Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Author: admin

Cromer – Pavilion Bar on Cromer Pier (Two Julians)

The next venue on our day out in Cromer is visible at the rear of the photo, it’s the Pavilion Theatre Bar located on Cromer Pier. It wasn’t a sunny day, but the temperature was also moderate and so it wasn’t overly chilly to perambulate down the pier. The pier opened in 1907 and it has been operated by North Norfolk District Council since 1974, being a popular destination for tourists to the region.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, although I didn’t have high hopes as I expected something expensive and limited in choice. But, the purposes of these study tours is to ensure that we give everywhere a proper chance and not go judging a pub by its cover (or whatever the appropriate phrase would be).

My initial lack of enthusiasm was misplaced as they had two Lacons beers to choose from, with one currently not available, but that’s not a bad shout as it’s a local beer and something that visitors to the area might want to try. I went for the Encore and it was well-kept, with Julian’s Legacy also passing muster. I can imagine it’s something of a challenge to serve customers quickly before a show, always the challenge for any theatre bar though.

And some mainstream craft beers, but still offering a very reasonable choice given it’s a relatively small bar. The service was efficient and polite, with everything feeling reasonably clean and ordered. The pricing was also moderate with the modern and inviting atmosphere being a pleasant surprise. There were also some food counters for those who wanted doughnuts, ice cream, waffles and that sort of sugary treat.

There weren’t many tables inside and they were all occupied, but that meant I could take this photo. There’s always something nice about beers on any trip out, but I think that train beers and pier beers might just be my favourite. Julian was busy trying to work out an issue with his iPhone which was not surprising and delighting him, but we enjoyed the environment and there are glass barriers to stop the wind impacting too much on the hardy drinkers.

And our view back along the pier, with Julian being ever so excited that the next pub was at the top of the cliff. All told, this is a very acceptable drinking venue and offered some pleasant views along the beautiful North Norfolk coast.

August 2, 2023
Cromer – Kings Head (Two Julians)

The second pub of the day was the Kings Head in Cromer, but unfortunately it was closed. It seems that they having some work being done so I’m sure they didn’t want to be shutting their doors on a day when the town was packed with tourists, all something of a shame for them.

The Kings Head has been a pub since the 1780s, making it one of the oldest in Cromer. They were unfortunate enough to go through the cycle of Brent Walker, Pubmaster and then Punch Taverns who are still the owners, so all credit to the pub for carrying on. There is food served at lunchtimes and in the evenings with CAMRA noting that there are usually four real ales available.

Hopefully we’ll return in the future as it seemed a decent pub.

August 2, 2023
Cromer – Wellington Pub (Two Julians)

The first pub of the day was the Wellington on Garden Street which has been operated by the same family for thirty years. It’s been a pub since the beginning of the nineteenth century when it was converted from fishermen’s cottages, but it was rebuilt in the 1890s after a fire. After a period as an S&P pub it became part of the Watney Mann estate, but they sold it in 1970 and it has remained free trade since.

There was perhaps an absence of welcome if I’m being honest, but the service was efficient and the pub was busy with the staff concentrating on a few larger orders when we arrived. There were no tables free when we arrived, so we sat at the bar and everything was clean and tidy. There was certainly quite a variety of customers in the pub, including families, solo drinks, different ages and it gave it a community feel to it which I rather liked.

There were three beers available, Ghost Ship from Adnams, Wherry from Woodfordes and Golden Jackal from Wolf. I went for the Golden Jackal and that was well-kept and tasted of a good quality, with Julian’s Ghost Ship also being agreeable.

I’ve been out of the trade for so long that I’m no longer aware of new drinks, but I hadn’t heard of the Disaronno Velvet before. Sounds suitably decadent though.

The entrance to the sizeable courtyard. The pub usually serves food but for whatever reason it wasn’t when we visited. A customer came and politely asked if they could eat their chips in the courtyard given that there was no food available, but the staff member said they couldn’t. I can imagine the pub has difficulties with people doing that without asking, so I can see why they wouldn’t want to.

It’s a decent courtyard space and gives more seating options given that it was full inside.

