The first big milestone of our journey has now been reached, at about half way through today's walk, at the point where we reached the first Pennine Way signpost, we crossed over the border between Scotland and England. We can now say that we have walked the length and breadth of Scotland and that feels quite good.
The first half of today's route started by following quiet minor lanes, before joining Dere Street, an old Roman road, then passing by the remains of a Roman camp. As we sat on a bridge attending to our feet, a lady out walking her dog approached us showing a great interest in what we were doing. It turned out that she was a retired chiropodist and she couldn't resist examining our feet. She then gave us plenty of advice on how to prevent blood poisoning and septicaemia and also said that my shin swelling was normal, provided that it goes down overnight (which it did, before ballooning up again each day).
After our impromptu chiropractic check-up, we continued on our way following the sparsely signposted Pennine Way, through bogs and firing ranges to Bryness Hill where we made a rapid scrambling descent to our final destination. Our stay for the night was a friendly B&B where the owner had encountered many end to enders, so was able to offer plenty of advice and even offered to transfer our bags to Bellingham. Tempting though the offer was, we had to decline as we decided that we needed to go further and set our sights on a campsite 5 Miles further down the road in Stonehaugh.
The first half of today's route started by following quiet minor lanes, before joining Dere Street, an old Roman road, then passing by the remains of a Roman camp. As we sat on a bridge attending to our feet, a lady out walking her dog approached us showing a great interest in what we were doing. It turned out that she was a retired chiropodist and she couldn't resist examining our feet. She then gave us plenty of advice on how to prevent blood poisoning and septicaemia and also said that my shin swelling was normal, provided that it goes down overnight (which it did, before ballooning up again each day).
After our impromptu chiropractic check-up, we continued on our way following the sparsely signposted Pennine Way, through bogs and firing ranges to Bryness Hill where we made a rapid scrambling descent to our final destination. Our stay for the night was a friendly B&B where the owner had encountered many end to enders, so was able to offer plenty of advice and even offered to transfer our bags to Bellingham. Tempting though the offer was, we had to decline as we decided that we needed to go further and set our sights on a campsite 5 Miles further down the road in Stonehaugh.
This signpost marked our entry into England.
Statistics
Distance: 20.9 Miles
Moving Time: 7 Hours 12 Mins
Well done L & T, just the length of England to go...
ReplyDeleteIan