13/04/2007 by the walkers.

Veronica and Eddie write; today’s more local walk on 10 3/4 miles followed the route of one of the 12 Haltwhistle Rings walks. The Haltwhistle Partnership devised a book with these walks taking in some splendid countryside around the town reputed to be ‘The Centre of Britain’. Setting off from our house, we crossed under the A69 Newcastle to Carlisle carriageway and on towards the Roman Army Museum to Walltown Crags eventually making our way to the town of Haltwhistle .

The crags carried Hadrian’s Wall for 2000 years and in the 19th century were blasted for their hard rock needed for road building. The exposed raw face of the rock provides a fascinating glimpse into Walltown’s geological past. Already tourists were gathering for their morning sightseeing. Today for the first time in our preparations we:- met other groups of walkers; spoke to the locals and visitors; shed our layers of clothing on such a sunny day; and, shall we let you into a secret, we actually put on sunblock cream!

The going underfoot was very dry and firm, and we encountered many of the wild spring flowers now that the sun had cast her spell on them. Among these were buttercups, daisies; meadowsweet, violet and willowherb.

Further on we counted seven new born calves in a nursery barn, while ahead on the metallic road heading home, a young stoat scampered within view.

The pastoral scene became more intense with the farmers delivering bales of extra grazing for the new born lambs and their mums. Beside the Tipalt burn we witnessed five lambs playfully exploring the steep slope leading to the water under the anxious gaze of their mother.

The warmth of the sun; the exploding signs of new life all around put an extra spring to our steps ensuring we finished ahead of schedule.

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08/04/2007 by the walkers.

Setting out on a clear, calm and sunny day put a spring in our steps. We parked the car, at what I would describe as, our ‘Mother’ church in Haydon Bridge. St. John of Beverley is where our P.P. resides and says Mass in our church, Haltwhistle (nine miles away) on four days per week.

Crossing the old packhorse bridge across the S. Tyne River, four swans were basking in the sunshine. Our walk today took us round a caravan site and towards the current construction of the Haydon Bridge by-pass, which has taken 30 years to materialize. It is due for completion in 2009. Initially our route followed a newly opened Heritage Trail dedicated to Haydon Bridge’s most famous son, the world-renowned painter John Martin (1789-1854) According to reports he was “the most popular artist of his time”. It was not long before we came to his birthplace where he lived until he was 14 years old before moving to Newcastle and then on to London. One of his painting’s hangs in the Laing Art gallery in Newcastle.

Eventually we came to Allen Bank Wood, which opened out to a shady glen by a reed pond where we sat and supped water while watching dragonflies chasing one another. The sun shone through the trees. We also caught out first glimpse of Ridley Hall, now a boarding establishment for rural school children who attend Haydon Bridge High School.

After our sharp ascent climbing over stone and wooden stiles on a slope, this was heaven. The wind and sun had dried the ground and last year’s winter foliage was dead at our feet, rustic and brown with green new shoots triumphantly showing through the thickets. It augured well for celebrating Christ’s Resurrection tomorrow on Easter Sunday.

The white blobs on the hillside were no longer identified as snow but rather sheep grazing on higher ground. The call of the birds; the bleating of new born lambs and the gurgling of running water, were a far cry from the distant sound of traffic on the A69.
We lunched on picnic tables – luxury - at Allen Banks a beauty spot, once the kitchen gardens and pleasure gardens of Ridley Hall, the ancestral home of the Bowes-Lyons family of which the late Queen Mother was a member. The elderly, Lady Mary Bowes-Lyons is a parishioner of St. John of Beverly and Fr. Leo Pyle continues to minister to her.

We crossed many bridges over streams and a wobbly suspension bridge, which seemed very long across the Steward Gorge. For such a small bird the skylark made a great racket! Overhead we saw Buzzards hovering on the wind.

Among the day-trippers there - a young boy brandishing a newly found stick who kept firing it into the air crying “Duck, this is a hand grenade”!

