Day 43 begins

2/8/2012

Day 43 begins

Nothing had bothered me through the night, not even weird dreams of wolves or highwaymen. I must have been exhausted as I slept till late. The day was very undecided as to raining so I kept the wet weather gear to hand as I prepared the bag and packed away the tent. The sheep had come to look at me throughout the night the evidence all around. Glad that I had put up my defense barriers as no damage to the tent or worse me.

The view was impressive from my vantage point there from the hill forest cover. I was able to spy the road I would need to take to get all the way to Alnwick. Maybe I should have a couple of days there and really get to grips with what I needed to do by way of putting down the adventures so far for you all to read. I have been feeling a little resentful of not having had facilities to write, but maybe it had been other forces keeping me from my self appointed task of keeping up to date. The moon had been full after all, so maybe that had influenced me.

The sheep followed me to the gate, maybe to see that I got off their patch of land, and wouldn't come back....

At the cross roads I carried on across and the long straight roads continued down into the valley. At a dip in the valley a cascade of water ran down the hillside and the waterfalls were lovely. I met a couple out walking, and exchanged a few brief words about the points of interest along the road ahead. They were off to the castle ruins I had just passed, I didn't think it worth going down the hillside to see what I could clearly see from the road, a pile of rubble almost....

A few people had parked alongside the road as I reached the summit, and were picnicking and looking out across the wide swath of hillsides here. Alnwick was supposedly only 4 miles still to walk and yet I was not feeling like the trek, my spirits were at a low ebb, despite all the great people I had met. John from last night had messaged me already to say what a nice time he had had meeting me, as in fact I had also, and he wanted to know where to send the pictures to so that I could upload them on the blog. 

 

After an age, I was reaching Alnwick and the first pub I came to was closed for business at this hour, so I had to walk all the way into town to find a refreshment, bearing in mind I had no water in my bag and was parched.. I better make more provisions next time I leave town. I found a bar that said it was a community venue, so went in and was about the only customer, so not much community going on here then. The lady who ran the pub said that they were giving it up at the end of August as there was no money to be made anymore in this place, and they were spending more than taking in. I know the feeling....!!!!

I had heard about the Castle here and the gardens but both were expensive to visit and on my budget but I would give it a recky over the next day or so to see if I could get in for free somehow. I went to Morrisons to buy some supplies and headed out to the campsite I had been told about at the rugby club. When I arrived the lady told me to pitch up and they would collect fees later. I found a spot close to the end of the row where the sun was still on the land and would be as it rose (if it did) in the mornings. You see there are things to take into account when pitching a tent, not just the views or Werewolves and sheep.

I met a Dutch couple and their dog Famka who were over here for the cultural music festival that started tomorrow and would go on for a week. I asked if they minded me being alongside, and they said not, but got the impression that they did, so made a big gap, which they later filled with their car, proving my point. At least the dog licked me, and liked me too.

I went down to use the showers and found them to be worth every penny (that I still hadn't paid) and spent a while regaining some dignity of hygine.

Then I went to the rugby clubs bar and the ladies let me use the socket for the computer and I typed for the rest of the evening. The drinks weren't cheap, but at least it was comfortable and the midges came to eat me. I think the grass had just been mowed, so that possibly had something to do with the increased activity.

I made my way back to the tent and before you could say Jack Robinson I was asleep and day 43 had come to an end.