Stottie Walks

This is a long day, made tough by the roller coaster profile of the start alongside Hadrian’s Wall, a section best walked when one is full of morning vigour. Rain fell gently as I passed the ruins of Thirlwall Castle. At the entrance to the archaeological protection area for Hadrian’s Wall, a sign requests visitors to stick to the mown paths lest their feet damage undiscovered remains. The days when we could walk on top of the Wall are long gone.

The morning was cool and still. Approaching from the east, three middle-aged men with gloomy expressions bemoaned the rain. A mile further on, another trio looked equally cheesed off. I wished they’d cheer up. How we English came to adopt the expression “Mustn’t grumble” is a mystery to me, unless it’s our attachment to irony.

As I left the Wall the rain stopped. The Way ahead was wet, and in places the bogs were dreadful. I cursed the tractors that had turned one section into a morass of mid-calf depth, and I asked aloud why tonnes of paving stone were waiting to be laid on a reasonably dry section near the M62 while I was wallowing and stumbling in such vile conditions way up north. Once I’d crossed the Warks Burn my humour improved with better ground and bright, breezy weather. The climb to Ealingham Rigg I took in my stride, and I marched into Bellingham sensing the impending conclusion of my sixteen-day trek.

I asked a man how to find Demesne Farm, where I’d reserved a bunkhouse bed. He said he was going that way and would show me. We chatted amiably about Bellingham and the Pennine Way until we reached the Farm. I thanked him, and he said it was a pleasure. We shook hands, and he turned and walked back the way we’d come. He’d gone out of his way to help me. I’ve experienced similar kindness and consideration in rural Northumberland before, and he enhanced yet further my high opinion of Bellingham as a lovely little town.
The bunkhouse is highly recommended, being recently refurbished to an excellent standard. It is on the Pennine Way within one minute’s walk of the shops and pubs. I had the large room to myself, which was a huge bonus.

Here, for no particular reason, is a favourite poem.

Curlew

Yesterday I saw a cousin of yours
a whimbrel,
that, when close to, looks like yourself
seen at a distance.
But who could mistake its tittering call
for yours, brown bird, as you fly
trailing bubbles of music
over the squelchy hillside?
Music as desolate, as beautiful
as your loved places,
mountainy marshes and glistening mud-flats
by the stealthy sea

Norman MacCaig

Remains of Thirlwall Castle

Remains of Hadrian’s Wall

With Crag Lough and the cliffs, Hadrian’s Wall (out of picture to the right) occupies a strong defensive position

In the valley of the Houxty Burn, south of Bellingham

On Ealingham Rigg, looking towards Bellingham

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