Staying at Prudhoe, not far from Hadrian’s Wall, it would have been remiss of us not to have a walk along the wall at some point. This is the third time this section of the wall has appeared on the blog, but the previous two occasions were in 2012, so it’s a while since I last walked it!
Sycamore Gap.
I know that the word ‘iconic’ is often overused, but this section of the wall surely qualifies for that adjective. One of its most famous icons is, of course, no more, since the vandalism of the tree in Sycamore Gap. You can see the stump in the photo above.
Crag Lough.
I haven’t walked all of the wall, although A and B and I walked a good chunk back in 2012, but this is surely the best bit. The wall is usually visible and the views, even on a dull and often wet day like this one, are excellent.
Looking back to Crag Lough.Housesteads Fort.
A bit of imagination is required to appreciate the fort, although the film shown in the visitor’s centre helps. I’ve been a few times now and it never fails to impress me.
Housesteads Fort.Housesteads Fort.The latrines.
For our return to the cars, in the Steel Rigg car park just north of Twice Brewed, we dropped off the wall where the Pennine Way heads north, by Turret 37A. This turned out to be an error – the going was extremely boggy and some of the party where in trainers.
The path below Cuddy’s Crags. Cruddy.
When the paths divided near the farm at Hotbank, we changed our plan and rejoined the wall, in a ‘better the devil you know’ ploy.
Maybe one day, I’ll go back and walk the entire thing.
My mum was eighty this year. (I don’t think that’s a secret, sorry Mum if it was!) Since it was going to be tricky to have a family get together on the actual date, we settled for a gathering during February half-term, and as A and B would still be attending lectures in Newcastle, Prudhoe was chosen as a suitable location where they could join us at least in the evenings.
The Tyne from Ovingham Bridge.
It was a great week. My brother and my niece and nephew flew over from Switzerland and picked Mum and Dad up in their hire car on their way north.
Prudhoe Cottage.
This was the large cottage we hired, which suited our needs perfectly. The hot tub proved very popular with the younger generation. Mum and Dad preferred the large living room with its open fire, and the dining room was large enough to seat all ten of us on the occasions when everyone was present.
Prudhoe Castle with a bit more blue sky.
My brother generally gets out for a walk every day, and I aspire to do the same, so we did a number of local walks over the week, in some pretty mixed weather and with various company.
The Spetchells.
The first couple of photos are from the afternoon of our arrival when we had a little explore of the wet and muddy paths through the woodlands on the riverbank below the house, and the rest in this post from the following day which actually brought some sunshine.
Unfortunately, Prudhoe Castle was not open to the public, it not really being tourist season, and the same proved to be true of several other local attractions we would have liked to visit. It’s a brilliant area which I haven’t visited properly for an age. We will have to come back.
Fungi.
Our longer walk is easily described, we followed the Tyne from Ovingham Bridge, crossing over at Hagg Bank Bridge and back again at Wylam Bridge. Wylam and Prudhoe both have Metro stations; TBH and my niece both opted to catch a train back to Prudhoe whereas my brother and I walked back on a path which took us a little above the river.
The Tyne.And the path beside it.Rare as hen’s teeth: a dentist with capacity for new patients.Hagg Bank Bridge.
Hagg Bank Bridge, or Wylam Bridge, is a former railway bridge, closed, you guessed it, as part of the Beeching cuts in 1968. The OS label it as Hagg Bank Bridge, probably to distinguish it from the road bridge just downriver at Wylam.
Crossing Hagg Bank Bridge.
I do like a good bridge.
The Tyne from Hagg Bank Bridge.Looking down the Tyne to Wylam Bridge.The Tyne from beside Wylam Bridge.Wylam Bridge.The Tyne from Wylam Bridge.Signal box Wylam Station.Looking down to the Tyne and Hagg Bank Bridge.
The day after our Morecambe outing must have been another wet one. I only got out quite late in the afternoon and then made a beeline for Jack Scout, arriving just in time to watch the sunset. I enjoyed the sunset; I must have, I took a lot of photos, but with hindsight it was far from spectacular; a bit of a damp squib in fact.
On the way home, I noticed some nice pastel shades in the post-sunset sky and diverted across The Lots to The Cove.
The lights of Grange-over-sands from The Cove.
As Confucius one said,
“You can’t always get what you want You can’t always get what you want But if you try sometime, you just might find You get what you need.”
I’m sure you know it. It was in his ‘Let It Bleed’ analect.
