Day 3. Byrness to Bellingham

Woke at 6 to sound of rain on the tent. Feeling very snug and cosy. Turned to rethinking the proposed 20 mile day tomorrow, it doesn't feel very realistic. Joshua has pointed me towards a bothy just before Housesteads and there is pub at Twice Brewed. Will look at distances later.
Alarm goes off at 7, dark and gloomy morning. We get all of our gear out of the tent and into the pub in preparation for packing the tent up in the rain. After sorting gear into drysacks the rain has stopped. Practice taking the tent down, inner first. Put that in drying room to get some dampness off groundsheet. Then get flysheet into the drying room where it can start to dry while we have breakfast.
Then it hits me that I've failed to get a picture of our campsite before taking the tent down.

Here is the garden/campsite. Joshua’s tent is in the picture, you'll have to imagine our tent pitched at the bottom of the garden under the tree in the centre of the picture.
No porridge today! Fruit salad and yogurt followed by very full full English. Feel set up for a long 15 miles.

Leave the pub at 9. The pub is for sale, at £400k, if any of you are interested in running a pub in a remote area with an almost guaranteed stream of visitors in search of shelter and refreshment.
We are promised Storm Callum today with strong winds and buckets of rain. We start off OK, threatening  but not raining, walking along the river Rede and then along forestry tracks within the Redesdale forest.

Simon on a forest track. What's he forgotten?
After walking a mile or so uphill Simon realises he is sans stick, having put it down when taking his coat off. For a moment he wavers about going back, but the stick is an essential item for him. Back he goes while I plod slowly on and upwards carrying both rucksacks.
When I reach a pile of rolled up fencing I stop to rest on the wire-sprung seat and update my blog.

Before long a white van pulls up and out pops Simon, having cadged a lift back up the hill with Hugh who has come to retrieve a roll of fencing. From Hugh we learn that Bellingham is pronounced with a soft ‘g’: Bellinjum. We also learn that The Cheviot  is the best pub for food and the Rose and Crown is the best pub for drinking.

We continue our journey through the forest. The autumn colours are outstanding. We meet a couple walking north on the trail. They have a complex system of car, bike and walking to ensure their car and luggage travel with them. Seems a lot of bother when there is a excellent luggage system for north bound walkers. They had tried to camp at the Forest View last night but Colin had turned them away – because they had arrived by car rather than on foot or bike.

This is very close to the spot on the Wind Burn what I camped in 1971 as shown on the Introduction page.

Callum storms in at about 1.30 – the third named storm of the season and we've been out in all of them. Simon discovers that full length zips on overtrousers might have something going for them.

The summit of Lord's Shaw, one of several undulating tops of the afternoon.

Not everyone agrees with the laying of paved paths across the moors. In a nod to traditionalists some parts of the Way here have been left as heritage sections, retaining their original boggy glory.
I have a worry that the hardware store in Bellingham might close early, and I need to get more meths to fuel my stove. So after lunch I press ahead to ensure an early arrival. The wind is strong and we are walking straight into it. During the squally showers this drives the rain straight into our faces. It is also tough battling against the strong gusts. But all said and done, Callum is not that bad. Not a lot of rain, and end the day quite dry.

Approaching Bellingham
I meet up with Simon and he is being quite rebellious. He spoke to a farmer who told him tomorrow was going to be very windy. He wants to bunker down and not venture out. That would do my head in, even if we can only manage 10 or 11 miles that means we are making progress. There are splits developing in the team.
We have chosen not to camp tonight due to the wind and book ourselves into the bunk barn. At £21pppn it is expensive, but quite luxurious (for a bunk barn).
After shopping for food we head into the pubs. Rose and Crown a drinkers pub? For passing Scots perhaps, all key beer and no real ale. So we end up in The Cheviot and plan the next few days over several pints. Simon is reassured by the BBC weather forecast showing lightish winds and we agree tomorrow's target is Twice Brewed followed by camping out near Slaggyford – pub shut on a Sunday.
The pub seems full of anglers, there to catch salmon in the North Tyne. They tell us that salmon are ‘angry fish that don't go for bait as food, but bite at things that annoy them.

Cook courgette and angry fish with tomato and couscous. Very nice. Then joined by aging bikers from the MZ club, and have an hour or so swapping various tales. To bed at 11ish

Distance walked today 16 miles
Total distance along trail 45 miles

Previous

Next