Henrikdoc

D11- The Anglers Arms – most comfortable night yet and most delicious dinner yet. Easy to just walk past as not the usual mileage stopping place or end of day resting place for the walk. Cannot recommend it more highly.

A supposed easy morning’s walk was surprisingly harder than it first appeared so we were glad we did not have to do it yesterday late afternoon after an already 12 miles.

Plenty of Northumberland scenery today.

..and a remarkable number of ruins / delapidated buildings en route.

This is not going to keep out any sheep is it?

But they don’t seem bothered either..

The Turks Head in Rothbury was a welcome sight

Rothbury – described by someone as “having a bustling High Street” 😂

..we did manage to do some shopping in the Otterburn Mill for some outdoor stuff at ‘up to 80% off’ – some of it anyway.

D12- What a lazy day. No need to get bags ready for Carrylite baggage transfer Ltd, no need to rush to breakfast…

Nothing opened until 10 am anyway – not Otterburn Mill where we had to exchange something for the correct size 🤦‍♂️, not Cragside where we were heading for the day.

Options to get to Cragside 2 km away?

Walk – ‘you don’t want to do that… the traffic pushes you against walls and hedges as the road is rubbish for walkers’, said the pub housekeeper in her best Geordie accent.

Bus – there may be one … or maybe not. ‘I can always take you’, said the pub manager for the day.

Bus there was. No ticket machine in the bus. Driver said not to worry and took us anyway.👍

Cragside in 2024…

…and in 1886

Over 6 Million trees planted, tonnes of earth brought in, rocks blasted away, all by Lord and Lady Armstrong in the 19 th century.

Not until you look into what they were involved with and in do you get a sense of a couple who took their opportunities when they came, in an age of development and discoveries.

Look up William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, CB FRS (26 November 1810 – 27 December 1900) on Wikipedia or Encyclopaedia and find out more.

The gardens were pretty good too.

Love a good Dahlia!

..and every tree tells a story .

All in all, a thoroughly restful stroll and wander…

…and the nice man running the shuttle bus around the Cragside Estate gave us a lift back to Rothbury…with a running historical commentary of many of the buildings in town (many built by the Armstrong family at some point in the last 150 years (the family still has residence in Bamburgh Castle as recalled when we visited there earlier in the week)…. as well as ‘and that’s my daughter on the left’ as she waved to him walking on Bridge Street. 🤣🤣🤣

Off to have supper at the Queen’s Head with Chris and Anne who are holidaying near Craster for the week.

Diet has already gone to pot….a pint of ale and an 🍎crumble with custard nearly every night …but NO sticky toffee pudding … yet 😂