A Train Journey and a Walk

After a weeks break for the Common Riding we were back to our regular Wednesday walk again and this time it was a little different as we travelled to Carlisle Station and then took the train to Bardon Mill and walked 7 miles back to Haltwhistle to get the train back to Carlisle. The forecast was for a sunny day with rain moving in late in the afternoon and this proved to be spot on as it began to rain just as we arrived back in Carlisle.

Bardon Mill is a village I have passed by on my way to Newcastle many times and never took time to go off the A69 and have a look at it. It is in fact a lovely little village and well worth a visit. Shortly after leaving the Railway Station the route took us through this Pottery Yard and I have never seen as many huge Pots.

The route took us through a few villages with the nicest being Henshaw and again I have passed it by many times but it is worth a visit, although every second house seems to be up for sale so maybe it is not the best place to live. This is the village green with some lovely houses all round it.

The route was difficult to follow so we left the map Reading to Peter & Tom who after much deliberation managed to get us on the wrong route twice but soon corrected matters and found the right path.

One part of the route took us along a country lane with a dry stane dyke at the side of it. Next to the dyke was loads of thistles and there were hundreds of butterflys all along the thistles and the wall. Unfortunately they never sat still for long enough to get a photo of a lot together but I did manage to get this one on the wall. This was great to see as we have had very few butterflys in the last couple of summers.

This is Hollin Crags and the highest point of the walk

Once again we found ourselves on the wrong route and had to climb this old gate to get to the right side of the dyke. Tom found it a rather difficult job getting over.



The end of the walk was the town of Haltwhistle which advertises itself as the "Centre of Britain" and since it was by-passed a few years ago is now a very quiet place. We had about 40 minutes to spare before we had to catch our train so enjoyed a very refreshing pint in the Pub accross the road from Haltwhistle Railway Station. It was a very enjoyable walk in lovely countryside and hopefully we can do another of these railway walks again soon.