Patrick Norris, Founder & Guide
Hello, I am Patrick and I will be your guide on your Footsteps guided walk in Northumberland. I hold the Hill and Moorland Leader Award, a nationally recognised qualification and I have been leading guided walks since 2003.
Footsteps was established in 2011 and since then, I have led hundreds of guided walks and led thousands of visitors around Northumberland, exploring and discovering its many delights, its history, wildlife and stunning beauty across 12-momths of the year.
I am available as a freelance guide and I lead walking holidays for Shepherds Walks, completing for them, sixteen treks along the entire length of Hadrian’s Wall Path National Trail; I have five more to do in 2022. In addition, I am a Walks Leader for HF Holidays and Just You Holidays and I welcome guests of Headwater Holidays on their Northumberland Coast Path trips.
My knowledge of history including the Roman, Anglo-Saxon and early Christianity periods is a favourite subject and I share tales of the Kings, Saints and Sinners who have passed this way. I will point out the wildlife, the wildflowers and a wealth of landscape features as we share a walk in the Northumberland countryside.
In 2021, I supported and established the Ingram Valley Farm Safari, a unique National Park Experience in Northumberland National Park. You can find out more about this amazing adventure here.
I am a Coast Ambassador for Northumberland and I am the Chair of the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership.
I love walking and I love to lead guided walks in Northumberland. I look forward to meeting and walking with you on a Footsteps guided walk soon.
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Northumberland History
You may find yourself walking barefoot in the footsteps of St. Oswald, King, St. Aidan, an Irish Celtic monk who arrived on Lindisfarne in 635AD and St. Cuthbert, perhaps the most famous of the 7th-century Christians who lived, worked and died in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria. All three are intricately linked to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, so, as we splash across the sea on the Pilgrim’s Way, you truly are walking in their footsteps.
It’s a unique experience and the best way to reach Holy Island, the jewel of the Northumberland Coast is along the Pilgrim’s Way. To get the most of the journey, travel with your Footsteps guide and discover more about the extraordinary story of Oswald, Aidan, and Cuthbert as we cross the sea to Lindisfarne.
Footsteps in Northumberland winner of the Silver Award for the Experience of the Year 2020
Footsteps in Northumberland is nominated in the Experience of the Year Category in the North East England Tourism Awards 2020