Incidentally, Keith Richards is my first cousin once removed. So is Dean Richards come to that. Not the former England rugby star, or the louche musician, obviously. But I like to tell people the first part without adding the caveat, just to see how they respond. When I try to persuade people that I’m also related to Viv Richards, they tend to cotton on. Would I make the grade on ‘Would I Lie to You’ do you think? Not a lot of people know that I invented the format for that programme.
The first weekend in February and we were out for another walk from ‘Boots and Brews’, this time in Morecambe. We must have started late, and popped into the Beach Cafe for lunch first. Before lockdown TBH and many of her friends regularly participated in the Park Run on Morecambe Prom and I think this was their regular refreshment stop afterwards.
Mushroom Soup for me and a Roast Veg Panini for TBH (I think).Morecambe Prom.
A significant proportion of the route is along the prom. I used to live in Morecambe, on the prom in fact, and have always enjoyed this walk.
The Alhambra. Once a cinema now a music venue.The Midland Hotel.Sculptures on the Stone Jetty.Sculpture on the Stone Jetty.Sculpture on the Stone Jetty.Former Railway Station (now a cafe) and lighthouse on the Stone Jetty.Looking north along the coast.Looking back along the jetty to Morecambe. Clougha Pike beyond.Mountainscape panorama.
There’s lots of sculptures along the prom at Morecambe. Somehow, I managed to miss the most famous one, which is of Eric Morecambe.
Looking north to Warton Crag and Arnside Knot.
The latter half of the walk looped back through the streets of the town. You’ll note that there aren’t any photos – it’s not unpleasant, just a bit uninspiring.
As we returned to the prom, we passed a cinema, and I suggested we might stop to see a film. We did. We were a bit limited for choice, since we didn’t want to wait too long, so ended up watching ‘Argylle’. If you enjoyed the Kingsmen films it’s probably right up your street. I didn’t and it was nowhere near my street, not even in the same town. Diabolical.
Roundabout sculptures and sunset.
I suspect we rounded off our trip with fish and chips from Atkinson’s in the west end, which is becoming a bit of a habit when we visit Morecambe.
The last weekend in January, brought damp weather, some local walks, and a brilliant weekend of films and music in the village.
Snowdrops in our lane.
You can see the programme above, TBH and I couldn’t agree on which part was our favourite, but we did agree that all of it was superb. We bought weekend tickets, as did quite a few of our friends from the village. The venue, the village institute, is hardly huge, and it certainly seemed like all of the events had sold out.
Hawes Water.
The film, ‘Summer of Soul’ is currently available on Disney+ and if you haven’t seen it I can strongly recommend it.
A downed Scots Pine.Katie Spencer.
The live music was generally provided by local musicians. Very good it was too. Katie Spencer had come all the way from Hull, however, and I’m very pleased she did.
Katie Spencer.Weir on the River at Beetham.
On the Sunday, I took the unusual step, for me, of driving a little way for a local walk. I wanted to check out the Snowdrops in the woods near Beetham, where there is always a fine display.
More Snowdrops.Beetham.Loads of Snowdrops.
I was probably a few days early: unlike on the lanes, the snowdrops in the woods weren’t all open yet.
Arnside Knot and the River Kent from Beetham Fell.The crags on Beetham Fell.The Fallow Deer in Dallam Deer Park. Dallam Hall.The River Bela.The River Bela and the deer shelter in Dallam Deer Park.A huge patch of Winter Heliotrope.Winter Heliotrope.A6 Milestone.A6 Milestone.River Bela just above the weir.
Lancaster’s Off The Rails improvised music for three silent films. The films were pretty odd, but greatly enhanced by the excellent accompaniment.
Alice in Wonderland and one member of Off the Rails.
I don’t know whether there are plans afoot for a repeat of the film and music festival next year, but I really hope so!
Photos from a week in January and musings about ‘best laid schemes’ which haven’t really come off.
Lancaster Canal (frozen over) and the Cathedral.
In January I often have the luxury of Christmas money to spend, lucky me, and a fit of enthusiasm for daily exercise just when the weather and lack of light would seemingly make that most difficult. I’m not always very good at spending the cash on myself, but my resolve to get out for a walk often lasts well into the spring.
The Millennium footbridge over The Lune.
This year however, the situation was completely reversed. I almost certainly overspent my Yuletide wonga. In the first instant, I treated myself to a smart watch, which I guess probably makes me, as usual, a very late adopter.
Looking towards the lakeland fells.
