A wobbly Coast to Coast path - Rambling Pete's Way 2010
Day Seven: 23rd June
Weather: sunshine, then shock horror -overcast, but it finished sunny again
Route: Burnhead B&B to Alston - 17.4 miles with 2336ft of ascent
Well a day of destiny – will I get to Alston by bi-ped power and will England get through their world cup group match? – I’m more confident of the first option. I looked out of the B&B window to early blue skies with patches of clouds and lumpy bumpy roman remains, dry again I suppose. I slapped on the factor 40, but that hasn’t stopped my arms looking like two bits of mahogany, the product of all year round walking. The landlady had done a wash for me so at least I felt fresh and ready – a great service from a great B&B. The toes disturbed me a little last night, and this morning it was the turn of my right knee – it took one look at the map and told me to feck off. Breakfast was excellent today, not only the food but the company – an Archaeologist from the dig at Vindolanda. I love all things Romano so we had a good chat – he told me there is another 150 years of digging to do carry out – they are busy digging down through the earlier levels, discovering the camps they had before Vindolanda was built up out of stone! Imagine the untold history yet to be found, and what wonders await us as future technology advances.
Out into the blue I was struck by how many tractors and harvesters were buzzing up and down – looks like a good harvest, and maybe like me they are thinking that this good weather cannot last. I was also struck by loads of bluebottles, a sure sign of an increase in cattle and their associated Frisbees, so I stuffed a big green neck thing into my hat and made like an Egyptian – it worked pretty well. I left the B&B refreshed and strode up the lane passing by the Milecastle Pub – far too early for a pint. My plan was to walk into Haltwhistle and purchase my snap for the day and restock with some munchies. Over the ridge it was goodbye to history for a while and hello to the Pennines, and I could see my destination for tomorrow far to the south – Cross Fell. I walked down close to Haltwhistle Burn but higher up the hillside on well trodden paths for a change – I think the locals must use these regularly. This path took me down into Haltwhistle, and into the centre of town. Not only the centre of Haltwhistle but the centre of Britain no less – they worked that one out by saying that all the main compass points from Haltwhistle have equidistant opposites. So there you have it, the very hub of Britain. As I looked at the sign post telling me this, on the opposite side of the road was a queue lined up along the pavement – I thought they were queuing for the shops to open, but a bus came along and they were gone.
I rambled back up the road and down and out through an industrial estate to cross over the A69 trunk road – noisy things cars and lorries. I had to wait a while for a gap, as I can’t run very fast nowadays, and wanted to finish the walk in one piece. After 3 miles in I finally met up with my easy option, the South Tyne Trail. I had decided to give my legs a relative rest by choosing this route, but it turned out to be a fair amount of ascent for an old railway track, although it doesn’t climb very steeply. I stuck mostly to the South Tyne Trail, and it wasn’t as boring as I first thought, apart from the last few miles when I’d had enough. It generally undulates, long and flat in places with occasional views out over open countryside and wooded glades. However it’s not without interest and the wildlife tended to move ahead of me in a wave as I crunched along the path. An added bonus was that I did not have to watch my feet constantly for trip ups, so it was generally a flora and fauna type of walk. As with all railway tracks I’ve ever been on I plumbed in my I-pod, tuned in and tuned out – a very relaxing lazy sort of day out. There were a few dog walkers and a bunch of cyclists out and about, the cyclists a bit surprised that I held the gate open for them without complaint – but I know about karma and I was thinking ahead to good weather – and besides that I was next to an old railway cottage and sat on the wall for some refreshments.
The first change of scene along the trail was at the Lumbley viaduct as it elegantly crosses the South Tyne River. It was restored in 1996 and affords good views up and down the valley, and down to the river itself if you lean over a bit. It’s a very neat and tidy viaduct and once across the other side the old station is now a private house, and so is the old track. So it was down to the side of the viaduct, dropping down to just above the River Tyne below. That was ok as it gave a good perspective of from below before tramping back up the hillside to rejoin the trail just outside the gates of the property. Up ahead of me I spotted a woodpecker and could hear a cuckoo or two. The wildlife continued to scamper away from up ahead, a dog chased a rabbit and lost, and a red woodpecker hammered away at a fencepost for a while. About halfway in on today’s walk I sat down for lunch near Whitwham, with the feet not complaining much, but my knee asking ‘are we there yet?’. The view down to the Tyne was good and although the floodplain isn’t very wide here, the meanders undercut the opposite side of the valley leaving a high cliff. The weather was good today, nice and cloudy and not too warm – but as ever it stayed dry. I could see the Pennine Way a little further up the hillside but decided to stick to the STT to keep the mileage down and give the legs a relative rest. Down below me was the River South Tyne, and I caught occasional glimpses of the bouldery riverbed, running very dry at the moment – it’s not my fault it’s so dry, just because I’m on a walk.
At the 10 1/2 mile mark just past Knarsdale I stepped out onto the Pennine Way at a convenient point, and immediately had a pleasing change of aspect through the meadows. The path goes through several back gardens, before crossing fields and running down to the river. By the time I got to Slaggyford I made the mistake of walking through the caravan site – I’d lost the path somewhere, so as soon as I could I got back on track after a mile or so. I noticed that someone had been messing with the trackbed, smoothing out the cinders and generally levelling things off. Around the corner were two volunteers beavering away, laying a few yards of track – very hard work and all for the pleasure of it – there were sleepers and stone and track and big screws to screw. I stopped for a chat and they told me there was only the two of them, and they operated everything so progress was slow – and they were running out of money as well. As it happens the new sleepers were laid at my stride and I had a pleasant 1/2 mile walking over them up to Kirkhaugh station where the toy passenger train runs up to. From the station it was a walk alongside the track on a stony path – not great for the feet but ok. I tuned in to the live text on BBC to virtually enjoy the England match in relative peace. A little further on I passed another lumpy ex-roman fort at Whitley Castle, but I chose not to divert as I saw plenty yesterday.
By now I only had a few miles left to Alston and not much signal on the phone. I made it to the pub in time for the last anxious 10mins of the match, and as I hadn’t been watching they actually won – but they shouldn’t have bothered. After I’d checked in at the hotel and dumped my bags, I walked up the hill into the centre of the town to buy tomorrow’s sandwich from the local spar shop – as I stood there making a phone call I noticed that all the locals seemed to be in a fine state of inebriation – what will they be like when England get dumped out of the world cup – I’ve given up caring to be honest. Another fine day and a big changeover tomorrow.