All along the way the broom and daffodils where perfuse and on cottages, lobelia was reigning supreme.

Our encounter with a farmer ‘cut us down to size’. When he heard we were taking three weeks to complete the coast to coast he laughed. Pointing to a cottage nearby, he informed us that this was the home of Alistair Guthrie who with the Hexham couple had made national news two days ago. They have just completed a 435 mile traverse of the world’s largest lake in Siberia in two weeks. (Mind you they were skiing and using skates.).

For most of the walk on this Holy Saturday we traveled in reflective silence, admiring the wonders of nature. We both noticed we had caught the sun, a fitting way to end this walk. and welcome Easter joy tomorrow. Alleluia.

Veronica & Eddie

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08/04/2007 by the walkers.

Easter Eggs
As our P.P. was distributing Easter eggs after the Liturgy today, parishioners were making financial contributions towards our walk, even before the official posters went up. We have been amazed by the generosity of others and have now received a substantial sum of money for this great cause. During last week we received another surprise; Regatta, the outdoor clothing firm generously supplied us with trousers, including over-trousers which will be a great boon if the weather is inclement. The anticipation is now mounting and we are very excited.
Veronica and Eddie

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06/04/2007 by AOS.

Many thanks to those companies, individuals and groups who have sponsored Veronica and Eddie so far. With the walk still some weeks away, the fund now tops £500.

A big thank you also to Regatta, the specialist clothing firm from Urmston, Manchester who have supported Veronica and Eddie by supplying each of them with two pairs of “walking” trousers which will be put to good use during the Coast to Coast walk.

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06/04/2007 by the walkers.

Veronica provides another update; We planned today’s 10 1/4 miles walk by Hadrian’s wall near where we live. It began at the Vindolanda Roman Fort and Museum where excavation has just started for this season. For the past 30 odd years students from Universities help in this work where they are continually finding relics from our Roman past. Three years ago, we were present when they unearthed a 2nd centenary sandal. The archaeologist offered it to me and sensing my hesitation, he explained, “It’s OK to handle as it is soaking wet from the peat bog, it is only when it is dry that it is very fragile”. Any finds nowadays are sent to the British Museum as the insurance would be too costly for the Birtely family who run the charitable trust. (The Vindolands Writing Tablets are among Britain’s Top Treasure.)

A mist enveloped us as we started up the escarpment and on towards the Roman Wall. Early on we lost our way and foolishly had not brought binoculars or mobile phone. However we retraced our steps and eventually regained the route. The sun appeared to be screaming to break through the clouds and at times succeeded. Towards the end of the walk, like the light overcoming the darkness, it eventually broke through and clear blue skies emerged along with the sun’s warmth.

The ground was drier than it had been for weeks as a result of the wind which whistled around us on the higher ground. At one of the mile castles, used in Roman times to monitor and collect tolls from local tradesmen passing through to tend their animals, we remarked on the modern day problems of the Palestinians within their settlements divided by the Israeli wall and needing to go to work. Near the area called ‘Kings Gate’ we encountered a series of dykes which impeded our steady progress.

The new born lambs appeared unconcerned by our presence, their mothers were apprehensive though. “All in the April evening… I saw the sheep with their lambs and thought on the Lamb of God.”
Skylarks were out in force today especially over the moor where they hovered for long periods and remained ever constant companions for most the way

Towards Twice Brewed (No we did’nt stop for a cuppa) we noticed a lone young woman with her shoulder bag exposed wandering round the ruins of what was a Roman Bath house. She obviously felt safe in the area, and so she was.

The final few miles took us towards Steel Rigg car park and we could see the famous Sycamore Tree featured in Kevin Coster’s film Braveheart. How many art galleries and pubs features this tree where visitors flock to take pictures?

The start of the Easter holiday and tourist season brought sightseers and walkers out in droves. By the time we finished the walk we could feel we had unexpectedly caught the sun.

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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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