DAY 24 - HOORAY MY MUM IS HERE!

LANCHESTER TO DURHAM

Slept quite well in my big 4 poster bed and got up in time for my 8.45am breakfast!  I dont know how i am going to adjust back to life at home again getting up at my normal 6.30am time!! (Maybe i just wont adjust at all?!)  Breakfast was nice, all alone as the only guest staying last night....and before i knew it i was off with my backpack in place, walking full steam ahead to Durham!

I began on the main roads and then just after Langley Park i joined the W2W route and cycle path 14 towards Durham following the river along a beautiful path far away from the traffic .... surprisingly the miles melted away very quickly this morning as i caught up with all the calls i needed to make and before i knew it i had covered my 10 miles with my pack and had arrived!

I caught a little bus out to our Bannatyne hotel which was 2.5 miles from the centre - i would have walked but didnt have enough time if i wanted to drop off my bag before getting back to the Train Station in time for mum arriving at 1.18pm.  As it was, the room was all ready and so after dropping my bags in, changing into my trainers, i raced back to the railway station just as mum alighted off the train!

Her bag was tiny and so easy to manage compared to my heavy load so instead of heading back to drop it off we decided to brave Durham together and get started on the sightseeing!  (Not until mum had had her coffee however!)  We visited the Cathedral first and it was absoutely enormous both inside and out!  The history was amazing and the fact that it has been here since 995, made me feel much younger!

The Castle was only next door and then the streets of Durham were lovely to walk around with no time constraints.... by 4pm we queued up with the school children and reverted to feeling old again and got our bus back to the hotel!  We have free use of the health club next door so it seemed a shame to waste it so had a 1/2hr run and then swam for 30 lengths.  The swim felt lovely to stretch out different muscles but i had forgotten what a hassle it always is to get dry and dressed after swimming!

We snacked in our room on our M & S salads and strawberries and then felt ready for bed .....by 7.30pm .... is that too early?!  Mum put her tiredness to the long train journey and i just feel exhausted like i always do by 7pm!

DAY 23 - WET WET WET - WHY ARE MY SUNDAYS ALWAYS WET?!

ROWLANDS GILL TO LANCHESTER

Slept very soundly right up until 8.30am but woke a bit dehydrated from my 1/2 marathon efforts yesterday!  As i already mentioned in yesterday's entry, (a bit ahead of myself!) the breakfast here at Burn View was wonderful - organic cereals, fresh large blueberries and raspberries, fresh juice, poached eggs and homemade bread! Just wonderful, along with Sundays papers ... the only thing putting a dampner on things was the rain outside! 

I delayed my start until 11am and then waterproofed up to my eyeballs, i set off up a very long hill on my 11 mile walk to Lanchester.  My backpack fet so heavy today and by 5 miles, i was completely soaked as the wind kept blowing my hood down and if i made it so tight the wind couldnt pull it down, it meant i couldnt see out properly!

Most of the wet route was along pavements until the last 3 miles when it disappeared and i was back to the mercy of the on coming drivers seeing my postbox coloured figure approaching.  For those motorists that i think were not going to pull wide around me, i had to step into the wet long grass verge but i considered soaking wet feet and boots a small price to pay for not being knocked down!

I eventually reached my small lane where my nights B and B was located and walked the 1/2 mile along until i reached Hamsteels Hall Farm.  It looks like a true working farm but i was warmly greeted by June and shown to my lovely 4 poster bedroom complete with ensuite shower and flatscreen TV!  It was only 2.45pm when i arrive but immediately i started ceasing up in my legs and back from the cold and the wetness of the day so i tookup her suggestion of using the bath along the hallway as there are no other guests tonight.

The old style bath was lovely and deep and lying in the hot water melted all my aches and shivers away!  I wrapped up in my PJ's straight after and couldnt believe that on this wet Sunday afternoon i was all ready for bed by 5pm!  I watched TV, read my magazines, heard about the children having their BBQ back home and then watched some more TV!  Heaven for a Sunday and all the while it just kept raining outside! Ugghhhh!

I also need to take this opportunity to say how great my Greepers Laces have been during my trip.  They are so easy to undo when i get to my destination and whether i have wet cold fingers or gloves on, i dont ever have to worry about undoing wet knots!! A truly great invention and i am sure they are super for kids too especially before they learn to do up laces!!  Thank you again Peter for letting me try these out - they have passed with flying colours and i have used them every day!

DAY 22 - A GLIMPSE OF CIVILISATION

OTTERBURN TO ROWLANDS GILL

I spent all night dreaming about my lost USB lead (what a waste of a sleep!!) but when i called the B & B we stayed at yesterday, i had left it in the room! How careless! I cant do without it now as everything i have packed these days is all classified as 'essential' so i will need to replace it in Newcastle later! The breakfast was fine for our purposes today but out of the last 3 days, our best has definitely been Lornebank!

