On the way north we stopped at Kath's for a night. Matt and family were over staying at Sue's house so we had a great afternoon with them and Sue.
The next day we drove to Durham to spend some time in the city which neither of us had visited before. We walked around and made a stop at the market where I bought buttons for the blouse I am making - the buttons cost a grand total of 24p!
After lunch and a food shop at Tesco we carried on to Falstone near Kielder Water for our first 5 nights. It was a very foggy day so we didn't see much on our drive up. The cottage was a converted bottle store next to the village pub. The woodburner was very hard to light but the cottage was very warm and cosy.
On Wednesday we walked to the Kielder Water dam but could hardly see anything of the Water. In the evening we had tickets for the Observatory - of course the fog hadn't lifted so we couldn't look through the telescopes but it was still an interesting visit.
A seating area to look at the stars;
The next day was still grey and misty so we drove to Bellingham and walked to the waterfall. Then on to Chollerford to see Chesters bridge abutment - remains from Hadrians Wall. We failed to find the engraved phallus symbol! On the way back to the car we looked for kindling to assist with lighting the woodburner.
On Friday we attempted to walk though the local woodlands but last year's storm had caused an immense amount of damage which the Park authority were still struggling to clear and our path was blocked by about 20 large fallen trees. We diverted to the dam again but this time got a great view of Kielder Water.
Because the fog had lifted we went back to the water and tried to find the works of art dotted around on the footpaths. We were disappointed with the ones we found - for example the Wave Chamber (a camera obscura) didn't work, a red shelter which should have moving parts was stuck and several were inaccessible due to storm damage. Our destination of one of the Visitor Centres was blocked - it had been turned into a Winter Wonderland requiring ticket purchases in advance - £29.50 per person! We parked the car up the road and walked on the path towards the centre having to shelter under the porch of a hut to eat lunch as the rain set in.
Sunday was moving on day to Berwick Upon Tweed. On route we stopped in Kelso for a coffee. There was a Xmas market but that only had 8 stalls.
Luckily we could access the flat in Berwick early so drove on to meet the owner's friend who was checking us in. The flat had great views of Berwick, the harbour and out to the lighthouse. I was fascinated by a book the owner kept in the flat detailing her complaints about past guests!
On our first full day we walked over the bridge into Berwick and walked the walls and round to the castle returning up the river Tweed. We wanted to stop for a coffee and walked out of 2 cafes because of the awful smell inside each. Ended up in a Cafe Nero.
On Tuesday it was raining - we did walk the coast path south for a while but cut the planned walk short due to the exposure to the wind and rain. We went back into town for a mooch around. When we were at home we watched timber lorries coming and going and offloading their timber onto an ever increasing pile. This was being cleared from nearby estates following the storm and was being shipped to Holland as the amount of timber was too much for local industry to use.
We had a much better day on Wednesday. We drove up the coast to Eyemouth then walked to St Abbs and back via Coldingham passing a really large free range pig farm. Coldingham Beach was lovely. There were very large gaudy signs on some houses in Eyemouth which advertised that the daughter within had been chosen as the Herring Queen or one of her train bearers. We saw 2 baby seals - 1 a far away white dot on the beach and 1 very close up
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There were a few snow flurries on Thursday but we set out for our planned walk up the River Tweed. We parked in Horncliffe and walked to Norham Castle. But the snow got heavier and heavier and the path by the Tweed was not as expected. Instead of a level path next to the river the footpath deviated up and down through woods so was slippy underfoot. Once we reached the castle we decided to walk back along the road which was a very long tramp. Despite the snow not one single car stopped to offer a lift. At last we reached the car and ate our lunch under the boot lid. We then visited the Bee Farm and met the mother and daughter who run the business. The bees are kept at various places around the surrounding area but there were a few sleepy ones in the exhibition. We also walked to see the Union Chain bridge which when it opened in 1820 was the longest wrought iron suspension bridge on the world. It links Scotland and England but we couldn't walk over it as it is in the process of a major refurbishment.
Moving on day again this time up to the Trossachs in Scotland. We had a horrid coffee in Morrisons in Stirling and stocked up with a week's worth of food. Once settled in our bothy we had a quick walk out but once again we were thwarted by fallen trees. The ground was hard going with the ice and I was worried that we would not be able to have good walks for the week we were staying.
However, on the Saturday we did nearly 11 miles looping around several lochs and lochans. Where the sun shone during the day the ice melted but in the shady areas the ice never shifted so we went from slippy paths to normal then back again. We met a deer stalker and had a good chat to him. We found out that most of the land was owned by an investment company who were only interested in the income and not sustainable management. Nearby our bothy was a great looking building right on the loch shore. It was built on land donated by our hosts and is used for free short breaks for families who have a child with cancer.
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The next day I had planned a walk by Loch Lomond but after driving for a few miles we realised how long the journey to the Loch was going to take and it was icy and cold. So we diverted to Aberfoyle. We walked up Doons Hill which is home to the faeries (Scottish fairies who are not benevolent so I made an offering to appease them). Once back at the car we ate our lunch facing the sun and warmed up then set out on the 4 mile sculpture trail by Loch Ard. It was a good walk except we only saw 2 sculptures - the rest we discovered later were on the 10 mile cycle trail.
On the Monday I stayed in to rest my aching legs whilst Martin went out to the western end of Loch Vernacher. I was recovered enough to go out the next day up into the hills. It was stunning - like a true winter wonderland.
Wednesday turned out to be our last day at the cottage as heavy snow was forecast for the Friday. We walked up the side of the loch to Callander and had coffee and cake in the town. On the way back we looked at the Victorian dam at the eastern end of Loch Vernacher.
We managed to secure an extra night at our next stop near Alston in Cumbria so set off on the Thursday. On the way we visited the incredible Falkirk Wheel and had timed our visit to see it operating. We stopped at Asda for a not nice lunch then stocked up with food for the week. The cottage was lovely and had great views over the valley. There was a construction site where they are building reed beds etc to try to take out some of the pollution caused by the old lead mines in the area.
During the week we went on some great walks. To Alston - I fell once on ice, we visited the craft shops (including the cane workshop where the lady hopes to be on Repair Shop) and followed the historic trail around the town. To Nenthead and up to Galligil where we saw a pheasant shoot. The Pennine Way from Alston to Garragil - Martin fell twice. Haltwhistle to Greenhead following Hadrians Wall. Ashgill Force - a short walk due to the weather. We missed out one whole day due to heavy rain. We saw deer, kestrels, buzzards, dippers, bullfinches, rabbits, loads of pheasants, 1 red squirrel and a few either snipe or woodcock.
On the 22nd December we drove to Martin's mums and took her to see her sister Peggy. The next day we drove her to the cottage we had booked for 4 nights over Christmas where Jess, Ryan, Kath and Faith joined us. We had a fab time with lovely food, fun games, a great walk, a pub visit and a treasure trail around Chester.
We took Ellen home as we felt that was much better than putting her on a train. But we then had a nightmare 6 hour journey home. But that doesn't take away from the excellent trip we had had.
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