Anyway, I think it was the arrival of said timepiece, and a desire to test it out, which prompted this January’s burst of energy, and had me heading out for a wander around Lancaster as soon as lessons had ended, before, I hasten to add, returning to work to finish paperwork and other quotidian tasks.
Former frontispiece to Cawthorne House, which was built in the 1770s.
Sadly, the burst of energy only lasted for a week. I can’t remember, at this remove, what caused me to stop, but as famous wit and raconteur Mike Tyson once said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face”. Now, I didn’t get punched in the face, I’m glad to say, nothing so dramatic; I probably just got a bit too busy, or too tired or both.
Lancaster Castle.
The photos I took, if nothing else, are reminding me what a good week it was, frosty but clear, and that even if I didn’t stick with it, this was A Good Thing. Next January, or right now for that matter, I just need a little more resolve.
The lakeland fells again.
Lancaster is quite a hilly city and there are a couple of excellent viewpoints which I visited. One is by the Castle and the Priory Church, the other is in Williamson Park, by the Ashton Memorial.
The last of the sun.Lancaster Priory Church.The Millennium footbridge over The Lune, again.The Ashton Memorial.Looking across the Bay towards the lakes from the Ashton Memorial.The Ashton Memorial.Lancaster Train Station.Mossy limestone pavement.
At the weekend, I ventured a bit further and managed some decent local walks, although, Sod’s Law in action, the bright frosty weather had disappeared and it was grey and wet.
Clougha Pike from near Jenny Brown’s Point.Eaves Wood in the rain.
My brother, who lives in Switzerland, lucky him, tells me that walking with a hands-free*, lightweight umbrella is all the rage on the continent, this year’s must have bit of kit. I quite often use my ordinary, old-fashioned brolly locally, but in the British hills I can only imagine a brolly would be a liability, what with the ubiquitous wind and the horizontal rain.
(*Trying to picture this, I like to think it would be incorporated into a hat, but I think he said attached to a rucksack.)
The ring of beeches.
Finally, I also spent some of my Christmas dosh on some new toys: a warmer sleeping bag, some trekking poles to replace the cheap Aldi ones, which were a short-lived bargain, since I managed to bend them both, and a new bivvy bag. I’d ordered the wrong bivvy bag, not the extra large one I wanted, and I ought to say that Alpkit were brilliant about exchanging it.
New toys from Alpkit.
These purchases, well two of them anyway, were part of another hare-brained, ill-fated scheme of mine. I’d noticed that, since I started the blog, way back in 2008, I’d only managed seven nights wild-camping, a total which seemed woefully small. I resolved to get out and use my new gear at least seven times this year to double that total. Now, I know that the year is not yet over, but it seems unlikely at this point that I will make my arbitrary, self-imposed target. (As ever, I hear you sigh). Not to worry, I have at least been out overnight, and maybe I’ll manage another trip, if a spell of settled weather is ever forecast.
One of the things I bought TBH for Christmas was the guidebook ‘Boots and Brews’ by Beth and Steve Pipe. It details 12 walks, all centred somewhere around Morecambe Bay. It seemed, at the time, like an easy and achievable aim for us to walk one of the routes together each month this year (spoiler alert – we’re a bit behind!).
Canal Turn.
Anyway, back in January, we obviously hadn’t yet had time to fall behind that schedule, and elected to begin with the Carnforth route. Actually, with a slight variation on that circuit.
Lakeland Fells and Arnside Knot.
I’ve walked and cycled the first section along the canal towpath many times before, but then the route crossed to the other bank and climbed just a little above the canal on a path which linked to Thwaite Brow Lane. Even that slight elevation gave excellent views.
Lakeland Fells and Arnside Knotfrom a slightly higher elevation.
Rejoining the canal on the outskirts of Bolton-le-Sands we diverted on to a little circuit through Thwaite Brow Woods, a community woodland.
I was taken with this rustic bench there…
A rustic bench.
Which is dedicated to Robert Swain…
…with an interesting dedication.
Who liked barking apparently! I can see his ‘Walking Down The Lune’ on the shelves behind my computer as I type this. As I’ve occasionally mused on the blog, I harbour vague ambitions to produce a guidebook someday, and maybe to have my own dedicated bench too! Old friend and occasional walking companion CJ once suggested I should write a sea-to-source guide to Cumbria’s rivers, given my enthusiasm for the Kent, and the Esk and the Lune and its many tributaries (although they also flow through West Yorkshire and Lancashire). I’ve often thought that might be an excellent retirement project, and also that it was odd that such a book didn’t already exist given the extensive literature written about almost every aspect of the Lake District, but now I see that I have been once again beaten to it: the Pipes have recently published ‘The Rivers of Cumbria’ which does exactly that for 10 rivers. I shall probably have to get a copy!
