And yet another beautiful morning. I've been managing to stay in bed until 7:30am for most of the holiday, and so far been welcomed by a clear sky and lovely sunrise each day which is the next best thing to seeing snow blanketing the ground. Maybe not everyone would agree, but hey we're not everyone!
We had a 3hr round trip planned for today, around 60 miles inland deep into the Northumberland National Park over to the village of Bellingham. Not that long a drive over there in mileage, but on narrow hedge-lined lanes, you clearly aren't going to get there very quickly. But then again, with lovely countryside as far as the eye can see, why would you?
Donna had found a nice little waterfall walk when perusing the 'hidden gems' listing for the county, starting from Bellingham and an undulating walk of a little over 1.5 miles up the narrow valley to Hareshaw Linn. A spot that I imagine is a bit of a honeypot in the summer as it's not that far a walk, there are multiple cascades of water as you walk up the valley, and with the lots of viewpoints with seating along the way there are many opportunities to rest weary legs.
The walk, however, didn't start that well. About 15 minutes after setting off we came upon the first picturesque waterfall, I made it down to the water's edge however as Donna was walking down the steps she slipped and ended up on her back. We had to be thankful that it was Donna carrying the rucksack as it stopped her back hitting the steps which would likely have resulted in a far more serious injury. That said, a very badly bruised buttock and a dented metal water bottle showed what a bang she had experienced. It didn't stop the walk though, she recovered, cleaned the muddy camera and her clothing and we continued the walk. It takes more than a fall to stop her.
It was a little over an hour before we reached the main waterfall at the head of the valley. On the way we had the bonus of spotting a small group of Roe Deer, well hidden in the trees up above the valley but we managed to pick them out as they made their way out of the foliage and out of sight. The are at the end of the valley was a lovely little spot with very high sides, and a majestic stream of water pouring over the rock face. I managed to get a good few photos, however as luck would have it, the minute the tripod was set up and ready to 'rock and roll', the rain came. We were there for around 30 minutes before taking the path back down the valley in what was now a steady stream of light rain.
Our plan on the way back was to have Afternoon Tea at the Running Fox in Felton; we were about an hour away so phoned ahead and reserved a table for 2 for 3pm. Thankfully we managed to swap tables to one with seating that was more 'bum friendly', before setting about the fare on offer. As always has been the case when we have come here for Afternoon Tea, we had to take away a 'doggie bag' with some of the food saved for later. No point in stuffing yourself so much that you don't enjoy it, it is food to savor after all.
At 5pm we were unlocking the front door of the cottage, and definitely no motivation to go back out tonight for either of us.
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