The Pennine Way // day 15 // Alston - Greenhead

The Pennine Way, day 15.
Distance: 28.8km (357.7km), time spent: 8:56.
Weather: Nice, changing to rain.

Today carries every mark there is of being a transport stage. Having passed through the Yorkshire Dales and the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Beauty (although technically still in the North Pennines), the walk to Greenhead appear to be designed only to get you to the next prominent feature of the Pennine Way. Which is the section where the Pennine Way joins forces with the Hadrian's Wall Path. Prominent not only in scenery and history, but in people too.

Walking through farmland and fields after Alston.

Instead of running on top over the fells, the Pennine Way this time takes on the valley below them by following the Tynedale and the River South Tyne northwards. I have on the other hand been assured that I will not be following a straight line though, making use of the slopes of the valley several times. With vague paths. Last time I heard that description was on another so-called transport stage, the one between Ickornshaw and Gargrave. Being one of the more obscure stages in a way, I had felt some kind of anticipation regarding today.

The footbridge over Gilderdale Burn.

Did not sleep that well this night, thanks to quarreling from a party outside. About to walk out the door, I find out that I forgot to take my cellphone out of my evening trousers and it is now firmly packed at the bottom of my backpack. Not the perfect start of the day. Maybe not for Henry too, he woke up today with an aching toe, having injured it yesterday. About to walk out of Alston, I make a short visit to a supermarket, where I notice a packet of the notorious Kendall's Mint Cake on the shelf. Having heard so much about it, I just have to buy one. Who knows, maybe I will be in need for it later.

Whitley Castle (or Epiacum).

Leaving Alston by crossing the bridge over the River South Tyne, I spot another walker going underneath the bridge and heading northwards along the river, assuming he is taking the South Tyne Trail instead of the Pennine Way. This trail is a path that follows the river more closely than the Pennine Way and can be used to short-cut this stage. Turns out that I am wrong though, soon being passed by by the same walker. Rob is also walking towards Kirk Yetholm and had just taken a wrong turn. Wrong turn being the name of the game at the beginning. After both of us having taken different ways further, we meet again and walk together to Epiacum. The walk so far has mostly been through large open farmland on unseen paths, with views of Alston at the start and the surrounding hills on both sides.

The Boss.

Epiacum is of course not what it is known as now, that was what the Romans named it. Whitley Castle, or the remains of it as it resembles anything but a castle at this time, looks like someone has driven a gigantic rake through the land and covered it with grass. A rake with up to eight fingers, as the castles prominent feature is a set of eight parallel ditches and embankments. Sheep has replaced the Roman centurions, decanuses and legions. The castle was apparently built to control the mining in the area. Some nice views of the Tynedale to be found here too.

South Tynedale Railway train puffing by.

Cattle is a more demanding livestock met on the trail, most of the time they are docile, but there are rumours circulating. Bullocks appear in several of them. Although it is not a bullock that are standing and eyeing me ominously, but a big muscular bull (without the ock). There he stands measuring me, The Boss, with the cows roaming at will behind him. I cannot run fast here, the surface is all squelchy mud (with manure mixed into it), not that I can outrun a bull if the distance is too long anyway. I must measure out fine in his eyes, for he leaves me be. First encounter today, more to come.

Lintley Viaduct hidden behind the trees.

The route through the dale passes under and next to some wonderful railway arches (and the best one of them all is not mentioned in the guidebook, the Lambley Viaduct, a shame). At Lintley I get to the first, a splendid structure almost hidden in the vegetation. Shortly afterwards is the path likewise, hidden in the vegetation, disappearing into a large field of burdock plants. Just before I got to the viaduct, I could see the little South Tynedale Railway train very slowly puff by.

The Pennine Way disappearing in a field of burdocks (or so I believe, feel free to comment if I am wrong).

More train related stuff to come. At Slaggyford, I visit the train station where they run a little café in a used train carriage. A good time to stop for a coffee break and sit down pretending to take the train instead of walking, sitting down and looking out at the gentle Tynedale landscape. Two other Pennine Wayfarers arrives to, Sid and Gil.

At the café at Slaggyford Train Station, imagining taking the train instead, watching the landscape roll by.

After Slaggyford I come to another great viaduct, this time the one pictured in my guidebook, but wrongly captioned as the one back in Lintley. This one crosses the Knar Burn and is more prominently displayed in the scenery, meaning not as hidden.

The viaduct over Knar Burn.

The following part is one of the more bizarre experiences on my hike. For all the talk and laws about the public rights of way in England, it then feels slightly surrealistic to walk straight through what essentially is the backyard of a farmhouse. With small white arrows and Pennine Way markers pointing the direction. No garden party at the time at least.

A Pennine Way waymarker.

Then some steps later I walk through a gate in a drystone fence, turn around and face a herd of cows coming charging at me out of another gate. With their seemingly empty eyes they appear to be aiming straight at me. Not entirely sure of what to do, I do what I use to do in similar situations like this, I charge at them. Staring into its eyes, I run straight towards the leading cow, while clapping my hands and yelling at the same time. It worked. Stopping dead in their charge, they soon scatter away one each side of me. They might not have ran me over, but I would not want to be there to find out. I was going to say, do noy try this at home, only that it is not home that I talk about.