The reviews are a bit mixed, but I can imagine it’s challenging running a venue which is popular with tourists as that creates all sorts of staffing complexities. I had a look at the reviews though as I like to read about a bit of drama.

“My husband and I visited this pub today on a lovely day we had a glass of Aspall cider each and I realised my glass had a big crack so I went to the bar and asked if I could have a clean glass but you will never guess what the barmaid did??!! Well this barmaid poured the cider I had in the cracked glass into the clean one!! 😳, I just couldn’t believe it, what if there are splinters of glass in it!!!”

A customer not happy with food service times:

“Amazing food in the Smokehouse but….. Closes at 4pm (yes 4pm ffs!) during the week. I know it’s Cromer but that’s a ridiculously early closing time. Really wanted to eat here again but somewhere else that’s open until a grown up time got my money….”

But I liked the venue’s response:

“Hope you enjoyed your grown up meal!”

Sub-optimal….. Anyway, I digress. The Wellington have four rooms for those who want to stay the night and their food offering is the Smoke Kitchen where the meals sound delicious although there’s no pricing on the web-site. Anyway, we enjoyed this pub, it had something of an atmosphere to it, everything was clean and it seemed to be welcoming to all. A very solid start to our day.

August 2, 2023
Gretna – Rail Disaster and History Walk

Our walk started at the Famous Blacksmith Shop in Gretna Green, where marriages used to take place because of legislation which meant that English couples aged under 21 needed their parents’ consent to wed. So, where that permission wasn’t given, the young love turned up at the border of Scotland, handily Gretna Green, and got married here. The blacksmith was able to legally perform the marriage and so everyone, assuming other than the parents of the couple, were happy with the arrangement.

I was excited to discover that raspberries were growing wild, I’m more used to just seeing blackberries in hedgerows. The walk was a total of 8 miles in length and is in a figure of eight centred around Gretna Green, so it’s possible to just do half of the walk.

A memorial to the Quintinshill rail disaster which killed over 200 people, the worst ever to occur in the UK.

A little further along the walk there’s an information panel about the railway disaster as this point, with the rail line at the rear being where the accident took place. More on this in a separate post as it’s something I hadn’t really been aware of before.

The railway line plays an important part during the first section of the walk with numerous crossings under the track. What I think is an Avanti West Coast mainline train went over at a convenient time for this photo. It wasn’t overgrown at all and was quite a simple walk in technical terms.

Unfortunately, the main pub in the town didn’t open until the evening and it doesn’t serve food at any time. The Queen’s Head has been trading since 1760 and is relatively unchanged, with this being one of the pubs operated by the state between the First World War and 1971.

There’s the motorway in the background which added some brief noise to proceedings.

The motorway road sign welcoming people to Scotland.

The Old Toll Bar Cafe, noting that 10,000 marriages have been performed here since the building was opened in 1830. Originally a toll house for the new bridge, it meant that it was the first house that was reached in Scotland and was even nearer to the border than Gretna Green. In 2014, it was turned into a cafe and the historic marriage room is open to the public.

And the old road bridge which was constructed in 1830 that led to the building of the toll house.

There was a short piece of river walking which was pleasant, but notable was that this is the River Sark which is the border between England and Scotland.

After a quick lunch at the Spar, where I gorged on half price strawberries and a full price Feast ice cream, we proceeded on with the rest of the walk. There’s an information board near to this sculpture which explains that it is known as the ‘Gretna Girl’ memorial in honour of the local women who worked in the HM Factory Gretna. At its peak, there were 30,000 workers employed at the works and it was producing 1,100 tons of cordite per week, a dangerous and powerful explosive.

I felt the need to climb the steps to have a look at Gretna railway station.

Gretna’s old parish church, which was unfortunately closed so we couldn’t look in the interior. It did though have a beautiful and sizeable graveyard, more on which in a later post. The current church dates from the early nineteenth century, but was constructed on the site of an older building and the listed building record shows that there was likely a Saxon church here.

The town’s war memorial.

We were fortunate that the rain at the start of the walk died away relatively quickly, so we were faced with near perfect weather for the bulk of the expedition. It’s not a long walk, but it covers a variety of terrain and I hadn’t realised before about the scale of the rail crash that took place at Gretna Green. I was also surprised just how many people were at the Gretna Green visitor attraction, but how few left the confines of that site to visit Gretna itself. And there were no pubs open either, something which felt entirely sub-optimal to me.

