Day 82 The Borders and the Blisters

Today I had haggis for breakfast. It was a small slice of haggis that took the place of the black pudding in my cooked breakfast. Sue didn’t have haggis but she did have blisters. Not to mention sore feet after our brisk but lengthy walk along the road yesterday. We had decided that neither of […]

Day 81 Scotland

Today we crossed the border into Scotland. Somehow we started later than usual despite our good intentions. We climbed up a rather steep and rocky Byrness Hill to reach a landscape bleaker than anything we had see before. We were a little concerned about the forecast thunderstorms. We didn’t want to be at the top […]

Day 80 Bellingham to Byrness

Today was to be a long day at 15.5 miles. We were two miles out of Bellingham so rather than road walk we got a lift from our B and B landlady. We set off at 9am, uphill along the road before turning off onto the hillside. Today had been described as “bleak and boggy” […]

Day 79 Stonehaugh to Bellingham to meet Sue

Today there were midges. There was low cloud and the morning was absolutely still. I lay in my tent trying to summon the energy to get up when I noticed that outside my tent, but under the fly sheet, there were a lot of midges flying about. Time for the midge net, and the midge […]

Day 78 A day of two halves

Today was divided into two distinctly different sections-The Wall and The Bog. The Wall was great. The morning started as I was admiring the campsite owner’s house and ruined barn and he showed me where the bastle (17th century defensible house) was built. My thirst for architectural history sated, I set off east along the […]

Day 77 Hadrian’s Wall

Today was a short day, I was walking 5 miles to a campsite near Hadrian’s Wall so that I could explore a bit. Haltwhistle was a nice place, with quite a few shops, several cafes, surprisingly little traffic and some strange signs. It feels like a foreign language. I walked out of town down Castle […]

Day 76 On my own again-Alston to Haltwhistle

Today’s portion of the south Tyne Trail was along the old railway line although the first part was alongside a steam railway. I got a bit lost, so had a pleasant wander round the backstreets of Alston before finding the station Having just had breakfast I shunned the station cafe, and set off alongside the […]

Day 75 A Day with a Confession

We had a good evening with Karen yesterday. She had been having trouble uploading to YouTube so was glad of the hotel WiFi while she ate with us. We were all quite sleepy though, so after our meal we headed our separate ways at 9pm and I was sound asleep by 9.30. Today we were […]

Day 74 An easy day with waterfalls

Today we had a short nine mile day walking along the valley past two spectacular waterfalls. We had arranged to meet Karen at the Pennine Way sign at ten o’clock. It was raining but not too heavily. The path was easy and delightful, with woodland and meadows beside the River Tees We ambled along, enjoying […]

Day 73 Another day, another bog

Today we crossed Stainmore Moor where, so Graham tells me, Eric Bloodaxe (King of Norway and King of Northumbria) was killed by the Saxons. Be that as it may, it was a pleasant walk if a bit boggy underfoot in places. At breakfast (absolutely delicious cooked breakfast, great muesli and homemade jams-rivals best B and […]