Some had skirted the town in order to cut off the king, and were pursuing him.

So we struck off the road into by-lanes that Heregar knew, resting at lonely houses as we went on.
And when we came to Glastonbury at last, the king was not there, nor did any know of his fate.
Then we rode, with the Danes swarming everywhere, through the Sedgemoor wastes to Bridgwater, and found rest at Cannington, Heregar's great house not far off..