July 29, 2023
Ipswich – Christchurch Mansion

Christchurch Mansion is one of the cultural highlights of Ipswich, a free to enter museum in a grand central former residence. The story of the site begins in the twelfth century when Holy Trinity Priory was built here, but King Henry VIII had some thoughts about that and it closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. A London merchant named Paul Withypoll purchased the site and his son started work on building a residential property to be proud of in 1547.

In 1735, the house was purchased by Claude Fonnereau, a London merchant of some considerable means, opening up the gardens to the general public in an early display of upper class kindness. His descendants sold the property to a syndicate of buyers, including Felix Cobbold, who promptly gifted the house to the people of Ipswich. The Ipswich Corporation then purchased the surrounding parkland and it has been used as a museum since 1885.

The frontage of the house and there was a friendly staff member standing inside welcoming visitors to the property.

Many of the rooms have been designed to recreate periods from the past, with this being the Green Room which was intended to provide a semi-public reception area where guests were entertained. It’s from the mid eighteenth century and shows what the room might have looked like in its French style.

The Fonnereau dining room, also laid out in the mid eighteenth century style.

Elements of the old fireplace have been exposed for the delight of modern visitors.

This room was intended to be used as a breakfast room, but they’ve decorated it from around 1700 as if it were the intimate room of a lady or gentleman.

My favourite room which is the library, although there aren’t many books on display at the moment. There was once a billiards table in the room as well, but they designed a billiards room of its own downstairs. Having watched some bar billiards games, I can imagine why they wouldn’t want that noise and excitement in a quiet library area.

The Rococo drawing room which is as it might have looked during the mid eighteenth century.

The state bedroom, which was added to the property by Thomas Fonnereau and he installed some decadent wallpaper. This is as it might have looked at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

The Upper Chamber, which is a 1920s add-on to the building which is used to display items of furniture and architectural features from merchant houses in Ipswich which were being demolished at the time.

Looking down into the grand hall, which is where visitors enter.

Tucked away on the ground floor is the servants’ hall which dates to something around the early nineteenth century.

And finally the kitchen, which was at the heart of the mansion and quite rightly so. In 1896, the Victorian cast iron range was removed to reveal the old Tudor fireplace. Some of the stone on the floor was pinched from Holy Trinity Priory which had been knocked down to build the original house.

This is a fine museum and it’s always positive when they’re able to allow free admission to everyone. It’s well reviewed, although there is a single and quite stupid 1 star review which simply says “not as good as Norwich”. At least Ipswich don’t charge for admissions, unlike the quite expensive Norwich museums, but I won’t dwell on any rivalry between the two county towns.

The staff were friendly and warm, there was enough to see for an hour long visit with plenty of information available within each room. There’s also a gallery of paintings, including some by Gainsborough and Constable, to add to the whole arrangement. All really rather lovely, I enjoyed my meander around the building.

July 27, 2023
Norwich – Edith Cavell Pub

The Edith Cavell is back open again, so Julian and I thought that it would be only polite to go and have a little visit. In normal Two Julians style, this post will also be appearing at our web-site at http://www.norfolksuffolk.org.uk/. It’s a Victorian corner pub which was known as the Army & Navy Stores until 1981 when it changed to its current name. There have been a few periods when it has been called other things, including rather oddly Coles, with some slight variations to the name along with some troubled times for some operators of this venue.

Edith Cavell is something of a local hero, she was a nurse from Norfolk who was working in Brussels at the outbreak of the First World War. When the Germans took over the city of Brussels, Cavell started to assist British and French soldiers there to leave the occupied territories so that they could fight against the Germans. So, the Germans shot her in October 1915 with the defence that:

“It was a pity that Miss Cavell had to be executed, but it was necessary. She was judged justly … It is undoubtedly a terrible thing that the woman has been executed; but consider what would happen to a State, particularly in war, if it left crimes aimed at the safety of its armies to go unpunished because they were committed by women.”

