A four day walk, connected with tea – what could be better?!

We maybe should have done a little more research into how long it takes to get to Northumberland, how much of the trail is across moors and how few tea shops there are… but nevertheless we had an enjoyable walk in beautiful scenery!

Day 1

We started out from Allendale, fuelled by a hearty cooked breakfast. The first couple of hours were along the East Allendale valley. We had a nice stop for elevenses at Pry Hill and then continued through the farmland. The scenerary was lush and green and beautiful – but the sight that stuck in our minds were little rows of dead moles strung up along the fence! It seems this is proof of the mole catchers work, so that he can receive fair payment. Neither of us had ever seen a real mole before and we were a little sad that this was our first encounter!

A few more farm tracks and we came to a gate marking the start of Knockshield Moor. We started off on a track, but very soon the path diminished into little more than a sheep track and we were just having to spot the next yellow marker post on the horizon and pick our way towards it. One goat’s shoes were beginning to rub, so she stopped to tape up her feet. The other goat stuck her foot in a hole and rolled the other ankle.

Fortunately it wasn’t misty or rainy otherwise it would have been very easy to get lost. We had a compass, but there were very few landmarks to navigate by, so we just kept pressing on keeping our eyes on yellow posts! It was blowing a gale, so even though it wasn’t raining, it wasn’t pleasant. We very nearly lost one of our caps when the wind snatched it and it was only saved by landing in a puddle!!

After a couple of hours we were in need of our lunch, but there was nowhere sheltered to sit. In the end we just had lunch in a bit of a depression – both literally and figuratively!! It wasn’t out of the wind, but a cuppa soup from the jetboil tastes good anywhere!

There were some pleasant things about the moor – we saw red and black grouse and a lapwing trying to fly against the wind, but when shortly after lunch the terrain began to fall away and the moorland slowly turn into rough upland farmland, we weren’t sad to put the moor behind us! Once we reached the road, we took a decision to skip walking over Sunnyside (it wasn’t sunny) and Roughside (it probably was rough) and stick to the road into Nenthead. We didn’t regret this choice as before long a hail shower started pelting us with sharp icy precipitation.

By the time we reached our bunkhouse in Nenthead we were in need of rest and shelter. It was a cute little cottage on the site of a historical lead mine. It was very cosy and beautifully decorated with a highland cow and bee theme! The lovely owner had done shopping for us so we were able to cook up our supper and enjoy the chocolate treat she’d left out for us, before a good nights sleep in our individual sleeping berths, each complete with a cute curtain for privacy.

Day 2

Our plan was to have bacon sandwiches for breakfast and make extra for lunch, but we ended up eating all the bacon for breakfast! Fortunately Nenthead had a little community shop where we could call in and buy cheese for later.

Nenthead is apparently the second-highest village in England. It’s not very big, but it does have a model village which you can see from the footpath! There was a donation box for the air ambulance, which we were happy to contribute to – we’d enjoyed our surprise tourist attraction, and you never know, we might need the air ambulance if we hurt ourselves on the next section of moors!

Actually our route on day 2 was along the River Nent. We stopped for a coffee break at Nentberry as the sun was out and the path went through a campsite and we could make use of their picnic table.

The rest of the morning was through farmland, with a few patches of woodland. We stopped to have our lunch by the river just after Blaghill. The sun was out when we sat down, but it didn’t last. We got very cold and when the rain came on we quickly packed up and carried on our way. The path into Alston ran along the riverside and was very pretty with waterfalls, which cheered us along.

We arrived into Alston just by Cobbles Cafe. It’s a cute little place with knitted cakes and tea-cups in the window, and we were pleased to warm up and partake of a tasty cream tea!

After checking into Lowbyer Hotel we walked back into town, pelted by very heavy hailstones on our way.
We later learnt that Alston is the highest English market town at 1000m above sea-level. We enjoyed mooching around the outdoor shop and the gift shop, but we limited our purchases to chorizo from the wholefoods shop and pasta from Co-op. We’d brought with us a small stir-in pasta sauce, so along with these purchases that was going to be our dinner for the following day.

We then headed back to Lowbyer for showers, a drink from their bar and tasty dinner of lamb shanks and sticky toffee pudding in their restaurant.

Day 3

After our cooked breakfast at Lowbyer, we popped back to Cobbles Cafe to buy fancy sandwiches, purchased some milk in Co-op, and took the path out the other side of Alton and through the surrounding farmland. The hailstones were back, but watching the birds helped keep our spirits up. The fields here were full of lapwings – very dapper-looking birds, incongruous in scrubby, muddy fields!

We sheltered in Kirkhaugh ‘station’ for our coffee break. It was more like a bus stop than a train station, but we appreciated it! The next section walking along the riverside road at Kirkhaugh was particularly pleasant. Lulled into a false sense of congeniality, we entered the field at Randalholm. We hadn’t got far when the resident cows appeared above us on the hill to find out who was in their field! There was a bull, as well as cows and calves, and they were very skittish. Whether the changeable weather was affecting them or our big bags spooked them we weren’t sure, but there was no way we were going any closer to bucking cattle… and they weren’t for letting us go round them! The rain came on again and they moved away, we presumed to shelter, so we went across the bottom of the field and over a broken bit of wall into a pretty woodland with bluebells. We walked on the wrong side of the wall and were relieved to find there was a ladder-style at the far end of the wood, so we could get out into the next field. As we emerged from the woodland the whole herd was standing glaring at us through their gate as if to say how dare we outwit them and slip past!!

