Day 60: Bellingham to Byrness (15.6 miles)

After a good meal at the Cheviot Arms (goat cheese pizza) I slept well and enjoyed a bit of a lie-in as breakfast was served at 8. I left at 9:20. It’s a steep climb out of the town but it was a sunny day with a cool breeze so I made good progress.

I passed by Woodcock View Farm where they were shearing the sheep and separating them from the lambs - I assumed to send to market. It looked hot work.

I then enjoyed meeting Susan Pearce with her 15 year old beautiful grey horse who apparently enjoys his shepherding - she took the QR code and later kindly left a donation. Thank you Susan.

As I gained height there were plenty of skylarks, meadow pipits and just before Hareshaw House where I met Susan, stonechats.

Below the farm I crossed a small burn with beautiful clear water within an orange red stream bed - a sure sign of iron and it alerted me to look more keenly at the geology. I had moved from limestone to carboniferous grit stone country with signs of quarrying as I walked further.

I stopped for elevenses at 11:30 just below Lough Shaw.  Deer Play, Whitley Pike and the Padons were coming up before I intended to stop for lunch at the half way point hopefully by 13:30. 

I reached Deer play at 12 having met two men who I think may have been walking for HM Coastguard along the Pennine Way. Their backpacks were 20 kg and one was suffering from sore feet - they’d walked 26km on their first day across the Cheviots and warned me that wild camping in the Kielder Forest they had picked up lots of ticks.

I reached Whitley pike at 12:30 and noticed some tiny bright pink and blue flowers growing by what were now paving slabs compared to the dried bog and sphagnum moss so far. The pink flower had trailing reddish tendrils over the slabs whilst the blue flower and the later a different pink flower had with small oval leafs. Whether this would be enough to get an ID later I wasn’t sure.

I was delighted when Martin phoned for a quick catch up shortly after and then was stunned when I head a bird call and looked round to see a male hen harrier gliding around the moor to my left - I was pretty sure I had disturbed it and it was trying to distract me from its nest site.  I was mesmerised - a very handsome and elegant bird and not one I remember seeing before.

Then the challenge of the day - going up the steep and awkward climb at Gorless Crag which becomes a stream about half way up. I had decided to stall lunch until after doing this and was glad I did. On the way up I saw a pretty little copper butterfly and some purple self heal. I got to the top for 13:40 and enjoyed a well-earned lunch.

The next section has been paved and was longer than I recalled - I was quite shocked by the amount of forest which had either been felled or blown down by the Storm Arwen. 

I eventually reached Forest track at 14:35 and although this goes on for a long time I was entertained listening out for the different bird calls - Chiff chaffs, willow warblers and chaffinches, along with wrens and goldcrests. A number of Orange tip butterflies were feeding off cuckoo flowers along with green veined whites - I reflected I’d seen the orange tips when walking between Chepstow and Monmouth … that seemed a long time ago.

The forest track was fairly busy with the large timber trucks thundering along - 8 in total but all gave me a cheery wave and slowed down as they went past.

I stopped for a snack at Blakehopeburnhaugh where there is a picnic area and toilets. From here the path follows the river but again I was shocked how many trees had come down. Skirting the campsite at Cottonshopeburnfoot where Martin and I had camped before, I heard a sedge warbler by the stream and then a buzzard just past the campsite.

Another couple of miles brought me to the road and a 2 minute walk down to Byrness and the Forest View Inn. Such a lovely welcome from the team and great to meet Ollie at last. A great chat with some of the other walkers before dinner in the sun emphasised just how friendly this place is.