10th November 2019 - Stage 7. Haltwhistle to Haydon Bridge.

Another day out and another stage completed. 

A full squad and an early start again. We me at Hayden Bridge where we left my car before heading to Haltwhistle to start our walk.

(Passing a quirky little cottage)

This stage of the walk involved a lot of road walking, so not as many things to see today. 

Thankfully we were extremely lucky with the weather. The forecast earlier in the week had predicted a lot of rain but we were so grateful that we didn't see a drop! 

I had expected cold conditions so had wrapped up with many layers of thermals, hat, scarf etc but by the halfway point, most of these were off and in my bag. 

(Helen crossing the lines of safety for a decent photo)

There had been a lot of rainfall throughout the week so the sections that weren't on the road were very muddy. 

We made it to Bardon Mill and decided to stop off for our lunch break and a cold pint. We opted to sit outside as it was such a lovely day, and we felt we were all far too muddy to go inside, especially the Hairy Hiker! 

(Sunny selfie)

(Perfect conditions)

(Does my bum look big in this?

 After a quick lunch break we set off again.

As the bridge at Allen Banks had been washed away again a few years ago, we sadly couldn't walk through the ancient woodlands and past the tarn, much to my great disappointment. Instead we had to continue along the road for that section.

This stage took us just over 6 hours today. We tackled some very steep hills and some extremely muddy fields. All in all we're pleased to have this one ticked off and are looking forward to the last stage of the South Tyne in a few weeks time.