How not to

I usually head off by myself, photography is a solitary hobby, too much standing around doing nothing at all, for most people.
Good Friday turned out to be good, weather wise, TT was off on one of his bike rides, so I decided to head off south of Hadrian's Wall onto the moors around Plenmeller.
Although there's not a lot of miles between Hadrian's Wall and the North Pennines the terrain is markedly different.

The Nicks of Hadrian's Wall from Broomhouse Common

I drove out to Plenmeller, south of Haltwhistle and parked up in a pull in near to the start of the footpath.
Through the gate and along the track, passing through a conifer woodland, it has the feel of an old estate and probably has something to do with the nearby Unthank Hall.
The Highland Cattle were grazing in the field to the south of me, I love these traditional breeds like the Highlands and Galloways they're much slower to mature as beef cattle so not a good money crop for most farmers.

Dry bracken and yellowed grass with tumbles of rock.

At the fork in the track you head up to the right, to the left is a lake but that's now out of bounds due to problems of vandalism. It's actually not a terribly interesting lake, being surrounded by conifers and with very few wildfowl.
Up the hill the footpath crosses a stile and passes behind Warren House, a derelict cottage, since I was last up here the roof has caved in. Over another stile and onto Broomhouse Common and area criss crossed by footpaths. Last time I was up here I saw a ghost and while he wasn't around on this visit, there's still an atmosphere that makes the hair on your arms stand up.

The view from the moor by Warren House

Here's where I admit that I didn't have a map with me and my mobile phone battery was down to one bar.

I had told TT where I was going but this is a huge area and needs to be treated with respect , it's also not as busy with people, so please don't do as I did, at the very least make sure you have a fully charged phone.

The wall runs N/S and is a useful landmark.

I was heading towards the waterfall on the Park Burn, I remembered it as being a pretty little fall although quite hard to access.

On Friday it was full of water, and yet again I was foolhardy enough to decide to go down a very steep hill to get level with the river. The track down is little more than a sheep track through the heather, eroded in places and needing a lot of care.

Waterfall from the top footpath

I had my biscuit break at the bottom and watched a dipper who seemed happy to sit and watch me back for a while. I changed to my 300mm lens thinking I'd be able to get a nice dipper shot, but the minute I lifted the camera up to my eye the dipper took off.

Close up of the Park Burn Waterfall

I took my waterfall shots then climbed back up the slope using the dry stone wall to help me up.
The weather, which had been nice when I set off was taking a turn for the worse so I decided to head back. There's a dry stone wall running more of less north-south across the moor so I was able to get my bearings from that.

Dry stone wall

The moor was alive with wildlife, masses of big fat rabbits, and quite a few rabbit remains, sky larks, curlew and lapwings calling and displaying in the air above me. I was careful where I put my feet although it's probably a bit early for eggs. Pippits and dunnock hopped around the rocks and amongst the heather black grouse called. I was lucky enough to spot one but it was too far away for a good photograph. More mosses and lichens and no doubt on a day when I could linger there's be hosts of insects to spot.

Lichens

When I got back to the footpath to the car I discovered the Highland Cattle had come up into the wood, the hay feeder was there for them. I stopped to take some photographs and laughed to see their muddy legs, you'd think they had knee socks on. Eventually they got tired of posing and wandered off.

Playing in the mud

I got back to the car looking forward to home and a nice cup of coffee.
If you'd like a guided walk of this area check out the Haltwhistle Walking Festival Spring 2010 programme.
Catch you  later.