Looking back to Alston
After three consecutive days walking of over 20 miles , I was looking forward to a 'rest' today and tomorrow! Only 16.5 miles today, 8.5 miles tomorrow. I set off at 9:40 and it looked like another wet day was in store. It proved to be just that. Not as bad as the previous day, there was some let up from time to time and the visibility was a vast improvement!
The scenery wasn't as spectacular as some days and so not many photos were taken today, but it was pretty, all the same, with long rolling hills and some fine views of the River South Tyne. It was a tiring day. One long hill after another, and very wet and boggy, particularly for the three or four miles across Hartleyburn Common and Blenkinsopp Common, the two moors in the latter half of the walk.
The second of these moors, Blenkinsopp Common, was to provide todays entertainment! The path is not detectable for several miles and every step taken is at least ankle deep in water. This is a vast expense of bog and marsh with nothing that could be called a landmark and route finding was difficult. That is to say, there were many times when I felt unsure of the way, though in hindsight I followed a fairly good route.
It actually stopped raining for a while and the sun came out for twenty minutes in the middle of the day, the first time for 4 days. It was a pleasant change to be able to sit down and eat lunch in the sun!
The most logical route into Greenhead at the end of the days walk is along the A69. This is not very pleasant and were I to do the walk again I would probably continue along the Pennine Way, over the road, and approach Greenhead from the north.
Greenhead isn't very pretty, and there isn't, in my opinion, much to recommend it apart from its proximity to Hadrians Wall. I stayed in the Greenhead Hotel and although it wasn't exactly the Ritz, the Landlord was friendly enough.
It was 8:30 and I was well into my second pint of Greene King (two pints being my nightly limit) when Dave walked in. We sat and talked and I extended my limit as this was to be our final meeting. Dave had to be in Kirk Yetholm a day earlier than me and tomorrow would take him to Bellingham in order to gain that extra day. This would mean a walk for him of 23 or 24 miles. We wished each other luck, shook hands and retired to bed at 10 o'clock for a good nights sleep.
Rating for day out of 10 :-