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Monday 12 May - After a much valued day of rest, we were feeling recharged and ready to set off again into the hills, valleys and mountains - hiking ever closer towards bonnie Scotland. The landlady at the Victorian Inn very kindly washed our laundry the day before (and did not charge us as a donation towards the Ectopic Pregnancy Trust) - which was needed as we had seven days worth of washing since our last washing day in Malham. So not only were we bouncy and refreshed, so were our clothes.
We left Alston the highest market town in England and very quickly again were amongst beautiful green lush pastures, which were filled with lovely yellow gorse, that smelled so fragrant in the warm May air. It was another balmy day, and as we were savouring the beauty all around, there were was an influx of sheep running towards us...'baa, baa, baa', they bleated, and the noise became louder and louder as more and more of these sheep and their lambs approached us. We started to think, something is wrong here - don't sheep normally run away! Not these sheep - they had realised that there was power in
numbers (strange but true). It was quite disconcerting at how quickly they had surrounded us, and so whilst trying to still click the action on our camera - we also decided it was time to make a quick sharp exit!
A proportion of our day was spent walking in gloriously green fields and along the beautiful South Tyne river, and so this was different to the last day's walk where we spent most of the day trudging up and down mountains. We were both delighted and surprised to see a flash of a red coloured animal scurry out just metres ahead of our path - as we looked closer we realised that it was a red squirrel! For anyone who knows the Pennine Way, it was in the woodland area just after you leave Slaggyford. It was the highlight of our day to see this red squirrel, with its tufty ears, shiny red coat, white marking on his underside and beady eyes. We had a chance to snap a few shots of him, before he darted away up into the trees.
However, our wildlife experience did not stop there - we were then fortunate to see a red
kite, a buzzard and then surprisingly a tawny owl (taking flight in the afternoon sun). We felt very lucky with our afternoon of wildlife spotting and decided it was time to head for lunch at an Inn where the food had been recommended. The main road to the Inn was closed, and on the basis that we were hungry and had read that the Inn served good food, we took a detour and walked 1/4 of mile out of way to reach the Inn. On our way there was a board advertising the Inn's 'great food' and 'riverside views' - we thought, 'yes, we are going to be in for a real treat here!'. We had really worked up an appetite and were looking forward to lunch. However, when we reached the Inn we discovered to our disappointment, that the Inn was closed on Mondays! We only had a couple of pieces of chocolate left, so we devoured that and wearily marched the 1/4 of a mile back to the Pennine Way. We still had miles and miles ahead of us, so we had to finish the rest of the walk on an empty stomach (not good!). Luckily we had
eaten a good breakfast in the morning.
We spent the final hungry hours of the day walking across some boggy areas (again always trying to keep our feet dry) and then 'endless' moorland. However our mood was very upbeat as we arrived at Greenhead (crossed into Northumberland today), not only due to the prospect of finally having a meal (we were very hungry by now) and also at meeting Steve's brother Malcolm, who was to join us for the rest of our fundraising hike. It was fantastic to see Malcolm and after a very welcome hot bath...it was time for dinner! Feeling tired, it was early to bed for us all.
Only 72 miles to go!
If you would like to support us in our fundraising effort, please go to www.ectopic.org.uk/fundraising/?p=46. Thank you very much for your support and messages. Lavinia and Steve.
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