We left The Sill Youth Hostel after breakfast, in our prearranged taxi to the middle of nowhere. (I have to give a shout out to this hostel: it is amazing! Modern, clean, great drying room for boots and muddy clothes, laundry room, super staff, good food. A++++!) The taxi driver was a former police officer and great fun to talk to about driving the roads of Northumberland, Scottish/English border shenannagins, and of course the subject everyone wants to talk about eventually- our horrible President. Sigh.
It was a short 8 mile (thanks to our walking a little further yesterday) and very pleasant day across the spruce plantations, boggy moors, and farms of the Northumberland National Park. The trees are a welcome change of scenery, the bogs are drying out a bit, and the farm fields are enjoyable to walk through due to the kind attention of the landowners. Many of them have mowed pathways through the grass, repaired fences, provided benches, and even left treats and fresh water for Pennine Way walkers. Amazing generosity.
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/ZdBqlgtB2-Q?ra=m
The animals were fun today. Most were sheep. We shared a field with a flock to sit and eat lunch. I finished mine off with an amazing homemade flapjack our host on Alston gave me a few days back. Entering another field, my eye caught a blur of white and I looked more closely to see a black and white dog chasing after them, circling back and forth. He was accompanied by the shepherd riding a small ATV, another dog on the back. Modern farm life. In a later field there were some fabulously horned sheep; I’m not sure of what use those curly appendages are, but they are grand! At one point we had to cross a field full of cows and their calves. The sun was shining, we weren’t in a rush, so we just waited on the other side of the ladder-like stile to see if they would move on a bit. Many were busy nursing. They slowly moved over the small hill across the field, and we gingerly climbed over the wall. Keeping an eye closely on their movements, we made our way across. Getting over the hill ourselves we realized they had all congregated at the exit to the field; maybe expecting us to let them out? I opted to climb up a wooden post and jump over a barbed wire fence: Bill was braver and walked towards them showing great confidence and they scattered. Not much later we came to another field I feared we had to enter. It held seemingly very bold cows, but fortunately the trail skirted right next to the fence.
The day also held an escarpment we had to climb, (appropriately called ‘Shitlington Crag’ because that’s what I said when I saw it - and no path clearly up.) Getting right up to it, though, I was relieved to discover there was a hidden route between the rocks. And there was a great view from the top. There were pretty flowers here and there along the path today, and big sky views. It wasn’t too warm, too cold, too windy, or too wet. We passed small, quiet creeks and then the slow moving River North Tyne (very different today from River South Tyne after the days of hard rain) as we walked over the arched almost 100 year old bridge into Bellingham. After a yummy cream tea at our B&B, it has been a busy evening of getting ready for camping the next two nights. We’re sending some heavier, extra items ahead of us, and our packs are down to just tent, sleeping bags, food for three days and water. Time for a different type of adventure!
