While the sun was shining as we left Garrigill, it was still only 4 degrees, so once again we put on hat, gloves, neck warmers .. the full kit really. Beneath Alston Moor we followed a path edged by small-holdings. There was a complete menagerie of animals at one of them, with hens, goats, cows, ducks and the ubiquitous sheep in amongst rusting farm equipment. The goats were curious and very keen to knock the sheep off the top ‘photo of the day’ spot.  They also strongly smelled of…..goat.

Pick me, pick me!

And the winner is ..

Before we joined the path of the South Tyne River we came across a stile with no purpose. We decided it must be for practising, if you’re a novice in the stile-climbing world.

Hmmm

Crossing the South Tyne

In full spate

Identification please!

We walked 4 miles to reach Alston, the nearest small town, where we were meeting up with friends from Sydney, one of their friends from UK and most importantly, Tikka, the auburn-coated working sprocker. I had my first cappuccino in what felt like years and an outrageously generous slice of chocolate and Guinness cake. Not to be missed if you find yourself in the vicinity of Alston House Hotel.

Looking back to Cross Fell where we’d reached the highest point of the Pennines yesterday

Stocking up with goodies from the Spar we set off at a cracking pace (well, not really), with lots of happy chatting and catching up. Not having been in a supermarket for weeks, the choice on the shelves felt almost bewildering. It’s one of the things I’ve loved about this whole walk .. the chiselling down of belongings and choice. Getting up in the morning and not facing a rack of different clothes to choose from. Carrying the small range of things on your back so that you can layer up or down in an instant, no matter what the weather throws at you. It’s like a decluttering of the mind. That’s not to say that I won’t enjoy getting back to normal life, with its rich complexities, but the simplicity of this journey has been liberating.

There was a choice to be made at this stage: continue on the Pennine Way or take the path along the railway line. One of the guidebooks had warned that, ‘if there is to be disappointment on any section of the Pennine Way it is likely to be found on the long walk from Alston through Slaggyford and by Lambly to Greenhead.’ The locals at The George and Dragon the previous evening had confirmed the opinion. So, spurning the PW we set off to find the train station.

The South Tynedale Railway is rather special. It uses rails set 2 feet apart which allows a maximum line speed of 15mph. The locomotives and rolling stock have been brought in from a wide variety of sources, both in the UK and from abroad. Much of the equipment is second-hand, and many of the items have been rebuilt, or have undergone considerable modification before being used on the railway. It’s run completely by volunteers and I’ve never seen stations nor trains looking so spick and span. 

All aboard! Shauna, Adam and Tikka join the journey.

A very sparkling Barber

The South Tyne meandered on, taking a similar route to the railway, kissing it every so often at the bends in the river.

Looking down from the railway line

Walking alongside the track

Pastoral views

At one point there was a gate with a brass plaque attached to it saying, ‘Welcome to Northumbria. Isaac’s Tea Trail’. It turns out that the Trail is not a succession of tea rooms, serving piping hot drinks, huge hunks of cake and lashings of ginger beer, as I first imagined it might be. In fact it’s a 36 mile circular walk, named after former lead miner Isaac Holden (1805-1857), who had a second career as a door to door salesman of tea. After becoming an enlightened Methodist he expanded his business to raising funds for the poor in the area .. building wells to provide clean water so that cholera could be kept in check, creating libraries for some light relief from mining and creating a ‘penny savings bank’ to help those living on the breadline to save and avoid a life in the workhouse. The Trail retraces the steps Isaac used to tread and takes in several Methodist churches and Isaac’s old hearse house, now used as an information centre.

Turn off to Isaac’s Trail

Lunch was a gregarious affair with pork pies and sandwiches overlooking the valley and as one of us observed once we were comfortably installed, the caravan park.

Picnic lunch

On to Ford’s station .. which surely has to be name of the day

First forget-me-nots of the journey

Path overrun with rams

Roman-nosed ram .. most apt, as we drew closer to Hadrian’s Wall

Pallet of emerald and sage greens across the landscape

Bridge over bridge over water at Knaresdale with Kirkhaugh

Tikka racing back from one of her many, many forrays

At this stage we took a left turn up the hill and rejoined the Pennine Way. There were rabbits galore for Tikka to chase. And fabulous crimson rhododendrons for us plant-lovers to enjoy.

Shauna, Joanna and I behatted among the rhodos

Crossing the bridge

Hartley Burn .. seems we must be getting close to Scotland!

Forging ahead

Diverging paths

The final 4km to Kellah Farm looked innocuous enough on the map but turned out to be quite the most exhausting part of the day.  We squelched through bog and then descended into a deep hidden valley and up the the other side before emerging once again on the grassy uplands with our destination tantalisingly in view but still separated from us by another steep ravine and the most dodgy, rotten looking footbridge of the walk so far.

Beautiful but exhausting descent and climb back out of wooded valley

Mercifully this turned out not to be our accommodation for the night

Joanna with the end in sight, racing ahead .. unaware of the hidden dip at this stage!

We arrived in glorious golden evening sunshine with the bluest of skies to find fabulously comfortable Kellah Farmhouse. One of the best B&Bs so far.

Black Dog Tails
Soot searched for hours with his handler Lorraine Burdette, to eventually find a 76 year old man, Leroy Neace, who had become lost in the bush.  He was named the winner in the Search and Rescue category of the USA Rescue Dog of the Year Awards in 2012.