Pennine Way 22 Bellingham to Byrness

Today we awoke to beautiful sunshine but still a chilly wind. Those of us staying at the hostel who were ready really early managed to sneak on to the coach and have a ride to Haltwhistle to pick up the B&B folk. Haltwhistle is the centre of Britain which comes as a bit of a surprise really and although it is quite a small place it is on the main line from Carlisle to Newcastle which one member of the group took advantage of and went for some retail therapy in Newcastle!
















The main group were dropped off in Bellingham and were soon climbing out of the North Tyne valley and up on to the moors.




I think most of us agreed that one of the worst parts of the Pennine Way was a steep climb between the edge of Redesdale Forest and a broken down stone wall. You could balance on the wall and risk spraining an ankle or get your boots wet in the bog! However the marshy ground at the edge of the forest was filled with beautiful bright green mosses.




At last we entered the vast expanse of Keilder Forest which stretched out in front of us but the track was stony and hard to walk on so we were very pleased to reach the end of it. After a
quick game of 'Pooh Sticks' at Blakehopeburnhaugh bridge we walked alongside the River Rede the last 2 miles to Byrness arriving just 10 minutes before the coach was due to depart.

It had been a hard weekend's walking for the 'B' party, getting on for 40 miles in total and plenty of ups and downs to contend with. It will be next year now before we can complete the task and we'll all be another year older by then, but I'm sure we'll tackle it with energy and good humour. Watch out Kirk Yetholm here we come!

Thanks again to Peter for his valiant efforts at getting from the back to the front of the group and taking lots of photos, with and without boots on, and almost minus a sock!!

Pennine Way 21 Housesteads to Bellingham

We thought we were in for an easier walk today, 11 miles and all day to do it in, no problems. All I can say is that these must have been Roman miles as in English miles it was much nearer to 14 than 11. Fortunately the weather was dry but still cold and overcast.
We were dropped off on the road and made our way to Rapishaw Gap where the Pennine Way leaves Hadrian's Wall and turns north to the forests and distant views of the Cheviots, our journey's end....but not just yet!

Today we had marshy areas, forest, fields and moors and plenty of uphill, or so it seemed to me. The group split into two after lunch as some were ready to move on before others. A lone Pennine Way walker caught up with us with 6 miles left to go and put us to shame as he had walked all the way from Greenhead with a 12 kilo pack on his back and he was 70 years old. Mind you he was nearly done for but he stayed with us to the end and had plenty to talk about as he had married a Bradford girl many years ago.




I was in the breakaway group and Margaret had a map that went most of the way to Bellingham so apart from one or two places where the path wasn't too well marked we didn't have any problems finding the way.







One last climb up to the radio mast on Shitlington Crag and then at last Bellingham could be seen in the distance and thoughts of a nice cup of tea kept us going till the end.

Pennine Way 20 Greenhead to Housesteads

We set off from Bradford at 9.00 am and after quite a long journey we started our walk about 12.15. The weather was cold and overcast with rain in the air but this cleared away as the afternoon wore on. It certainly didn't feel like Spring but I heard my first cuckoo of the year just before lunch which was a welcome sound.

After turning left...or was it right....at Thirlwall Castle we made our way to the visitor centre and lunch before setting off along Hadrian's Wall. Only 10 miles today but a very strenuous 10 miles along the best preserved part of the wall with frequent ups and downs rather like walking on a coastal path. A few who had done this part before opted to shorten the walk and drop down to Once Brewed. The rest of us carried on a mile or so beyond the point where the Pennine Way branched off to the left and finished at Housesteads where William was waiting patiently with the coach to take us to the hostel or on to Haltwhistle. We arrived at the hostel just as dinner was about to be served.















Once Brewed YHA in the sunshine........looks good, better than I remember it!!