DAY THIRTEEN

DAY THIRTEEN

Waking up this morning was a bit different to the other days. This morning unlike other mornings I woke up to the sound of not sheep baa-ing, not birds chirping, nor Richard snoring but a small child crying. I didn't mind though, I knew it was Isabella the 16 month old grandaugher of Roger and Lorna of the Tantallon House in Gisland. I knew when I went for breakfast, Isabella would be all smiley and cheeky and up to mischief!

After a hearty breakfast we set off back to Greenhead where we left the Pennine Way yesterday. This was just over 2 miles but the route follwed the Earthworks of Hadrian's wall so was interesting. At Greenhead we picked up the Pennine Way but hopped off and back on again to see Thirlwall castle. The castle ruins also gave us some shelter from the rain shower.

After the shower passed we follwed the pennine way along to where it met the Hadrians Wall path, another National Trail. On the way we walked down a small lane flanked by a wood. I looked at Richard to see a swarm of flies attacking him like a plague of locusts. As we walked down the lane the flies buzzed around and around his head like the horses on a fairground carousel. We tried to spray them with insect repelent but it had no effect so I kept my distance for a few hundred yards.     

Once walking along Hadrians wall, the flies had gone and the sun came out. There were lots of people walking this route, more than we had seen on the whole of the Pennine Way so far. The path was up and down all the way as it followed the historic wall for about 8 miles. Occassionally we would come accross the ruins of a milecastle or a turret and imagine what it looked like 2000 years ago.  

We stopped briefly at Sycamore Gap (Robin Hood's Tree from the 1991 film with Kevin Costner. This was by far the busiest part of the route so we just stopped long enough for Richard to have a starjump photo.

The Pennine way left the Hadrian's Wall Path just before Houseteads Roman Fort. I wanted to go to look at the fort which meant adding another mile or two to our day which was already 21 miles long. Richard wasn't keen as he had been before so I had to bribe him with the promise of an ice cream and a cup of tea. Of course thinking of his stomach, Richard obliged. At this point we also stopped for lunch and now that Richard was in a cheery mood eating the bacon frazzles I had bought him (and the promise of ice cream), I managed to trade my egg mayo sandwich for his cheese hamwich.

After lunch we walked to Houseteads Roman Fort and had a good look around. I had to buy Richard a cup of tea and an exotic fruit Solero before he would get out his English heritage  membership card though.  The fort was worth the visit. It would have been even better if the 2000 year old toilets had been useable as using the 21st century ones meant another walk down a hill and all the way back up again. Also Richard would have prefered the hospital to be more than just a few stone walls because his feet were hurting him today. He was sitting next to the hospital sign on the ruins looking sad and rubbing his feet but didn't get him any sympathy from the other tourists. In fact one lady stood on his toes as she tripped over him and he yelped with pain.

After leaving Housesteads we walled back along the wall to pick up the Pennine Way where we left it. The remainder of the walk was about 10 or 11 miles and it was already 3.30. The path took us through Kielder Forest for the next 5 or 6 miles. In a large break in the forest we had to cross a big grassy field. We met two other walkers that we had given directions to this morning. They had just stopped for a snack. They told us that a goblin awaited for us at the other end of the field and that the guy that just crossed didn't make it. We told them it was okay because we were meeting our friend the Gruffalo and his favourite food is goblin stew. We passed the field and the next part of forest safely but we never did see the walkers again so we are unsure if they got gobbled up.

Out of the forest it was about 5 miles to Bellingham. The path took us over quite a few rolling hills and past a large relay mast. We also got chased by a pack of dogs, all 7 of them barking drooling and jumping up at us. Once we made it through the next gate, the owner finally came out to see what the noise was but didn't appologise.

Soon we arrived at Bellingham and found our B&B in the centre of the village. Ken showed us around whilst Joyce made us a lovely pot of tea. We had to drink it fast though as it was almost 8.30 and we had to sort something for tea. 

After a quick shower and change, We limped over the road to the Rose and Crown for fish & chips night. The plate was piled high with chips and then two large pieces fish on top.
After a good effort we were defeated but it was delicious!