Warriors took to the battlefield at a Viking reenactment festival earlier this month.

The Althing Festival took place in Gilcrux’s Moorforge Viking site last weekend (July 13 to 15) and welcomed many fans and reenactors for several days of battle, games, archery, and storytelling.

Rafał Wszebor Wawrzynek, the organiser, said his festival is set apart from most other Viking reenactments in the UK because of his implementation of ‘Eastern-style’ presentation.

The difference between Eastern and Western is the former is all in the fighting.

(Image: Angelika Dobrosława Wawrzynek)

In the former it’s more realistic and martial arts, combat, and sports-focused, in the latter it’s more theatrical, although there is theatre in both, Mr Wawrzynek explained.

One-on-one and five-on-five battles featured, with over 70 warriors on the battlefield throughout the event which was sponsored by Crossroads Brewery (who supplied the mead), he said.

“I have loved history since I was a kid, and I chose Vikings because it’s the most interesting for me – I like to fight and take part in competitions,” Mr Wawrzynek explained.

This is the second event of its kind that he has organised himself, but his background in reenactments goes back to his native Poland at the age of 16.

Hog roast at Althing Festival, MoorforgeHog roast at Althing Festival, Moorforge (Image: Angelika Dobrosława Wawrzynek)

He then trained in combat for a few years, and when he moved to his current home of Edinburgh found there weren’t that many options for Viking reenactment locally, and if there were it wasn’t his preferred Eastern-style.

So he took it upon himself to establish his own event for like-minded Viking fans, and that brought him to Moorforge, an often overlooked part of Cumbria but one which he hopes with time and more events like this will become a more popular destination.

(Image: Angelika Dobrosława Wawrzynek)

“We will organise it probably next year when the dust settles down, but I’m 99 per cent sure we will.”

On this year’s iteration, he said: “It was such hard work and in many ways it didn’t pay off.

“It probably wouldn’t pay off for two more editions, but I must say it was very rewarding when we got such positive reviews from the people and warriors who appreciated the safety of the battlefields.”