Hills in the center section and the last day’s hike to Holy Island, which is undoubtedly a highlight of the trail.
As a consequence, some shorter itineraries include hikes in different parts of the trail, with transfers between the end of one day and the starting location for the next hike.
Terrain Overview
For the most part the St Cuthbert’s Way follows good field paths, tracks and minor roads. The walking is mostly on sand, fields and meadows or firm moorland that are all good underfoot and often cushioned by grass. However, during and after very wet weather some paths can become muddy or boggy. Likewise there are sections with longer grass that can get you wet quickly when it is raining, so we recommend suitable footwear.
Most of the tracks and paths through woodlands and along the riversides are well-defined and easy to follow. But the St Cuthbert’s Way is not a busy trail and where it crosses open fields or hills, the path can be narrow and overgrown or feint in places. In poor visibility, navigation in the Cheviot Hills can be a little more difficult.
There is some road-walking, but not a lot and no longer stretches. The last stage of the hike is from the mainland to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, which can only be reached at low tide. Many walk to the island on the busy road causeway, but the more adventurous and romantic route is to follow the 1,500-year-old Pilgrim Way, that crosses the sands and mudflats.
While much of the trail can appear relatively flat on a map outside the Eildon Hills, Wideopen Hill and the Cheviots, it does in fact mostly lead through a landscape of low, rolling hills. For that reason there is more ‘up and down’ along the route than may be expected at first glance.
The steep climbs over the Eildon Hills and Wideopen Hill can reward you with fabulous views but can be more challenging if you are not used to such gradients. For this reason, our gentle tours include an alternative for the Eildons and skip Wideopen Hill. The 22km (14 miles) crossing of Cheviot Hills then offers some fabulous upland hillwalking with a fair bit of up and down and much of the hike staying above 250m (820ft) elevation. For gentle tours we have split this longer crossing of the hills into two separate hikes. Despite all the hills, the overall elevation gain (aggregate ascent) over the entire route is only approximately 2,400m (7,900 ft).
Elevation Profile