Cavell was buried at Norwich Cathedral and there’s a memorial to her located opposite to the Edith Cavell pub.

Back to the pub, the interior of the venue has been redecorated and it has a cosy and warm feel to it. I’m not sure how functional some of the seating is as I prefer tables, but it’s all inoffensive. It was also clean and warm, with the reduced lighting adding somewhat to the atmosphere. It seemed inviting and it’s in a beautiful location in Tombland and overlooked by Norwich Cathedral.

Apologies that the lighting made it difficult to take a clean photo, but there’s Camden Pale, Camden Hells, Lagunitas IPA, Brixton Pale Ale and Tiny Rebel Easy Livin’.

And apologies again for the photo, but Birra Morretti, Amstel, Beavertown Neck Oil, Guinness and Cruzcampo flavoured water. My first impressions were that I found the set-up a little depressing as it’s nearly identical to some of the Ibis hotels that I’ve stayed at recently, but no point being too judgemental too early.

Julian had arrived before me and asked about their range of real ale, but they don’t sell that. It transpired, as we have similarly highly developed ordering strategies, that Julian and I both tried to order the Tiny Rebel Easy Livin’, but they had run out of that. The service was polite though and it’s cashless, something which I have a lot of sympathy for, but it’s going to be a challenge for them in terms of reviews as there are some militant cash is king customers around who will make their views known when they realise.

I went for the Cruzcampo flavoured water, which Heineken are throwing huge marketing spend at in a bid to position it as a reasonably priced premium beer. It’s not a great surprise to see it so badly reviewed on Untappd, it tasted bland, generic and pointless to me, it perhaps needs to be served in a hot environment so it’s a refreshing option at least.

The pub is owned by Stonegate, who had to force their way in earlier in the year to “make it safe”, so it’s had some very recent challenges. This presents some problems for the new tenants as they’ve now I assume hit the Stonegate tie, which is forcing them to go for some rather generic keg options. Julian is a real ale man, whereas I’m more excited by decadent keg options such as offered by the Artichoke, Leopard, Plasterers and Malt & Mardle, all a relatively short walk away. There are no beers here which surprised and delighted me, with the problem that some of these drinks such as Beavertown are a chunk over £6 a pint, which is a brave position to be in given the current economic climate.

The venue is planning to open a separate gin bar on the first floor in a few weeks, in the space that was formerly used by Prime to serve their steaks. They’ll be able to get some decent mark ups on that sort of drink and I can imagine it’ll be popular on Friday and Saturday evenings, although there’s the limitation that the venue is relatively small. I imagine there will be a rush to sell cocktails as well, another gross profit winner. I’m sure that they’ll make a decent job of the interior of the first floor to ensure that it remains comfortable.

For me, this isn’t a venue that I’d return to on a regular basis, although I can understand the attraction and don’t want to be negative. Writing just for me, I don’t mind whether a pub does real ale well or craft beer well, there are some smaller breweries offering both types of beer which continue to surprise and delight me. But, just as I don’t run to the bar with excitement when seeing Greene King IPA, I’m not going to rush for premium priced keg beers that I can get in any number of other places.

But, positivity is the key, the owners are trying something new, they’ve ensured that the pub is open for the local community and I’m sure it’ll be the offering that many customers want. And variety is the spice of life, it would be a nightmare if every pub was the same with the same choices at the bar. The pub was clean, the staff were friendly, the atmosphere was inviting, it felt safe and so that’s all to the good.

PS, apologies again for the poor quality photos!

July 27, 2023
Ipswich – Christchurch Mansion (Old Mug)

One of my favourite pieces on display at the Christchurch Mansion museum is this old tankard, with the words:

When this you see
Remember me
Keep me in your mind
Let all the world
say what they will
Speak of me as you find
Robert Webb

This sounds as if it was owned by someone of considerable character who was frequently in some traditional inn or drinking house, likely causing some trouble. Unfortunately the museum’s on-line catalogue doesn’t seem to list the tankard, so I don’t know anything more about it. A quick Google search finds that this phrase was relatively common on early nineteenth century ceramics, although I don’t know who the Robert Webb was that I assume owned this drinking vessel.

