Clotted cream tea's at Slack House Farm

Weather has been better than expected so we took the opportunity to get out for a walk from home.

Headed off towards Willowford Farm as I had something to drop off there, the Hadrian's Wall Path goes past the farm and on up to Birdoswald Fort, making a round trip for us of about four and a half miles.

They have some newborn lambs at Willowford, late in the season but very welcome - we stood for a while watching them.

There are some very good remains of the Roman Bridge by the river, and it's quite interesting to see the display board picture of how the bridge would have looked in Roman times. Considering they had no theodolites or cranes it was an amazing feat.

Speaking of feat, there was a man walking the trail with bare feet. That must have been so uncomfortable, standing in sheep's droppings can't be pleasant and in this area it's unaviodable.

The bridge over the River Irthing has a handrail coming loose, I took a photograph to send to the Path officer but probably, by the time I get around to downloading the picture, the rail will have been repaired.

To the west of Willowford Bridge there's been some tree planting in a newly fenced area, people were ignoring the official path and taking a shortcut up the grassy slope, now they can't and I did wonder if that's why the trees were planted.
'Elf & Safety' and all that!

The Wall at the top of the bank running to Birdoswald Fort is excellent, one of my favourite views is looking east and seeing the crags at Walltown on the skyline.

I spent some time with the barefoot walker looking for the Roman graffitti on the Wall stones, someone had told me the general area it was in and eventually we found it. Rather than being carved into the rock it stands proud (very proud!) and once you spot it you wonder how you could have missed it!

We took the road back to Gilsland but then decided to take a little detour to the tea room at Slack House Organic Farm, home of Birdoswald Cheese.

We had coffee, scone with jam and home produced clotted cream and I have to say it was the best scone I have had in a good long while.

(Don't be put off by the fact it's advertised as a Fairtrade Cafe, honestly, there's not a dusty raisin in sight)

I feel obliged to return and do another taste test ( on your behalf, of course) just to make sure of the quality :)

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Bluebells and fairy dells

The Hadrian's Wall Path crosses the Poltross Burn (NY634662) and heads on up to the Roman Fort known as the King's Stables, and just out of sight as you cross the the Poltross Bridge is a pretty little waterfall, surrounded by lush green ferns just as you would imagine a fairy dell. It's not that easy to access, involving climbing over old fallen trees and mossy rocks but if you're agile then it's doable.

I'm getting on a bit, and as my husband is fond of saying in a voice dripping with sarcasm, 'I'm as agile as a mountain goat'. I got along to the waterfall but I had trouble getting back and ended up having to slide down a steep slope on my bottom, which resulted in a mud covered behind, and blessings being counted that there were no big rocks to impeed my progess down the slope!

My plan had been to head out today checking the status of the bluebells, on my calendar for the last couple of years Gilsland Bluebells have been at their best on the 12th of May. This year they're going to be about three weeks earlier, the buds are forming and in one or two very sheltered spots flowers are out already.

Coomb Crag Woods (NY593650) between Banks and Birdoswald is another good wood for Bluebells,normally flowering a week in advance of the Gilsland woods, it's a nice place to walk in any season. There are some inscriptions in the rocks and the Romans did quarry stone for Hadrian's Wall there so it has a bit of history.

Irthing Gorge, (NY634678) behind the Gilsland Spa hotel is probably the most easily accessed area of bluebells, park in the hotel car park head down into the wood, cross the Spa bridge and turn left into the area with the birch trees.

I'll keep checking and update you on the best time to visit. The Spa Hotel does a very good carvery on Sunday so maybe you can enjoy a bluebell walk and a meal.

28th March 2009

It's been a funny old day, a real mix of weather but all with a cold wind.

Went out to the Once Brewed Visitor Centre, they're gearing up for the new season and will be open all week from the 1st of April, it's a great centre with such helpful staff make sure and call in, say I sent you :)

On the way home I called into Walltown, had a walk around the Quarry lake but it was a biting cold wind, I was looking for toad spawn, loads of frog spawn in the lake but nothing from the toads.
Stopped at the Olde Forge Tea Room in Greenhead for a warming cup of coffee and a cheese scone, it's been completely refurbished and is bright and shiny - food is good too.

This evening the wind dropped and it looked as though there might be a sunset of sorts. There's a pull in at Banks with a lovely tree and I've been trying to catch the sun setting behind it. I never seem to time it right and again the sun was too far to the right.

There are great bits of Roman Wall between Birdoswald and Banks but they're really difficult to make a 'good' photograph of. The road runs alongside the Wall remains and on the other side there are fences and no amount of great light helps.

I came back along to Birdoswald and wandered around the back of the Fort, there's a museum and tea room and while I have tried the tea room I have never been in the museum, something I shall have to put right this season.

Michael's lambs were full of beans running and jumping, they'd probably been huddled up against the Wall all day trying to keep out of the wind. They are so cute when they charge around in little gangs having a great time.
My sunset shots were nothing special so I'm leaving you a picture of the lambs on the outer wall of the Fort.
Catch you later.

Birdoswald

We were visiting friends in the Scottish Borders today and decided rather than coming back along the A69 we'd take the scenic route past Birdoswald.

I had hoped to be able to take a photograph at the village of Banks but the weather was inclement (pouring) so we just headed on down the road towards Gilsland.

As we came to Birdoswald we saw someone doing a geophys on the field next to Birdoswald Fort - I watch Time Team so I know the terms :)

How exciting, I knew there was a dig going on at what is referred to as the Cemetery Field, but that's tucked away out of site of the road, whereas this was in full view of the road. If they decide to dig I'll be able to watch and maybe get some photographs.

I would love to find a 'relic' and to that end I am always kicking over mole hills (we have millions of moles), and you'd think at least one of them would bring up something with their spoil, but no luck so far.

You can pay to join the dig at Vindolanda but my knees don't work anymore so I wouldn't be able to get down and dirty in the mud.

A metal detector is also out of the question, that's illegal on the HW corridor.

I'm waiting for someone to invent a good walking shoe with built in detector so I can kick over the mole hills and get a beep if there's anything interesting. Imagine having a gold trinket in one of our local Hadrian's Wall Museums with a little note to say found by me and a mole - wouldn't that be something?

Birdoswald is a great place to visit - hard to imaging that the Wall in the foreground and the crags in the distance are some 5+ miles apart. There's a good carpark, museum and coffee shop at Birdoswald.

There is also some 'rude' Roman graffitti on the Wall at Birdoswald but I haven't found it yet but no doubt someone has it mentioned in a guide book so it should be easy to locate.

For Hadrian's Wall itself this is one of the best places for people with mobility problems to get close up and personal with this magnificent UNESCO World Heritage Site and genuine bit of accessible history.

Catch you later :)