Audio Commission: Cuddy’s Course Self-Guided Literary Walk
This literary audio walk covers 7.5 miles and tells the story of St Cuthbert through fact and fiction.
Listen to it here as a podcast, read the script, and follow the route on Google Maps.
St Cuthbert is regarded as the patron Saint of Northern England. His story has been told by many, from the Anglo-Saxon scholar and Saint, the Venerable Bede and most recently by renowned Durham born writer Benjamin Myers in his novel Cuddy.
We’ve commissioned Ruth Robson, a North East England & Cumbria Blue Badge Tourist Guide, to create a self-guided literary audio walk along the route of Cuddy’s Corse, a waymarked trail from Chester-le-Street to Durham City, also part of the Northern Saints Trails.
The route is symbolic of the Anglo-Saxon Community of St Cuthbert’s journey from Lindisfarne to Durham as they sought refuge from 8th and 9th century Viking raids. They fled Lindisfarne in 875AD carrying the body of St Cuthbert and their most treasured possessions – including the Lindisfarne Gospels, created in honour of St Cuthbert. The community lived in Chester-le-Street for over a century before moving to Durham and settling on the site of what is now the magnificent Durham Cathedral.