St Cuthbert’s Way Trip – Day 0 (Introduction)

St. Cuthbert’s Way – Resources and Index

Later today (Friday) a group of us will be gathering to walk St. Cuthbert’s Way, a long distance path (here’s the LDWA web-page about it) which goes from Melrose in Scotland to Lindisfarne in England. The walk is 62.5 miles and we seem to be taking a week to walk it. Yes, that isn’t a typing error, we’re taking a week to walk this (I did wonder why we can’t walk it in one go). I have to remember that some of the group are quite elderly though and can’t rush along it. And it’s sometimes nice to walk very slowly and enjoy the surroundings of our 8 miles in one day.

I have permission to blog this trip in some detail. By permission, Bev has told me that I can, and indeed, I must. She can no longer come on this trip due to extenuating circumstances, so she’ll just be interfering from afar. This means that we have the following people going along:

Sarah and Andy – Sarah is a stalwart of walking trips, and Andy is coming along to support here. I have to be polite about Andy as I don’t really know him yet.

Gordon – I’ve been told not to mention Gordon’s considerable wealth, so I will just note here that he’s on an above average pension. He is very energetic at social events, or at least the ones he turns up to. He is also the most likely to employ legal counsel to start any libel claims, so I will be very careful in what I write. There was confusion when someone thought that Gordon was 74, but he isn’t, he’s 66, he just acts a bit older than his years.

Steve – The most photogenic member of the group and one of the best drivers I know. Although that’s a bit irrelevant as he’s not driving on this trip. Steve is leading the trip and taking responsibility for any little disasters along the route.

Susanna – Aged just under 50, Susanna is smooth, subtle and I can’t say she’s got more energy than Bev (not after I mentioned that before anyway).

Julian – Well, that’s me. The group’s official blogger, photographer and fact taker about anything that goes on. Bev has mentioned that what happens on the trip should stay on the blog, so that’s that sorted (and it might be good for readership numbers).

Anyway, we’re all in different places at the moment. I’m already in Edinburgh, whereas Gordon, Steve and Susanna are getting the train up together from Norwich today. I have no idea where Sarah and Andy are, I’ve got so muddled up about that situation that I daren’t ask now. I was going to meet them in Edinburgh later today and get the train to Tweedbank before walking the 1.5 miles to the hotel. However, Susanna has a bloody great wheelie bag and Gordon is infirm, so they need to get public transport as they can’t carry their excessive luggage (I think Gordon is carrying some of his money **). They’re paying people to move their bags for them (as in an official company, not Steve or I).

Privately, it comes to something where they have to get a taxi or bus to the start of a walking holiday as they can’t walk 1.5 miles, but I didn’t say anything. Steve is doing the sensible thing, and not bringing 18 changes of outfit to carry along with him. Along with me, he’s the tough one of the group so far.

I’ve got the Cicerone Book for this route on my phone, written by Rudolf Abraham. Normally I then promptly don’t bother to read any of it during the week, but this time I’ll try and read some of it to get some extra bits of history. But, the real focus of this blog is to surprise and delight my readership about what the group are getting up to. Luckily, I guess only Steve and Bev will read it, so I can write what I like.

** – Can I just note that Gordon might not be carrying money, so any criminals reading this, please don’t mug him en route to the start of the walk.