We stood at the bus stop 15 mins early along with quite a gathering crowd and by the time the bus came it was already virtually full with only standing room for 8!! Luck was on our side however as we got on as the 6th and 7th people and had to leave 4 others on the pavement with other prospect of any bus arriving again now til Monday on this route to Newcastle!!!!  That is how remotely i am travelling!

We therefore stood for the whole one hour bus journey to Newcastle just grateful to have a place on public transport as Immanuel had  a midday train to catch to London ....AND YES, how tempted am i yet again to get on it with him, back to my children and my little home ..... but yet again, if it werent for my next companion coming on Monday, i may well have done just that!!!  It seemed wierd being back in a shopping centre with so many people all around having spent the last 3 weeks with mainly sheep and hills for company! The civilisation and busy-ness of everyone is funny to watch after travelling at such a slow pace ..... i have missed it though!

I mooched around Eldon Square shopping centre, not able to buy anything more than my USB lead so just window shopping and passing all the excited footie fans already gathering for tonights big match!  My bus on to Rowlands Gill left every 15 minutes so after picking up my munchies for dinner later from M & S and having my regulation Starbucks, i picked up my bus to my B & B for the day.

I was supposed to have been staying in Hexham / Corbridge area tonight but had left this booking until only a few days ago and today is Hexham races so everywhere is chocca block! I have therefore been very fortunate to find a little spare room at Burn View in Rowlands Gill, which Andy & Helen agreed to let me have more as a favour than anything i think as i must have sounded so desperate when i called!!  I wasnt up to staying in busy Newcastle for a whole night so was relieved when Andy kindly mentioned the 'little back room' and took it straight away! (AND I MUST TELL YOU THAT THIS IS SUCH A FIND!  Their hospitatility can rival any large chain hotel with their friendly personal customer service, fabulous breakfasts with the largest freshest blueberries and raspberries i have seen so far on my travels!  And having stayed at quite a few B and B's now, i think i am becoming qualified at these ratings! And i will definitely be back!)

Its a bit lonely being by myself again but i guess i can start my 2nd book now which i havent even begun since having so much company!  After 3 hours in Starbucks eeking out 2 Aventi Mocha Frappacino lights, i caught the bus to Rowlands Gill arriving just as Helen was calling to check if i was still coming!

My little room is lovely and perfect for what i needed and as i said before, the hospitality was so friendly that i almost thought i had arrived home!  I changed into my running gear as i thought i should try a short jog and Helen directed me straight across the lane onto the Aquaduct and the Derwent walk which is route 14 on the cycle maps i think and part of the Coast to Coast route..... (called the C2C to those in the know!)

Well i set off just after 5pm and 2 hours 4 mins later i was back, having completed my FIRST EVER HALF MARATHON distance!! I could hardly believe that my fitness has improved this much in 3 weeks as it is exactly 21 days since i began my journey and it took me over 5 hours to walk my 15 miles that very first day and today i covered over 13 miles in 2 hours! (without my pack i must admit!) Still, i think the caffeine in the 2 Starbucks were my secret weapon but nevertheless i felt a huge sense of achievement as i climbed the stairs to my little room to collapse into the bath after stretching out (for 5 minutes!)

The route i took was so lovely, it was the perfect path, right on the doorstep, a gentle gradient on the outbound route which helped me reach home as it seemed like downhill all the way back! The shade of the trees and the company of the dog walkers and cyclists all added to the enjoyment of the run and whilst i dont think i would still ever consider embarking on a full marathon, for the first time ever, i think that maybe a half marathon may be something i could actually finish now!

I have requested breakfast at 9.30am so hope that the Sunday lie in will be welcome - it'll be just my luck not to be able to sleep!! Maybe i will get up and do my run again .... and then again, maybe i wont!

PS Good luck England (vs USA) sorry i am not watching but i am a) too tired b) not really into football and c) have no TV in my room so would have to go downstairs in my PJ's and i dont think anyone would really like to bump into me in those ce soir!
(I believe it is 1-1 at half time so when i wake up i will get an update!)

DAY 21 - BACK IN ENGLAND UNDER FIRE!

JEDBURGH TO OTTERBURN

Slept well - especially as it was my last night in Scotland!  Had a mild bit of back pain (which i dont know where it's come from as i have still not had to wear my pack the last few days....?) but still managed a quick 'pitch and put' in the room before breakfast! Strolled down to the bus stop for the once a day service to Otterburn (yes really, only one service each day!) and paid the £3.50 single to take me the 25 miles to my next stop.

I had already pre-arranged my drop off and unlike yesterday, managed to meet the landlady early on in the day when she showed us to our new room and gave us a few directions for the walk.  The room isnt as nice as those we have previously been in the last couple of nights but it was clean and enough room so the dated look could be over looked for one night.

