St Hilda's Way to Whitby Abbey

‍St Hilda’s Way – 43 miles – 4 days – Hinderwell to Whitby Abbey

St Hilda’s Way (shorter version) – 22 miles – 2 days – Danby to Whitby.

This route follows the River Esk, Yorkshire’s only salmon river, to finish at Whitby Abbey.

See also the Way of St Hild – Hartlepool to Whitby.

Highlights of St Hilda’s Way

• ‍‍Powerful and yet peace-inducing sense of Hilda’s womanly sainthood
• Striking, bleak backdrop of North York Moors
• Good transport links for such a remote area

‍St Hilda’s Way celebrates the life of St Hild – Anglo-Saxon princess, spiritual leader, arts enthusiast and peacemaker – by visiting places dedicated to her (including eight churches) in the beautiful North York Moors.

In 664, as the first abbess of the double monastery of Streonshalh now known as Whitby Abbey, she hosted the famous Synod of Whitby. She trained five male bishops, and it is said that seabirds in Whitby still dip their wings in honour of her, and her logo, the ‘Hildoceras’ ammonite, came about because her holy presence was famed for turning snakes into stone.

You begin at a holy spring discovered by St Hilda in Hinderwell and end at the sea at Whitby.

Along the way you will traverse the North York Moors, grand and yet also modest, allowing you to be deeply with yourself as you engage with the bleak openness of the landscape. Feel the ancientness all around you in a landscape that is true to itself – humans have never held full dominance here. The paths feel old, the rivers timeless, the pace slow. The thread of Hilda runs through the churches dedicated to her, evenly spaced along the route, inspiring a quiet devotion to someone we can imagine but never fully know. Nevertheless, one gets the sense that for centuries she has been loved by many people, and there is no reason why that should cease now.

Holy Places along route listed in our book Britain’s Pilgrim Places: Hinderwell – Whitby.