The Pipes started out with a blog, so maybe there’s hope for me yet. Although they probably didn’t find themselves writing up January walks in July, and maybe there in lies the problem with the idea of my ever writing a guidebook!
Bolton Cinder Ovens Bridge. Opened in 1797.
From Bolton-le-Sands the suggested route returns to Carnforth via some fields which are criss-crossed by dykes and ditches and completely contour free on the map. I thought the fields might be flooded and chose an alternative, the irony of which will become apparent soon.
On the towpath.
The other reason for the diversion was to take us to the Bay View garden centre to get some lunch and fulfill the ‘brews’ part of the walk.
Bay View Garden Centre.
Naturally, the garden centre cafe was absolutely heaving; we were lucky to get a table. What is the fascination with garden centres as a destination?
TBH enjoying lunch.
With it being so busy, the food took a little while to appear, but I think TBH enjoyed her veggie burger and I certainly liked my chicken, black-pudding, roast potato and bacon salad, and the Lancaster Brewery ale I washed it down with.
My lunch.
From the garden centre, a path heads north along the salt-marsh and then eventually along the River Keer back into Carnforth.
Lakeland Fells again from the foreshore.
Initially, it’s along a surfaced track, but then it ventures onto the foreshore itself. I’ve walked this way at least a couple of times before but possibly not in January. It was very wet. Whoops!
Ominous clouds to the south.
The weather was interesting, the cloud of the morning had begun to clear, but was still very evident to the south. We seemed to be right on the dividing line between two very different sorts of weather.
On the dividing line.Walking the foreshore.Arnside Knot and Warton Crag.Nearing the Keer.Warton Crag.
All-in-all, it was a very enjoyable walk and a promising start to our Boots and Brews outings. More to follow!
Map.The squiggly bits on the coast indicate attempts to circumvent especially wet bits!
Our route was around 6 miles, and, on reflection, substantially different from the one in the book.
I remember thinking, during our walk, that I haven’t properly exploited the potential of walks in the area between Lancaster and home for post-walk outings, and that I would do so this summer. I didn’t. Next year!
Just a quick one. The middle of January, and I went for a wander around Middlebarrow, one of my fall-back short strolls when the weather isn’t good.
Arnside Tower Farm and Arnside Knot.
Arnside Knot was wreathed by cloud. I have other photos which make the point better, in as much as you can’t really see the Knot in them – but they aren’t very interesting photos, because, well, you can’t really see the Knot in them!
Sixteen Buoys Field.
But then, bizarrely, it quite quickly ‘blued-up’.
‘It’s blueing-up’, is the Eternal Weather Optimists catch-phrase, heard as often these days from his acolyte Andy. It’s always true I suppose, if you play the long game, but often in their case is merely them clutching at imaginary straws.
Heading towards Hawes Water.
Anyway, faced with this sudden, but sadly short-lived bonus, I extended my wander and included a circuit of Hawes Water for good measure.
A Gloucester Old Spot pig near Hawes Villa.
Better weather the following day, I’m pleased to say.
The final Sunday of our Christmas and New Year break and another glorious day. I was out twice, morning and afternoon, to make the most of it.
Frost needles.Hawes Water.High water levels.
The lake had spread into its fringe of trees – another indication of how wet it had been.
Approaching Moss Lane.
You can see the sun was low in the sky, but this is deceptive – this photo was taken at around one o’clock. The sun wasn’t setting yet, it just never gets very high in the middle of the winter.
Warton Crag and Clougha Pike.Quicksand Pool and the Copper Smelting Works Chimney.
One consequence of the sun’s indolence is that the colours of an apparent sunset can gather along the western horizon and linger for quite some time. On this occasion, I could see a line of orange from beside Quicksand Pool.
Grange and the Coniston Fells from Jack Scout.Morecambe Bay mud from Jack Scout.
And a bit more colour from Jack Scout, just around Jenny Brown’s Point.
Sunset from The Lots.
More still from The Lots, a mile or two further on.
Sunset from the Cove.
And from The Cove.
Sunset from Eaves Wood.
From the woods.
The Dale from Castlebarrow.Post sunset from Castlebarrow.
And even some lingering colour from the limestone edge of Castlebarrow. An extended show!
Beating The Bounds 
