The Pennine Way Day 12 - Greenhead to Bellingham 5 April 2011.

The Pennine Way - Day 12
Greenhead to Bellingham
Distance 33.5km
Tuesday 5th April 2011

I had breakfast at the luxury barn, which was very nice.  Today the weather was clear when I started walking but I felt tired almost from the start of the day.

Thirlwall Castle

The Way starts to climb as soon as you leave the gate.  

Holmhead

Once off the track it becomes very steep to the top.  Then to make things easy there is a style you have to climb over.  The last thing you need when carrying a big bag.  I was on another part of The Pennine Way but it was also The Hadrian Wall Path following the magnificent Roman Wall.

Roman Wall

More Wall

Spot Height 345 on the Wall

I was travelling East now, walking by the Wall.  The views were stunning.  I saw a number of walkers as I moved on.  Most of the ups were hard especially Steel Rigg.  Above Craig Lough I passed a group of older school kids most were stamping along, I got the impression they did not want to be there. 

Steel Rigg

Looking North over the Wall in the distance I could see some woods in the distance, I would be walking through these woods later in the day.

Moving on a little further The Wall drops down to Sycamore Gap.  This featured in the Kevin Costner film version of Robin Hood, "Robin Hood The Prince of Thieves".  When the bairns were little and we used visit and I would refer to the tree as Robin Hood’s tree.  You should have seen the looks on people’s faces if they overheard. Now everyone reefers to the tree as Robin Hood's Tree.

A little further on and The Way travels North away from the Wall.  

Once in the woods I did think about camping and staying the night, but decided I could not so pushed on.  However It was not long before I had seen someone else sitting outside their tent, obviously with the same idea.  On reaching the road I saw signs for the falconry centre.  Moving on through another wood, when you leave the wood and cross the open moorland the guide book tells you to look for the white stone sink as a feature.  It was easy to find however I am sure I saw another white sink in another field on another path.

The White Sink

The Way is well sign posted and I could see the mast in the distance towards where I was heading.  From the mast The Way turns East for a short while before dropping in a North Easterly direction down to the road.  On the way down the hill I could see signs for the campsite in the town, which is where I planned on stopping.  

Arriving at Bellingham I passed a campsite on the outskirts of town which I could have stayed at but no I had planned to stay at the site in town.  It was dark and raining again when I got there and true to form I found the campsite closed.  I decided to get something to eat and have a think about what I was going to do.  While I was in the pub ordering a meal I thought I would ask about a room. As it happened they were full and had no rooms, what was I going to do?  I wanted to stay close to the town as my plan was to get a meal in the morning before setting off.

In the corner was a loud obnoxious chap who I was trying to avoid in conversation, but it turned out that he was the only one to help, so it shows you should not judge.

I followed his suggestion and found the place to pitch my tent, grateful for his advice. During the night it was very windy and very wet. Although comfortable in my tent I did not sleep very well.

Walking time 10.5 hours and I had covered 33.5 km.

More to follow.


Boz North
Details correct at time of walking.

If you have enjoyed reading my walk or found it useful you may also like to read other walks I have done on The Pennine Way or other areas. Please check out the links on the right hand side.

Follow link to previous - Day 11 Alston to Greenhead
Follow link to next - Day 13 Bellingham to Byrness 
Follow link to when I walked this on Day 3 of my Hadrian Wall Path
Follow link to another time I walked this part of The Wall