We walked through the village stopping at the Tourist information office which was a bit of a DIY / help yourself affair, so after collecting a couple of walking maps, we headed to the Post Office in search of some local knowledge to interpret the maps.  Fortunately we were directed to 'Grandad' who made a call to find out if the route we wanted to walk was out of bounds today .... sure enough it was!! The ARMY are in town and firing so the Red flags are out!! (i wondered if they need any new red flags with previous experience as a post box?!)

So instead of heading North of Otterburn we walked south and along the A68 which was almost as hairy as that horrid A9 in Scotland.  Fortunately it only lasted a mile before we turned off and found ourselves on such a desserted road, we only passed 2 cars the whole day!! The weather had really cheered up today and the sun shone to such an extent that coats were off and short sleeve T shirts even made an appearance!

Plenty of sheep later, we found ourselves rehydrating at a local pub and then began the return leg across an open field to join a road i could see vaguely marked on my map but not really sign posted for anywhere else.  After about 10 minutes of climbing, we began noticing an Army helicopter doing its own manoevres of collecting and dropping off practice loads and this livened up the 10th Mile considerably.  As we got closer up the hill towards where it was dropping /picking its loads up, we reached a large gate with a big warning sign .... it mainly just suggested not to touch any army debris in case it was live explosives so we began tip-toeing more carefully and continued along our merry way, all the while still being circled by our Chinook!

300 yards further on, we finally came across a large Red flag .....and warning bells began to ring!!! I quickly got out my map which had an emergency firearms number and called it hurriedly to tell them our exact location and request reassurance from 'Michael' (i asked his name out of habit but i guess it was not all that useful to know if i were shot dead!) that no-one was supposed to be firing on our bit of Moorland and to ask if he could just let them know that we were nearby!! He reassured us they were just practicing today and not planning on firing anything (again still not terribly reassuring as we approached 2 large cannon guns on the brow of the hill and more than 5 large vehicles with empty shells from previously fired ammo!!)  Hmmmm ......

Anyway, instead of getting too close to the all sining and dancing real live Action men troops, we asked the Snack Van driver if we were safe and he was happy to nod and just suggest we keep heading in our continued direction without delay!!!  Naturally we obliged!

We got back to Otterburn by 4pm having covered around 15 miles today.... it was freezing in our room so we first warmed up at the local pub - the Percys Arms and Immanuel watched the end of the first World Cup game which had kicked off.... I then warmed up with a drip drop piddly power shower (my arse?!) and then over heated the hairdryer in a bid to warm up the room a bit!!

We celebrated the end of another great week for me and being back in England (see our first English Castle here on the right!) with a meal at the aforementioned Pub but were a bit annoyed that they couldnt manage to make the starter into a double portion and call it a main course!! (it was only Pasta for goodness sake?!!!!) How tricky can that be?!

Anyway, the day had been eventful enough, as i have also managed to loose my multi vitamin tablets and my charging cable for my Garmin and so i will have to go shopping tomorrow to find these essentials for my onward journey......i cannot believe i have been away over 3 weeks now!!! The time has flown, the blisters have popped and the feet have hardened!! I guess i must be getting closer to home but i sure am missing my own bed and the children and cant wait to see them all!!!

DAY 20 - MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS COUNTRY

LAUDER TO JEDBURGH

We had a lovely breakfast at the Lornebank, chatting to our fellow B & B'er Russell and we actually ate so much, it really meant we rolled to the bus stop!  The weather was still overcast and not as sunny as predicted but i guess no rain is better than drizzle. 

We had been trying to ring ahead to leave our bags at tonights B & B but when we finally got through they said they were in the Isle of Bute for a short break but we could leave them on the doorstep as Jedburgh was a very safe place!!!!!!! Hmmmm! not sure about that!  But when it came down to it ........ we did just that .....

Back at the Tourist information office, and a £1 map later, Jedburgh was at our mercy and we had 9 routes to choose between!  We selected the longest one at 6.5 miles and set off for another breathtaking walk along tracks and paths and woodland and country lanes .... breathtaking because it just took your breath away to get up the hill each time!!! 

We finished our circular walk in time to share a portion of chips and then after a look from the outside around Jedburgh Abbey ruins, we began our 2nd circular walk for 5.5 miles ..... our first stop on the map was a house that Mary Queen of Scots stayed in for 4 weeks back in the 1500's when she was very sick..... the house was beautifully restored and retold the complete story of her tragic life in narratives on each floor.  I learnt more in that 1/2 hour about her than during my whole 2 year History A-Level (Sorry Dr Mott!) but i was more than happy to donate towards the upkeep of the building as i did feel that it had been very sympathetically done.  Well done!

