Northumberland is a beautiful undiscovered county of raw landscape, castles, islands and wildlife.
I visited it again five years ago and was completely knocked out!!
Photography – Northumberland scenery – Gorgeous
Photography – Northumberland coast – England’s best!
Curving bays of yellow sand. Blue seas. No people. You can walk the coastal path through the dunes and enjoy the air and peace. There’s nowhere better.
Castles on the beach. Old churches. Hamlets in the coves. Sun and sea.
Photography – St Oswald’s Way Northumberland – a few more of this great walk.
Photography – Northumberland England – sublime countryside.
Photography – St Oswald’s Way – Northumberland – gorgeous countryside, castles and seascapes. A deserted wonderland.
These are a few photos from my photo diary of my 100 mile walk. We were following St Oswald’s Way backwards.
St Oswald led an army to do battle in Heaven’s Field. If they felt anything like me they would not have been up to doing much fighting. I dropped out two thirds through the fifth day with a thigh strain (It still hurts!).
The walk led us through some spectacular scenery, up on to moorland, along rivers, past castles, old churches, hills, towns, beautiful bays, cliffs, and past all manner of wild-life. Northumberland is a gem of a county and largely deserted. Huge sweeping sandy beaches with just a lonely couple for company. The castles on the shore, the old towns of hewn rock, and the green landscape.
Not only that but the locals were friendly and the ale tasty. What more could you want?
I know – a good Rock Band or two!
Here’s a few of my shots:
Failure on the big walk!
Well I failed. I gave it a good try and I fell short.
The plan was to walk a hundred miles in six days. I thought that would be some kind of challenge. Walking up to twenty miles a day for six days was going to be a strain. I was most concerned about my feet (I am prone to blisters) but I also had doubts about knees, hips, calf muscles and general muscle ache.
I took precautions: I bought some double blister proof socks and a ton of special blister plasters. I checked out my boots and threw them away. I checked out some other boots and thought them OK. I took some comfortable trainers.
I resolved to practice and organised a group of friends to go on regular longish walks. That didn’t work out too well – what with the weather and other things – we only managed a couple.
I was not daunted.
We started with five of us but two dropped out before the starting line. On the day before the three remaining intrepid walkers met to discuss last minute logistics. We ordered a take-away Chinese. One of our merry crew nipped out to pick up the grub, tripped on the step, sprained their ankle, and then we were down to two.
You couldn’t write it.
The two remaining heroes set off into the depths of Northumberland. We toiled up hills, braved high winds, got sunburnt, and generally walked at a fast steady pace for seven or eight hours a day. I sustained four blisters but nothing walk threatening. By the end of day four I was weary and struggled in.
The scenery was stunning, the weather fair, the food, brilliant, the beer sustaining and the company great. What more could you ask for?
Two thirds of the way through day five disaster struck. My thighs had started to hurt on day four. That had progressed on day five until my left thigh muscle completely seized up and I was reduced to a painful hobble and could not continue.
The dream had died.
All great walks eventually end in failure. Or was that political careers, lives or sporting careers?
Anyway, it meant that I was able to drive in to Lindisfarne and Holy Island by car and at least get to the finish and I also got to visit the wonderful Farne Islands as a booby prize.
My friend Nick strode on to capture the full prize and majestically complete the course. Well done Nick of the indefatigable legs and constitution of an ox.
I did get to walk for four and a half days – worryingly put on two pounds – and see some of the most beautiful countryside in the world! It wasn’t for nothing; and there’s always next year!!
I’ll be older and wiser then!