7 June 2018 - Bellingham

A relaxing day.

We had a bird free wake up this morning around 8 o’clock.   We were breakfasted, washed up and ready to do something by about 10 o’clock. 

We decided that a drive to Kielder Water would be good. It’s an impressive reservoir in a beautiful setting. Whilst looking for somewhere to park we happened upon a forest drive for 4x4s. 

Despite not having a 4x4 we paid our £3 for a ticket and went down the track. It took us across the top of the reservoir through the managed forestry commission woods before bringing us out on the main road.

We turned left and within 5 minutes we had inadvertently entered Scotland. Oops. That’s meant to be tomorrow! We stopped in a lay-by and had snacks as the YCM was hungry, and planned an afternoon.

MLW suggested returning to Bellingham, dropping off the car at the campsite and walking via the bakers and grocers to the park for a picnic and a play.  It sounded a great way to spend a sunny afternoon.

The bakers was full of lovely stuff and deciding what to have was difficult. We all chose what we wanted then popped to the grocers for some fruit. Bellingham is very well served for locally run shops of all sorts.

The YCM enjoyed herself for a few hours and then we went in search of ice cream. 

After the ice cream we went in search of a waterfall. We found a little one with a good paddling opportunities so we all had a paddle. MLW and the YCM went climbing the waterfall and paddled in all of the pools going up.

Returning back down MLW dropped her pedometer. She tried to reach it, slipped, and landed with a thud.  She sprang back up with a wet bottom but luckily got away with it, no injuries sustained!

We then had a stroll back to the tent via the Co-op for some veg and wraps so that we could have rice and pea wraps as suggested by the YCM. 

Walking back through the farm we were shown all of the bottle fed lambs. There were about 15 or 20 of them.  Very cute. Whilst tea was cooking all of the farm’s animals were checked, and we also saw the farmer and his sheepdog officially ‘herding’ an errant chicken back to the safety of its roost for the night.

We had dinner and are settling down for the evening. Surprisingly, I have found that MLW quite likes a Gordon’s pink gin so we’ve both had a sunset drink before retreating from the flies and midges. The sky is beautiful tonight, with scattered fluffy clouds. And, relax......