After completing stage 1, we put our heads together and hatched a plan - to complete two of the North Tyne stages in one weekend, with an overnight stay nearby. We looked at the remaining stages and decided stages 3 and 4 would be the best ones to combine in this section. By doing this we would be completing a larger walk on on day 1, followed by a smaller walk on day 2. We all agreed that this suited our walking abilities perfectly. We completed stage 2 back in May.
We'd left it quite late to arrange our accommodation so we did end up in a cottage some 40 minutes away from the river. This didn't matter too much to us but did cause one or two issues with start/finish times.
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| (The Hairy Hiker, raring to go!) |
As usual, we had the use of two cars, we met at the finish point for today, Barrasford. We all jumped in Phil's car and headed up to Bellingham, chatting excitedly about our weekend ahead and the prospect of completing the North Tyne section.
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| (Me and my biscuit!) |
We set off from Bellingham just before 10am, after a quick stop off at the Rocky Road Cafe for one of the nicest, most gingery, ginger biscuit I have ever tasted.
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| (A sunny start) |
We were blessed with some fantastic weather, almost too hot at times. The river sparkled in the sunshine, giving Helen, our nominated photographer lots of opportunities for some great pictures.
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| (Shorty looking taller than usual) |
It wasn't long before we'd finished the short walk along the river and found ourselves at the small railway bridge that we've drove through quite a few times on our travels up here. (Something I personally wont miss driving through!)
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| (A fisherman's lodge) |
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| (Chance seeking shade) |
We had originally planned to stop at Wark for our lunch break, but as it was so hot and the sun had drained us of our energy, we decided to stop at the Bastle mentioned in the book. Chance found a wall to hide behind for a much needed break from the sun while we ate our lunch.
Today's walk took us over quite a lot of open moorland, with nowhere to hide from the midday sun. Every moment of shade in the trees was welcomed by both the walkers and the Hairy Hiker, who also enjoyed a dip in the river at every opportunity he got.
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| (Lunch time) |
As we approached Wark we came across an area of trees covered in caterpillar silk, which looked rather eerie from a distance. On closer inspection we could see caterpillars crawling all over the silk, something we have never came across before.
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| (Caterpillar silk web) |
A favourite part of the walk for me was along the edge of the river, passing Gold Island and approaching Wark. The river was so calm and still it barely looked like it was moving. Creating the perfect reflection shots. This picture by Helen is one of my favourites.
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| (Perfect reflection) |
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| (Gold Island) |
Once at Wark, we crossed the bridge and headed to the Black Bull for a much needed cold drink and a rest. As we crossed the bridge we couldn't help but notice the beautiful landscaped gardens of the property on the riverside, seen in the background of the picture below.
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| (Wark bridge) |
We didn't sit down for long, although we could of stayed in the pub garden all day, enjoying the sunshine, and the lager!
After our break we headed out of Wark onto the final stretched of the walk, which was mainly along the roadside. Eventually Barrasford came into view, we'd made it!
But our journey for today still wasn't over.
After a quick rest at the boot of my car, we headed back to Bellingham to collect Phil's car. From there we drove to Warden where we left Phil's car for the night. We then headed to our accommodation with the plan to drive to Barrasford the following day to start stage 4....
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| (Time for tea!) |
After a shower and a change we set off again to the local pub for our tea. Poor Chance couldn't keep his eyes open and had a much needed nap.
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| (Zzzzz) |
Back at the cottage we enjoyed a few night caps and revelled in our success of completing one of the larger stages. We had been lucky with the weather this time. Helen had got some great pictures. We spotted a lot of wildlife including deer, herons and stoats. All in all a perfect day and certainly one to treasure.
This walk took us just over 7 hours and according to the tracking app we used, was just over 16 miles, although both Helen's and my fitbit watches said 2 totally different distances. We averaged it to be approx. 15 miles.
The river from Wark down to Barrasford includes Chipchase the Scouts used to canoe that whole area. Bill Patterson use to organise going from there south to Hexham area. You'll have to ask him how for they got 0n, did it in stages believe they actually got to Ryton but as I was not doing it cannot be certain.
ReplyDeleteWow! Bet that was fun. We passed Chipchase Castle along the way.
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