Our walk continued on for a couple of hours after our mini history lesson, passing more farms, fields, outbuildings and even a school sports day at the local rugby club.  At one point we stopped and realised that i shared a passing resemblance to a very common everyday landmark ..... spot the difference? 

By 4pm we arrived at our B & B for the night and thankfully found our bags all safely where we had left them!!!!  There was another couple of American ladies already waiting on the steps and after about 1/2 hour there was still no sign of anyone turning up to let us in!! Immanuel called the B & B hostess but astonishingly she said they would be another 45 minutes as they were still on their way back from their own mini break!!!!! We all decided that we had waited quite long enough by this stage so we collected our bags and walked 20 yards across the road to the nearest Guest house and rebooked ourselves in there!! Thank you Allerton House!

A hot bath (and couple of ports later!) we were beginning to wear away the aches and pains of the day and relaxing into our room!  We answered a few emails and caught up with a couple of work calls and then wandered into Jedburgh to find some dinner.  Virtually all the eateries we had ear marked were actually closed, waiting for summer to come (!) so we began to walk back to the fish and chip shop and at the lat moment, stumbled on Carters Rest just in time to save us from another chippie dinner .... 3 starters later (between us!) we were all full, apart from a little place for a Co-op dessert!

Back in time for Junior Apprentice final now!! Arjun to WIN!!!!! (please just not Zoe!) :0(

DAY 19 - CROSS COUNTRY CHALLENGES

EDINBURGH TO LAUDER

Headed out of Edinburgh this morning on another drizzly morning and began with a mile and half walk just to get to the bus stop to get the number 52 bus directly to Lauder Cross.

We arrived at our B & B Lornebank directly in the High Street by 10.30 where we had already pre-arranged to leave the bags for the day so we could walk freely unhindered! Margot our delightful hostess was so accommodating and was all ready and waiting for us and even had an Ordnance Survey map and circular walk maps at the ready for us to use on our day out!  There was even a beautiful stained glass window in the hallway!

We chose a circulare 13 mile walk beginning near Thirlestane Castle which turned out to be nearer to 17 once we had done a few detours but it was beautiful out in the (wet!) fresh air and the whole route map turned into a bit of a treasure hunt following the instructions and wondering if we had taken the right turns!! It was most rewarding though to get to each landmark and know that whilst we had been wondering for the last 20 minutes if we had made the right choice, that yes we actually had!  The lovely stiles were all built into the wall most conveniently and made it easy getting over the high stone walls which otherwise may have been tricky.

We met a couple of Bill and Ben walkers who actually confused us over our route by telling us all the mistakes they had made on their walk and what directions NOT to go in! After hearing their muddled version of the right way to walk, we really did feel thoroughly confused so just returned back to our liitle map book and went on our merry way!!

Immanuel did note that after 4 hours in the country, it did all look a little 'samey' with green hill and field after another (!) but it was a lovely route and we even managed a bit of running down some of the hills to keep our joints moving!  I have a feeling that we may be paying for such a challenging walk today but we will see!  Some of the hills really were so steep and it was definitely the hardest day to date, as far as difficulty levels were concerned!  (Yes, sorry Megs, they were even harder hills than yours on Saturday!!)

We arrived back by 4pm, only fit for baths and a lie down after such a strenuous day!!!  Margot very kindly put on a big load of washing for us and we went out for a bite to eat at the local Black Bull.  Unfortunately the service was lacking and whilst the food was of a good standard, we had everything served in drips and drabs so decided not to bother staying for dessert.

Complimentary night caps were a lovely finishing touch to the day at our B & B, so one port and whisky later, it was time for an early night and some crossed fingers that our muscles wont be too sore for a repeat day tomorrow!

DAY 18 - REST DAY IN RAINY EDINBURGH!

EDINBURGH!

Today was rest day!! Lie in day and no walking except to the shops and back!! Not that i could buy much as anything i buy has to be carried!

Sadly however it has rained and poured ALL DAY!

I decided to visit my local David Lloyd and check out the facilities there but my nearest one was 3 buses away so it took nearly 1/2 hour to get 3 miles! Still, much quicker than walking!!

I made full use of the sauna, jacuzzi and steam rooms and then washed my hair and kindly got to borrow another lady's GHD's to straighten my hair ..... not that it made much difference by 2pm as the rain took care of that!

I made another visit to Starbucks and indulged in a bit of M & S foodhall goodies but other than that it has been a quiet day.  I wandered up to the Castle along the cobbled streets (plenty of Japanese tourists in their rain gear!) but it was so cloudy at the top of the hill, i could hardly see the top of the castle even!

Sorry not much else to report today!  Just nice to have a quiet day .... back to normal and regular mileage tomorrow, getting closer all the time to the boarder and  should be back in England in time for World Cup Fever!!!  Boooooo!! (Joking!)