Day 50: Bellingham

Distance: 14.4 miles
Sheep: lots
Beer: 1 pint

Yesterday, we enjoyed a relaxing rest day at Grindon Farm. Our room was in the old cartshed. They've converted it into 3 bedrooms, a kitchen and a beautiful living room with a wall of windows. It was the perfect place for a day off. And it wasn't just any day. Our darling daughter, Erin, turned 21! It was a little sad not to be with her, but we got to talk on the phone and wish her a happy birthday and good luck on the exam she had to write.

Today, the forecast said 100% chance of rain. It rained most of yesterday, so not really a surprise. We headed back to the Wall and headed east.

I should take a minute to explain our last post. It described our day from Haltwhistle to Grindon Farm, but through the eyes of Antonius. For those who aren't from Corvallis, Antonius is our friend Tony Rinaldi, the most Roman looking person we know. I'm sure those of you who know him can totally see him as a Roman centurion or envision his profile on a coin.

Now back to today. We said goodbye to the farm's super cute Ryeland lambs.


The sky's were threatening, but only drizzling. We headed east along the path of Hadrian's Wall, but unlike the section we saw the other day, there is nothing left here. Although there are a lot of farm walls with some very square stones.


After a few miles, we turned north and headed towards Bellingham (pronounced Bellin-jum here). Our only dicey bit came when we had to cross a footbridge over a little stream. The recent rains made that a bit of a challenge.


After a few attempts, Al found a route through the flooded field that got us over the bridge. I chose poorly and nearly sunk into the mire several times before I escaped from that route.

The rest of the day was pretty unexciting. We picked our way along footpaths over farm fields, lanes and a B road. Ate lunch in the church yard in Wark.

We had one entertaining encounter with some sheep that we came upon on a farm lane. Instead of pulling over to the side and waiting for us to pass, they kept running away from us down the lane.


We tried to stay way over the side, but they would just stop, look back, see us still there and keep going. This went on for half a kilometre until we reached the gate across the lane, at which point, they went over to the side and let us pass. Sheep are kinda stupid.



Tonight we went for fish and chips at the pub down the street from our B&B. There were a bunch of locals hanging out at the bar chatting and I couldn't understand half of what they were saying. It's the first time an accent has been incomprehensible on our whole trip. I don't expect it will get any better as we head into Scotland.

Tomorrow we head to Byrness, our last stop in England!