Pennine Way Day 13 - Greenhead to Bellingham

Saturday 8th July 2023

Pennine Way (North) Day 4 - Greenhead to Bellingham

This was certainly a day of two halves again, we had such an enjoyable time in the morning walking along Hadrians Wall as we spent about 5 hours admiring the history of the place, chatting to folk and taking photographs. A fantastic walk up and down the stiff little climbs as the wall hugs the escarpment all the way to Rapishaw Gap where we turn north and say farewell to this amazing Roman wall.

The next 14 miles are generally forgettable as we trudged through forestry paths surrounded by the tree stumps of the ongoing forestry felling work. The remainder of this stretch covers very isolated pasture, farmland and quiet tracks. A long hard day was had and we were pleased to reach Bellingham at 7pm with the last 5 miles being the most tiresome of the whole walk in my opinion, with nothing much to admire and running on empty.

Our arrival at Bellingham in the Cheviot Hotel was greeted with a warning that if we didn't get down and have our food ordered by 7:50pm, then we would go hungry. So our usual unwind with a cuppa was ditched and it was a quick smarten up and then out for the Saturday night.

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Distance: 23.4 miles

Duration: 10:00 hours

Ascent: 3917 ft

Difficulty: Tough

Accompanied By: Davy

Weather: Warm with Sunny Intervals

3D outline of route

Parking

Bright and sunny morning as we leave the lovely Greenhead Hotel.

Thirwall Castle crossing - pretty impressive for a crossing - you usually just get a look both ways sign.

Thirwall Castle in the background.

Arriving at Hadrian's Wall

I could post so many photo's of this section, it was hard to limit it to just a handful.

Another climb ahead.

High spirits as we reach the top and have so far avoided the heavy storms that were forecast for today.

Cawfields

Cawfields again

As we dig deeper into history, we have to don our waterproofs as we are hit with a heavy downpour. We didn't realise it it at the time but that 10 minutes was the only significant bit of rain we got on the whole Northern section of the Pennine Way and our waterproofs would stay tucked up in our bags for the rest of the trip.

Windshields Crag - The trig point is at the highest point on the wall.

Peel Crags ahead - looks like another steep one.

Crag Lough and the lone Sycamore Tree can just be seen (Robin Hood movie fame)

Milecastle

Lunch with a view as we chat with folk who point out Vindolanda to us. But now it's time to head North - the Pennine Way signpost can be seen in the col down there. A shame to leave the wall, but we've got to get to Bellingham tonight I'm afraid.

Leaving Haughton Common and entering the cleared forestry areas.

Stonehaugh is nearby, but we didn't visit it - We didn't visit anywhere really.

Bit of a jungle with all this high bracken - Not what you would expect on Britain's No1 trail. This walk is certainly one for the quiet introvert who enjoys solitude. But us two, we just keep on chatting for hours on end - plus we have the cricket commentary to enjoy.

I've never seen a bull in the field where there's a sign saying 'Bull in the Field' - Strange ?

Crossing Houxty Burn - the PW is a bit of a mess here and it takes a bit of puzzling to get back on the path proper.

A bit of hand to rock as you clamber up Shitlington Crag.

Bellingham in sight finally after a tiring last few miles.

River North Tyne

Bellingham - Finally we arrive, tired and ready for a rest - well not quite, as it was a quick shower and out as we had to make last food orders for 7:50pm - but the beer was good, so all was fine - if not a little exhausted (and we still have the big one to come the day after tomorrow !)