So, with this glittering of spears revealing to William that something hidden and uncertain is ahead, he has threeoptions open to him.
He can:
Retreat back to the Hastings camp and try again another day.
Forge ahead knowing that a surprise awaits, but with unknown numbers of troops, their formation, and on uncertain ground.
Take another way off of the ridge, stay out of sight, and go around the suspect zone and potentially not play into Harold’s hands.
It seems that he took option three, because we have an interesting line about the Norman advance in Wace:
“Those on horse and those on foot, from the time they set out, kept to their route and their circuit, in close formation and at a slow pace.”
The word translated here as circuit is compas in the original Norman French—the same word used for a geometric compass, an instrument for drawing arcs rather than indicating direction. It carries the sense not merely of going ‘around’, but of advancing in a measured arc, deliberately shaped and controlled.
Whether one prefers circuit or compas is up to you. What matters is that Wace is not describing a straight, direct advance.
The exact route is unknown to us, but I found a ‘hollow way’ route that gently descends off of the ridge at Starrs Green and loops around to join Marley Lane. When I walked it, it was perfectly usable ‘in close formation and at a slow pace.’ This could be the route William took, though there are others.