Great English Walk Day 32 - 19 April 2018

Rothbury to Kidland Forest
Walking 9.50am to 6.30pm
Distance walked today 12 miles
Distance walked so far 490 miles
Distance left 54 miles

A late start as I couldn't have my full English till the café staff arrived at 9 although I surprised the sprightly nearly 80 year old cleaning lady who hadn't known of my presence as her day off was yesterday.

Rothbury

Today was the "best" weather day so far and the first day I wore just my shirt on top. Having said that, yesterday's weather was better for me as a walker being cloudy but warm. Rothbury is a place to return to and explore.

I'd got food for the next couple of days at the Co-op in Rothbury last night. My list of places with some sort of food shop included the next village of Thropton. A local I met on the way down into the village confirmed that, as of April 2018, there is no shop.

Today's lunch stop

I walked out of Thropton alongside the River Coquet, got a water bottle refilled by a lady at Sharperton and then road walked to the village of Harbottle, very small now but, in the 12th century, it was the capital of Redesdale. The last wolf in England is said to have been killed near here in 1750. I crossed the river here to follow a good riverside path which took me on to Alwinton.

River Coquet at Sharperton

I last came by here in 2007 on my Lakeland to Lindisfarne walk, when Frank, Howard and I managed to persuade the nearby Clennell Hall caravan park to let us camp there overnight. The sign board I passed indicated that camping was "available" there so maybe a change.

Past Alwinton, I began the long ascent on a wide track known as Clennell Street, an ancient "road" which ran from Alwinton, over the Cheviots, to Cocklawfoot, some 19km away, used by drovers. In fact, last year I camped on Clennell Street where it crosses the Pennine Way. I shall pass within about a mile of it tomorrow. I vividly remember it being extremely windy that night.

Various parts of Kidland Forest have been felled. I had planned to camp about a mile further on from where I am but it looked as if large areas had been felled ahead so I found a nice pitch in the forest. The birds have been quite noisy but have quietened down for the moment.