Anyway, another of my random posts, I just liked the wording and the type of person who would acquire this. This reminds me that I haven’t used AI to write a sea shanty recently, so on this worthy theme:

(Verse 1)
Oh, Julian was a sailor bold, with a heart both brave and kind,
He’d sing a tune under the moon, “Keep me in your mind.”
With the rolling waves, he’d sail away, to ports of distant cheer,
Where he’d raise a glass of frothy beer, in a jolly old seafront pub, my dear.

(Chorus)
Yo-ho, hoist the sails high, let’s roam the ocean wide,
In every port, a tale we’ll spin, with laughter as our guide.
Raise a toast to Julian, a sailor brave and true,
Speak of him as you find, with the friendships he’d renew.

(Verse 2)
In every town, the word went ’round, of Julian’s merry ways,
A troubadour with a heart so pure, and a smile that never strays.
From dawn till dusk, he’d share a laugh, with mates both old and new,
And the stories grew as the tankards flew, with cheer in the salty air we knew.

(Chorus)
Yo-ho, hoist the sails high, let’s roam the ocean wide,
In every port, a tale we’ll spin, with laughter as our guide.
Raise a toast to Julian, a sailor brave and true,
Speak of him as you find, with the friendships he’d renew.

(Bridge)
Through storms and gales, his spirit sailed, with courage unconfined,
In every storm, a song he’d form, “Keep me in your mind.”
In the face of fear, he’d lend an ear, to those who felt confined,
In the darkest night, his laughter bright, a beacon for all mankind.

(Verse 3)
Now, Julian’s legend spans the seas, from coast to distant shore,
Where sailors true, with tankards new, sing shanties evermore.
So if you find yourself at sea, in a port of warmth and cheer,
Raise a glass to Julian’s legacy, the sailor we hold dear.

(Chorus)
Yo-ho, hoist the sails high, let’s roam the ocean wide,
In every port, a tale we’ll spin, with laughter as our guide.
Raise a toast to Julian, a sailor brave and true,
Speak of him as you find, with the friendships he’d renew.

(Outro)
So, when you’re in that old seafront pub, and the beer is flowing free,
Remember Julian’s joyful heart, as we sing this shanty at the sea.

July 25, 2023
Food from Every Stall on Norwich Market – Week 16 and Bun Box

Next in our series of visiting every food stall at Norwich Market was Bun Box, which occupies four stalls and aims to offer traditional Japanese food. It expanded from its smaller outlet at the market and has attracted somewhat of a loyal following from what I’ve heard, so my expectations were high.

The clearly laid out menu, which consists of primarily of buns and rice bowls. The service was fast and efficient, with the stall accepting cards and cash. Everything looked clean and organised, but the stall doesn’t have anywhere to stand or lean on to eat the food. They did have some folding ledges, but they weren’t in use when we visited. As an aside, the number of seagulls seems to have increased at the market recently, so I still don’t dare leave the confines of the stalls with food.

I went for the chicken katsu bun which cost £4.50 and although it’s a little difficult to judge from the photo, it is relatively small so they needed to deliver on quality if not quantity. The bun had the appropriate light texture, with the chicken being cooked well and crispy on the exterior. The sauce wasn’t particularly punchy and I couldn’t taste any pickled ginger, so there wasn’t much depth of taste to the whole arrangement. Using the comparison of other stalls on the market, the prices were also towards the higher end of the scale, although not entirely unreasonable.

Trying to be as positive as I can, but I can’t say that my high expectations were met here. JD Wetherspoon, who aren’t necessarily a bastion of food quality, sell bao buns now at half the price charged here and their quality I have to regretfully note as better with a wider range of flavours and tastes. James ordered the same as me so I can’t comment separately, although I wondered if perhaps the pork bun might have worked a little better for me as that seemed to have some stronger tasting ingredients.

However, the stall was busy and they’re clearly surprising and delighting customers on a regular basis. I can’t say that I was ever particularly bowled over with bao buns when I was in China, but I did have higher expectations from this stall. At some stage we’ll revisit all of the stalls and I think that I’ll opt for something like the chicken katsu curry which might have a greater depth of flavour. Hopefully I’ll get to visit them again soon, as I’m always ready to find a different menu item which I might fall in love with.

