Journal:
I turned up
for breakfast at 7:30am along with most of the other
non-student guests, having been told the students
would be eating at 8am. I packed and left soon
after 8:15am with the intent of trying to walk the
24km to Bellingham, my goal for the day, with
minimal breaks and food. I thought it possible
I could get there by 2pm and thus be in time to get
a pub meal and an afternoon off.
Firstly, I had to return
the 1km from the Hostel to the Pennine Way and then
I continued my walk along Hadrian's Wall. It
was very up and down, and I was soon puffing, but
had the place to myself. There was a low cloud
cover and a cold northerly wind blowing. I
empathised with the Roman soldiers standing guard on
the wall 1700 years ago. It was bleak but
inspiring.
After about an hour, the
Pennine Way left Hadrian's Wall and headed north
across the Northumberland moors. Fortunately,
the strong wind meant that the grass had dried,
but there were many boggy sections and I took my
time getting around them, using my trekking pole as
a prod and support, to try and keep my feet and
boots dry. Generally, I was successful, though
never knew whether the next bog would be too big to
get around, making my efforts futile and
time-consuming. Although it was undulating,
there were no big hills and I could maintain a
reasonable pace. Farmhouses were few and far
between but, as usual, there were plenty of sheep
and lambs to be seen.
At times the path passed
through Wark Forest, part of a huge conifer
plantation, which made for a pleasant change of
scene though, out of the wind, the undergrowth was
quite wet in places and there were some more
challenging bogs. Around 1pm, the path climbed
over Ladyhill at 257m, then began a steady descent
to Bellingham. I reached the town at 2:15pm
and decided to give lunch a miss. I found the
Post Office and collected my map parcel then found
the B&B I had booked. After a shower, and some
planning for the next few days with my new maps, I
walked 100m to the village shopping centre and
bought some supplies, including a tubular bandage to
use on the middle toe of my right foot which is
beginning to look and feel a bit strange.
It has irked me mightily
to find that I have no wireless coverage here for
either my phone or the internet. It's a
reasonably-sized little town and I can't believe
T-Mobile has no coverage here. I'm starting to
think I chose the wrong carrier, but it's not worth
changing now. I had hoped to spend some of my
free time booking accommodation ahead.
I spent the afternoon
route-marking my maps and then watched some TV in
the communal lounge while I waited for Andy, the
Pennine Way hiker, to arrive, which he did around
6:30pm. He had stayed further back last night
so had had a long day. We went to the
recommended pub for dinner where the only menu item
was a huge plate of haddock and chips (the standard
Thursday special). We ate and talked about
running (Andy, who is 50, is a 3:17 marathoner) and
hiking, before returning to the B&B for a relatively
early night. A shortish day tomorrow to
Byrness (no relation), but I don't have any
accommodation booked, so will be hoping I can get a
room, despite it being a very small place.