Quite a nice morning …
… and we decided to take a break from the wall and walk somewhere else. We parked in Featherstone Station Car Park, but there is no longer a station or a railway line. The line was closed in 1976 then reopened some 20 years later as a footpath and cycle way. We walked up to Featherstone Castle, begun in the C14th, but with a varied history including as a GI training camp in WWII then a POW camp.
The path then took us along the banks of the River South Tyne …
… to the village of Lambley with an impressive Viaduct.
We walked down to the River to take photos before climbing back up and crossing the river on it with great views. We continued on the path following the disused railway back to the car.
It was well past lunchtime when we arrived at The Sill – the National Landscape Discovery Centre, hoping to get a cream tea in the cafe. They’d had a busy day, and were down to their last scone which Chris gallantly said was mine and he tucked into a veggie pasty instead … such hardship! Having had a rest and taken advantage of the wifi, the afternoon was looking just lovely, and despite having already clocked up almost 5 miles, we decided the light was too good a chance to miss. We drove to Steel Rigg and walked along what must be the most popular section of the wall, which starts with the Peel Crags escarpment and the blue waters of Crag Lough in the distance.
Further along, the ruins of Milecastle 39 come into shot as well …
… and after the next rise, Sycamore Gap containing possibly the most photographed sycamore tree! It first became a star when it appeared with Kevin Costner in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and has more recently been seen with Robson Green and in Vera. It has also been adopted as a motif on many of the local souvenirs and everyone who visits wants to get that perfect shot.
Pleased we’d made the effort, we walked back to the car and called it a day – 7pm and 8 miles walked. Fortunately dinner was a chickpea curry we had brought with us, quickly heated through. But the sunshine shone on, and an hour later we were out again, taking pics of the last rays over Hope Sike.
Off Travelling Together 