Mock exams…

01/04/2007 by the walkers.

Veronica writes; today’s walk retraced a previous moorland walk but starting from the other way, and it proved to be difficult. We could not find the defined path and over the moors with few signposts, we struggled. Eddie kept reminding me of my current music teacher’s comment when setting me mock exam papers, “Remember the mock exam is much harder than the real thing”. The Coast to Coast walk, he maintains will be much easier as the route will be more defined. Oh Yeah!
We disturbed the grazing grouse, noting the smell of burnt scrubland, presumably ready for the shooting season. Wagtails called out their warning of our approach and the occasional hare darted for cover.

Hosts of daffodils now replace the cover of snowdrops in previous walks and spring lambs abound. As with our other rambles the trophies of the mole catcher are hung on a line on the fences. Crossing near Shield Lyn waterfall, we heard the plaintive cry of a peacock but could not see it. The sight of Mr. peacock would have been more pleasing that his awful screech.
We caught a wonderful view of the South Tynedale Viaduct over the river Tyne, a tourist attraction along the South Tynedale trail leading to Featherstone castle.

Beside this castle is the ruins of what was a Prisoner of War camp where thousands of German Officers were held until 1948.
Their interpreter Captain Herbert Sulzbach, O.B.E. dedicated himself to making the camp a seedbed of British-German reconciliation and as a result many former prisoners revisited the site of the camp until they became too old. One officer, Erwin Grubba, chose to remain in Haltwhistle instead of being repatriated and settled in the town. He was a member of our church St. Wilfrid’s and like many of his compatriots, he made a wonderful contribution to the life of the church and was featured on television and mentioned in the Imperial War Museum in London.(I miss him greatly since his death).
The latter part of the walk took us along a disused railway track back to the current Carlisle/Newcastle railway line at the edge of Haltwhistle.

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