Day 16 - An interesting alternative route
Tuesday 27th May
Slaggyford to Burnhead on Hadrian’s Wall
14.3 miles
We awoke to a cloudy morning, the first time we
hadn’t seen any blue sky, but at least it wasn’t raining. Mary made
us a lovely breakfast. Mum had a poached egg on toast and I was
tempted by Mary’s offer of scrambled egg with smoked salmon,
expecting the usual egg with tiny bits of salmon. The most perfect
scrambled egg arrived on homemade toast with a large piece of smoked
salmon perched on the top, garnished with fresh dill – heaven!
Homemade preserves followed with lots of good hot tea.
After taking a couple of photos, I would of
liked to take more but I was running very low on memory, we bid
farewell to David and Mary. They seemed to be genuinely pleased that
we had enjoyed our visit. The Pennine Way leaves Slaggyford right
next to Yew Tree Chapel and we set off laden with packed lunches, a
flask and all our waterproofs. Our planned route today was to cover
about 17 miles with an 18 mile day to follow on Wednesday. I know
Mum was beginning to worry about her fitness so a quick consult of
the map suggested the slightly easier option. Following the South
Tyne Trail all the way to Haltwhistle then picking up a footpath
that would take us directly to our B&B on Hadrian’s Wall. This route
would miss out Greenhead but it had several advantages – less
distance, less ascent, easier underfoot conditions and a chance for
me to buy some more memory for my camera in Haltwhistle. Decision
made, we set off at a good pace seeing curlews and oyster catchers
performing aerial displays for us over the wetlands on either side
of the trail. At Lambley we unexpectedly had to leave the railway,
just before the station house, and descend rather a lot of steps to
go under the magnificent viaduct before climbing up the other side
to rejoin the railway. Apparently there is no longer a right of way
along the track through what is now part of the station house garden
– we were to learn later that there had been a lot of politics
involved but not to worry as it made a pleasant interlude to the
level walking and allowed us to see at close hand the amazing
engineering involved in building such a structure. Apparently some
of the individual stones were found to weigh nearly a ton when
restoration work was done in the 1990’s. Back on top of the viaduct
we were walking high above the tree canopy and had marvellous views
down into the wooded valley below.
The OS map indicated that there might be a pub
at the next road junction so with the dark skies in mind we decided
to call in for our lunch. Only a few yards away from the trail we
stepped over the threshold of
The Wallace. Once inside, we were greeted by the dry sense of
humour of both the barman and the local patrons. Several quips were
made but we stood our ground and ordered broccoli and stilton soup
and a plate of chips. I introduced Mum to the delights of Fentiman’s
Ginger beer and I had a half of the local brew. We had fun sparing
with the locals soon to be joined by Ned, a local who runs a burger
van and farms a small holding to the north of Hadrian’s Wall.
Suitably refreshed in both mind and body we set out for Haltwhistle
with warnings that it was a strange place but it did now have a
Sainsbury’s … ooh er!
By mid afternoon we were in Haltwhistle, the
old railway guiding us directly to the current railway station. The
only public loos were out of order so we had to call in at the
Station pub - we got some very strange looks from the local teenage
boys around the pool table.
Haltwhistle does not have a camera shop but we found a very helpful
electrical store that was able to sell me a 2GB SD memory card –
HOORAY, I was back in business. We discovered the new Sainsbury’s
and then had tea and scones in ‘La Toot’ a lovely little café and
gift shop in the centre of town. The café was very warm inside which
made us reluctant to leave especially as it had now started to rain.
We found a good footpath taking us north out of Haltwhistle, along
the side of a burn which brought us to the road right next to the
Milecastle Inn. Here our B&B was signposted as being just 800m away.
Half a mile later Christine and David welcomed us into their lovely
home at Burnhead. Our wet things were whisked away and we were shown
to our room where we made our own hot drinks from a wide selection
of teas and other beverages. David brought up a plate of homemade
cake which we thoroughly enjoyed. Christine gave us a lift back down
to the Milecastle Inn where we had a good supper and chatted to a
family from Bridgenorth in Shropshire. We were now into the school
half-term holidays so expected to see many more families – we all
hoped for better weather to prevail for the next few days. After
sharing a desert of hot raspberries and ice-cream we walked back up
to Burnhead in time to watch The Apprentice on TV, a day early due
to a big football match happening tomorrow. I started watching a
documentary about Doris Lessing but fell asleep before it endedThought for the day:
Deb –
Glad to replenish my camera memory
Mum
–
I would very much like Roy to see the amazing construction of Lamley
viaduct. He is at home in Wales building in stone in a more modest
fashion
Pictures
Yew Tree Chapel B&B
Lambley viaduct
Measuring the stones in Lambley viaduct
Easy walking on the South Tyne Trail
Lunch at the Wallace Arms in Featherstone Rowfoot
Meeting the locals
The footpath out of Haltwhistle
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