Tynedale, looking back at the beginning of the Maiden Way.

It is first when the Pennine Way heads into the area known as Lambley Common that the route gains some significant height, although it is not much to speak of. Until then, the route has kept itself close to the bottom of the valley, while still not being entirely flat either. Returning to the complex rules of private versus public land in England, adding the word Common to the name of a place posed some questions in me. Commons are commonly referred to as land or resources belonging to or affecting the whole of a community and for the benefit of the general public, or land owned collectively by a number of persons, or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it (which is the Wikipedia definition of it). This led me to believe that this would mean land open to the public, but despite being named a Common does not mean that it is common now. Many historical commons have been turned into private land, and has been for a long time. In one of my early plans for my hike, I had put Lambley Common up as a possible place to camp.

Drystone wall and Tynedale scenery.

Common or not, the view has more in common with the rest of the Pennine Way has than the walk so far from Alston. Easygoing at such, the scenery is now distinctly more moorland again, following what is known as the Maiden Way. A Roman road, but unknown if it really was called Maiden Way then. From the top it is supposedly possible to see The Cheviot in the distance, but it is the first sight of the undulating crags of the Hadrian's Wall Path that first catches my attention. The Cheviot, although not very far away in the future, is still some days away. An adder slithers away from me into the tall grass. Next to another wall of stone I sit down to eat lunch, postponed due to my visit to the train café in Slaggyford.

Grouse on a stone wall at Lambley Common.

The Pennine Way leaves the Maiden Way almost unnoticeable, at least if you do not pay enough attention, but I noticed the signpost in time. I also cannot fail the notice the strange bulls here, they look like zebras, zebra-bulls. Slightly empty landscape follows, then a quiet road and more empty landscape. A broken farmbuilding ahead, and two other wanderers. Behind me is Sid and Gil coming up. Scenery appear more like indistinct moor and farmland now, although few livestock and farms are seen.

Maiden Way.

A slight gap in the landscape comes after a ruined barn, where the route crosses over another burn, Hartley Burn. On the slope leading up afterwards, a farmer must have had enough of waylaid hikers, prompting the signpost 'NOT Pennine Way'. I wish there was a similar signpost later on, as the route then disappear in the moor after a farm. I was warned, but still took the not Pennine Way. Thankfully the approaching rain has not arrived yet, so after trudging a bit over the moors in mild confusion, I can locate the fence where I know the trail goes next to. If making the same mistake when entering the Hartleyburn Common, the trick is not to follow the most distinct path and turn more left, aim for a fence heading north.

Zebrabulls...which actually are Belted Galloways.

Bleakest part of the day, accentuated by the rain. That is the description of the walk across the Hartleyburn Common, nor is it the most special moorland on the trail either. And the rain and clouds will block the most anticipated view of today too, the now approaching Roman wall. Undulating over a wet surface, the path makes it way past the usual sheep, then entering the next common next to a trig point, Blenkinsopp Common.

A ruined barn before Hartley Burn.

Through the pale clouds I can see the faint outline of the crags the Hadrian's Wall Path goes over, it would be a nice view, if it had not been for the power lines disrupting parts of it. The rain has passed by when I descend from the moors. I will return to the trail I walked back in 2013, but will not make any steps on it until tomorrow. After crossing over a golf course, I see Thirlwall Castle, knowing that I have reached the end of today. From the ruins of a castle there is a short walk off the route down to Greenhead.

NOT Pennine Way.

Accommodations next to the Hadrian's Wall Path can be busy at times, but I had no problem getting a bed here. Although I had to settle with the youth hostel, the hotel was full. The hostel is not, it is quite large and seemingly empty, I get a room for myself.

Bleak over Blenkinsopp Common.

At the pub, I meet Rob again. After he went ahead when I stopped to take a closer look at Whitley Castle I did not see him again. Sid is later joining us, Gil however did not feel well so he stayed back at the room. We talk some about the state of the trail today. They felt there were a lot of places today that were badly maintained, especially where the route vanished in the burdocks. Talk about cows, bulls and bullocks also entertains us. They make some eyes when I say that I charged at the cows, so maybe it was not the wisest of decisions.

The crags of the Hadrian's Wall Path.

I had not seen Sophie and Roxanne since I left Langdon Beck, now they appear at the hotel in Greenhead. Trails are funny that way. After looking at the hostel, they do not want to stay there and arranges for a cab to take them to nearby Haltwhistle. Sophie told me that she had fallen to her waist in a bog after Tan Hill and felt slightly scared of the bogs after that, which I do not blame her for.

Thirlwall Castle.

A strange day on the Pennine Way, and one of those days where I felt content by just walking and not in need for anything really special. To be on the move, seeing the scenery change, however slow. There is less than a week left of my walk now, tomorrow I will be back on the memory lane and I look forward to it. My blood blisters has stopped bothering me long time ago, things are flowing.

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