Slowed by a night of drinking and a dearth of sleep the night before, Astrid and I left Livingston late on Saturday morning, stopping to give her a wash, refuel and check tyre pressures before heading South-East.
At Cockburnspath I took my first deviation from the Googlemaps prescribed route - taking the Berwickshire Coastal route south to Berwick Upon Tweed. The route was very scenic and windy, along south-east Scotland's fabulously rugged clifftops, and I arrived in Berwick in good time for lunch, to surprising sunshine!
Berwick Upon Tweed was a particular target of mine becauce, like Durham, it looked so pretty from the train. I was pleased to find that on foot it lived up to my expectations! Being a border town, Berick Upon Tweed was heavily fortified and evidence of its military history was omnipresent. It changed hands a number of time between Scotland and England. It was nice to have a historical twist to this pretty seaside town.
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| The old streets of Berwick Upon Tweed |
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| The rail bridge from where I had first seen (and decided to visit) the town. |
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| A beautiful church against a sky that looks like a painting! |
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| Blossom confetti |
After an unexpectedly fabulous lunch at Audela, a little cafe on Bridge Street, including an immense slight of pecan, salted caramel and ginger cake, Astrid and I hit the road again, and continued our journey south.
I arrived into Durham shortly after 4pm, and took the Park and Ride into town. This did save me the hassle (and no doubt greater expense) of driving in, but limited my stay to three hours as the Park and Ride shut at 7pm.
Durham is a beautiful city, especially so on a balmy spring afternoon. The town was packed with students and folk celebrating the warm weekend, but I headed up through the greenery on the eastern bank of the river Wear to the cathedral.
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Durham Cathedral. The main tower was covered in scaffolding so this is just
part of the building... |
The closk struck five as I was there. There was almost noone about, except a handful of students literally hurrying about with books. It felt like I was on the set of the TV show Lewis - when they're walking around Oxford but there's almost nobody there. The Cathedral is massive and the architecture is amazing. Inside I found a small room (the cloister I think) with a wooden carving of a pregnant woman in the middle. In that room there was this amazing stillness, I've never felt such peace and stillness before. It was shattered when a family walked in, the father's phone ringing in his pocket.
I had dinner at an Italian restaurant in town which I chose because it was the only independent eatery open after 5.30. It wasn't great, very busy, loud, with the waiters very rushed and as a result I was accidentally given chicken pasta. I wouldn't reccomend it. Whilst there I booked a hostel for the night, and then got the bus back to Astrid. Durham got a little more rowdy after five o clock, the streets filled with loud-voiced men in polo shorts and too much after-shave, and women in gaudy coloured tight dresses with orange legs and black eyebrows. Everyone was heading to or from a pub, and I felt smug in my trainers watching the ladies in their heels struggling with the steep cobbled streets (although that's not to say I haven't been there myself!)
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| Durham Market Square |
Astrid's alarm was going off when I returned to the carpark but I couldn't see any disturbance, so we drove on to Langdon Beck, a tiny village in County Durham. It was a beautiful hour of driving to get there, ending at a lonely grey stone building, with only three other buildings in sight, including the church. The Youth Hostel manager was very friendly and helpful, and I had a dorm to myself as all the other guests had private rooms or were male! It was minutes before I was heading out again with camera in hand, to capture some atmospheric low lighting which turned into a pretty spectacular sunset. I found myself overwhelmed with the beauty of the day and all that I had experienced, I was so glad that I had taken this trip!
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| one of my favourite photos of the trip. |
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| One of our neighbours, about a kilometre from the hostel |
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| The hostel itself |
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| A photo that just says "summer evening" to me |
The next morning I had a large breakfast of toast, a warm croissant, and a vegetarian English breakfast (yes, English!). Breakfast was served at 7.30 and I was back on the roadt by 8, this time for the short drive to High Force waterfall, the longest uninterrupted waterfall in the UK. The carpark wasn't yet attended and nor was the ticket station at the beginning of the walk, but I dropped some money into the honesty box and enjoyed a scenic walk to the waterfall, not meeting another human being the whole way. The waterfall was indeed impressive, but I didn't return to the carpark, instead joining a circular walk route to see Low Force waterfall (this one a series, at not such a great height) and trekking through a great many fields of sheep, hemmed by stone walls.
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| High Force from a distance |
It interested me that most of the sheep ran away from me, one jumped into the air in shock and then ran away, bleating! One field I entered contained very friendly sheep though. Two lambs actually came to greet me and I got within two metres of them, and a ewe licked my hand and nudged my leg (I washed them thoroughly afterwards but she was cute!) in the same field I found a docked lambs tail, which was a bit gross, but interesting!
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| Lambs from up close. Note the lack of tails! |
Finally it was time to head back north. The carpark attendant had arrived by the time I returned, and after charging me £2, he helpfully pointed out the most scenic route to Carlisle. I was practising driving with an atlas as opposed to GPS, and successfully followed a very interesting route through Alston, where I drove down the cobbled high street wincing all the way, through the thought-provokingly named Slaggyford, to join the A69 at Brampton. It was very scenic.
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| Astrid pulled over on our scenic drive so we could wait for a clear road |
Next stop was Gretna, where I had a pleasant lunch at the Blacksmiths shop, and then on to Mabie forest, Dumfries, where my plan to go mountain biking was foiled by a lack of cycle hire. Instead I just took some photos, as it was every bit as beautiful as Durham, the Pennines, and Berwick had been in its own way! Eventually Astrid and I traipsed home.
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| The huge, beautiful woods. I love woodland in spring! |
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| Close up of a mossy log surrounded by wildflowers |
Overall the route was over 400 miles, and I took (on average) one photo per mile!