At Ayle we decided to walk along the road rather than tackle more uneven ground in the rain. Our next challenge was a footpath diversion at Clarghyll Colliery which added an extra mile – although it felt further as our feet were tired and we were hungry for our lunch, and not helped by the map telling us we’d walked to ‘Moscow’! There was an odd whirring sound coming from the hillside which was a bit perturbing – we assume it was to do with what looked like a mine ventilation shaft.

We’d not found anywhere suitable to stop and eat on our detour, so when we were back on track we just sat on the edge of the boggy path at Clargillhead, with the Christmas tree forest offering no protection at all. We managed to eat without being rained on and, refuelled, we braved the next section of moor. In some ways, this section was easier than on day one as there was a clearly defined vehicle track to follow, but it was blowing a gale and the hailstones were back, so it was pretty bleak! The views would probably have been spectacular if the weather wasn’t making us walk with our heads down! Eventually we turned onto a track that took us down to Mohope, but the going was tough as the track was very rutted with large loose stones – and the less agile goat took a tumble. She wasn’t hurt, just got stuck on all-fours on the unstable ground due to the big bag on her back!

Needless to say, we were very relieved to arrive at Ninebanks Youth Hostel and even happier to discover our self-catering cabin had a cosy log-burner!

Day 4

Next morning we set off, pleased that the route was firstly following the River West Allen and then back along the River East Allen – no moors involved! What we hadn’t bargained for were more cows!! This time a big bull and a gang of bullocks – all very frisky and again above us on a slope and not keen to let us pass. This time we went over a dry river bed to walk on the other bank and then hopped over a barbed wire fence.

The route at Ninebanks was very steep up by St Mark’s church, but we preserved despite one goat having a sore knee and the other falling over again, to get find a coffee stop. We found a nice sheltered spot, down in a valley at Far Dryburn.

Later we stopped for a chat with two walkers who were big fans of Isaac’s Tea Trail and were doing a day-walk of a section in the opposite direction. We stopped for lunch in Monk Wood – making up a tasty feast of leftover bits of cheese and bread, hot jetboil drinks and our many snacks! We saw a squirrel in a pine tree, it was difficult to be sure, but having seen lots of notices about them as we walked, we decided it was a red one!

The last leg of our walk, along the River East Allen, was a very pleasant route, but we didn’t properly appreciate it as we were tired and just keen to make it back to the pub in Allendale Town! We did pause to enjoy the nice surprise of a beautiful garden surrounding an isolated riverside house. Eventually we reached the pretty former pleasure gardens and the road up to the market square – we’d made it!

Accomodation

The Kings Head Allendale – a real local pub, with friendly landlord and an open fire. Serves food some evenings, we stayed two nights – ate in the pub one night and at the local indian 20 mins walk away the other.

Nenthead bunkhouse – very cosy, considerate owner got shopping in for us

Lowbyer Manor Hotel – family run hotel, with bar, guest lounge and tasty food served in their restaurant.

Ninebanks youth hostel – had our own little cosy chalet, friendly owners, but sadly currently for sale.

Reflections

Here are a few reflections from our trip:

• practise with your bag!! That seems to be a lesson we never manage to learn. Not just whether the bag is comfy, but when it’s fully loaded, it changes the way you walk, so you want to strengthen your body and practise walking in that way.
• linked to that, we should have taken less! It’s true that you do need roughly the same amount of stuff for four nights as a fortnight, but we could have coordinated better… and our snack sack, whilst full of tasty treats was much bigger and heavier than necessary!
• that said, it was worth carrying an extra pair of shoes. It was nice to be able to change out of our wet boots in the evening.
• we were very glad to have the OS app on our phone – mainly we navigating using paper maps (OS43, OS31), but being able to check the exact location using the app was very reassuring.
• likewise, we were reassured to have a compass with us for when we were walking across the moor without a clear path on the first day.
• next time we walk on the moor, we will wrap up in anticipation. On the second moor we were cold, but it was so wet and windy that stopping to find another layer to put on under our waterproofs felt a worse option than pressing on a bit chilly.
• we carried a small first aid kit, we thought afterwards that a small tube of ibuprofen gel would have been a helpful addition.
• we were passed a tip that sudocrem was good to use anywhere you though clothes, bags, shoes were going to rub. For the serious rubbage points, we both taped up, but for other places I think it helped.
• our biggest regret of all is only having the idea of a wine platypus on the last day! We’d have enjoyed a glass of wine in the evening as we relaxed, but hadn’t thought it was practical to carry a bottle for the nights we were self-catering. But who says wine has to be in a glass bottle?! We carry our water in platypus bottles, these soft pouches are great as they are light and they get smaller as you drink from them. We’d have gladly assigned one to the role of carrying decanted wine, if only we’d had the idea in time!!

Packing

We used our own blog to check our packing – obviously grateful this time to not be carrying a tent!

Useful links

Official Isaac’s Tea Trail website