Alston to Once Brewed: LEJoG Day 41

A long day's hike of three parts, first, an old railway line, second, a moorland section and thirdly, Hadrian's Wall.

Today I decided to walk a lengthy 38 kilometres to reach the Once Brewed Youth Hostel. Tomorrow's hike will be shorter as a result. Consequently I started off early, before my Bed & Breakfast was offering Breakfast. Instead I picked up a coffee at the nearby convenience store but did not risk the fatty looking bacon butties. Forgetting my face mask, which you must wear in shops and other enclosed spaces due to the Coronavirus, I had to return to my hotel room to retrieve it before I could buy my coffee which rather delayed me and maybe caused me to utter a few swear words.

Guides are generally agreed that the walk to Greenhead from Alston is the least attractive stretch of the Pennine Way, but for part of it there is an alternative, the River Tyne Trail. I followed this trail as far as I could which was to Lambley. The trail follows the path of an old railway line. Near Alston a narrow gauge heritage railway is in operation (or would be if it was not for the Coronavirus restrictions). I followed the path beside the line which extended to the village of Slaggyford, after which I had the bed of the old railway to myself. I enjoyed the fast, flat walking and the avenues of birch trees. A sign marked the point I crossed from Cumberland (a county which no longer exists) to Northumberland. At Lambley there was also a tall, multi-arched, stone viaduct across the valley to admire.

Birch trees lining my path along an old railway line.

Regretfully leaving the South Tyne Trail, I followed a section of road to re-join the Pennine Way. Rising up and down across the moors, by fluffy white cotton sedge, I walked alone listening to the cries of Curlews and Lapwings. Close to Greenhead I left the Pennine Way on a little used footpath to visit the centre of the village which the official route avoids. My reason was to visit the Greenhead tea room for a spot of lunch.

Lonely stile in the moors.

Leaving the village on a path between a river and a functioning railway line I reached the Pennine Way by Thirlwall Castle. A few walls remain of this 14th century fortified manor house. Within them a group of younger people with rucksacks were enjoying a rest. After I set off they soon past me at speed, one of them was playing music with a suitable beat for walking to as they disappeared over the hill. I consoled myself that their smell of after-shave or deodorant suggested they had not walked the 26 kilometres I had already covered. They stopped at the kiosk at the next carpark where I passed them, never to see them again.

There were plenty of other people on the next section of trail which runs beside Hadrian's Wall. In addition to people visiting for the day, two National Trails follow this section, the Pennine Way and Hadrian's Wall Path. Some were struggling a little with the steep up and downhill stretches. Hadrian's Wall in this area follows the top of a cliff which faces north, making it an excellent defensive position against any attacks from the lands yet to be conquered by the Romans. The cliff is formed by the Whin Sill, a layer of igneous rock called dolerite which gently dips towards the south, formed by the intrusion of molten magma between layers of sedimentary rocks. The dolerite was quarried for road stone, and the route went through two former quarries. In my memory from my last trip there was more of the wall remaining, but what I saw today provoked my imagination with thoughts of Roman soldiers, maybe from Southern Europe, patrolling the walls day after day, maybe shivering in the cold as they looked out over bleak moors and grey clouds to the north, wishing for a bit of action to break the tedium. Then again maybe the land was wooded rather than moorland at the time.

Walking beside Hadrian's Wall.

My arrival at the road leading to the Youth Hostel put an end to my reverie. "The Sill" hostel is a new structure. Sparsely modern with glass and white paint, a contrast to the "Once Brewed" hostel it replaced which I stayed at seven or eight years ago, and thought perfectly adequate. The hostel is by the Twice Brewed Inn. According to one source so called as the beer was so weak some General demanded it should be brewed twice. A benefactor for the youth hostel when it was first built was teetotal and thought Once Brewed was quite enough, hence the name given to the hostel I previously stayed in. I guess "The Sill" was thought a more modern name than Once Brewed. Whatever the reasons I ate at the hostel and, deciding to have a night off alcohol, just drank a ginger beer.