It is our last day here and we are driving south to meet Mary and Jerry who are on holiday in their motor home and staying locally.
We chose a short walk to the lower falls of Ashgill Force which was pretty impressive, but I think if we had climbed higher there may have been a higher waterfall. Nonetheless we walked back along the River South Tyne then went for a late lunch.
Nenthead is one of England’s highest villages at around 1,500 feet and was built for the miners and families of the London Lead Company which was formed by Quakers in 1704, making it one of the earliest purpose-built industrial villages in Britain. As well as housing, there was a school, a reading room, public baths and a wash-house and Nenthead was the first village in the UK to have electric street lighting from excess power generated by the mines. The Hive is a community cafe in the beautifully restored Wesleyian Chapel and we had a great lunch.
The road back took us back over high ground and we could see for miles with the sunshine picking out patches of purple heather.
The other road that needs a mention is the A6813, known as The Military Road locally, which runs parallel to Hadrians Wall and runs remarkably straight.
We’ve been driving up and down it all week but it wasn’t built by the Romans. Instead it was constructed by General Wade in 1746 to improve access for his troops during the Jacobite Rebellion and undoubtedly contains stone recycled from the wall, as do many local buildings.
Anyway, our stay here is coming to an end as we move on tomorrow. On our last evening there was a nice bit of colour when the sun set …
… and a supper with cheese from Tebay… Blue Winnow and Crofton Cheese.
Hope Sike has been a great base for our week here. We’ve enjoyed the novelty of staying out in the middle of nowhere, and playing our guessing game of Sheep Run, but we won’t miss driving at 5mph down the rough track in and out. As for having no wifi or phone signal in the cottage, that has been refreshing/taken getting used to/irritating depending on how chilled we are at the time!
There’s been plenty of time to review photos and write the blog although posting the entries will have to wait till we have a decent signal. I’ve also been enjoying the Roman Trilogy by Rosemary Sutcliffe and have read the first two, The Eagle of the Ninth – a quest to retrieve a lost Roman Standard and The Silver Branch – spying and sculduggery in Roman Britain. Now I’ve gone for a change of pace, having found Scyamore Gap by LJ Ross, a DCI Ryan murder mystery with a dead body or two buried in the wall! Chris has remained local this evening, watching an old episode of Vera!
Off Travelling Together 