July 25, 2023
Norwich – Weavers Arms

The Weavers Arms on Muspole Street has recently reopened, so Julian and I felt the need to pay it a quick visit (this post will also be appearing on our web-site at http://www.norfolksuffolk.org.uk/). The venue has gone through a succession of owners, as well as new names, but the incoming tenants are also behind Brick Pizza and the Yard restaurant, so they have some considerable experience. There is another Woolpack in Norwich, operated by Greene King, which might be the reason that they haven’t returned to that name, although it’s always a shame when heritage is lost.

There’s some religious heritage to the site, as not only is it opposite St. George’s Church it also stands on the former site of the residential property used by the Prior of the Augustinian Priory of Our Lady Walsingham. It has been a hospitality venue called the Woolpack since the middle of the eighteenth century, hence why its recent change of name feels sub-optimal. The listed building record notes that there is an re-used sixteenth century wooden beam on the ground floor which is likely from 1510 and so it might have been in the Prior’s living room before the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

There were four real ales available and there were a couple of new beers here that I hadn’t had before. The combination of having a local brewery along with some ales from further afield that customers haven’t had seems eminently sensible.

And there were some craft keg options as well, although other drinks such as coffees, cocktails and generic keg are also available as well. For the size of the venue, the choice of drinks seems entirely reasonable and met my expectations.

The back bar arrangement. The service was attentive and polite, with the venue being relatively busy on the Saturday evening that we visited. Julian is excited and delighted about their extended hours on a Friday and Saturdays night, as we both share enthusiasm for longer hours in pubs so that we’re not forced into visiting cocktail bars. Which has been known.

To ensure that our research was thorough, I had half a pint of all four of the real ales, with the prices for these being around £2.10 each which isn’t unreasonable. They were all well kept and at the appropriate temperature, so there’s clearly some cellar knowledge here. The lighting was a little dark when we visited, but that seemed to fit the inviting and cosy nature of the venue, this isn’t somewhere that needs fierce lights. We sat at the bar, carefully ensuring that we weren’t blocking the view of the beers, where the seating was comfortable and the interior redesign has been sensitively done.

I went for the Slap Bang Citra from North Riding Brew Pub, which has a decent flavour to it but really needed more citra with a beer name like that. Brother Rabbit is one of the few beers from Thornbridge that I hadn’t tried, it’s a suitably decadent golden ale. Then comes the old reliable of Encore from Lacons Brewery and the session bitter of the JHB from Oakham Ales.

Although we had arrived too late for dining, the pub is offering food, with some tempting delights including the chicken & tarragon pie and the beef shin & Guinness pie. For those who don’t go straight to the pies section of the menu, there are also salads, steaks and fish options. It feels like a compact and manageable menu, I suspect the food quality is very high given the provenance of the owners. There are three rooms in this venue, but as it was busy I couldn’t easily go around taking photos.

Onto the toilets, which are in a more recent extension to the building. My friend Gordon also visited the pub this weekend and sent me some photos of the venue’s rather more, er, revealing artwork in the facilities although I hadn’t noticed those. One thing they’ll need to resolve is actually putting male and female signs on the toilets, the whole arrangement at the moment is confusing and a customer was commenting about it to a staff member.

Julian has decided to make extra visits to the pub to ensure that his high standards are being met, and I’m pleased to note that his considerable research efforts have confirmed that all seems well. The pub is a little bit tucked away and unlikely to get much passing trade, which all means that it’s going to have to get a solid reputation to ensure that customers go out there. However, from what I’ve seen, it looks likely that they’ll make a success of this pub.

July 24, 2023
Roweltown – Crossings River and Forest Walk

This is a 12 mile walk designed by Liam that we went on from the Crossings Inn located near to Roweltown.

This post is just a summary of how we got on, a GPX file and route description of the walk is available by emailing me at jw@julianwhite.uk.

Walking by one of the Outdoor Inns cabins at the rear of the Crossings.

I like a bit of foliage to walk through, it adds some jeopardy to the whole arrangement. Although it also concerns me that there might be adders hiding amongst the grass, but apparently they’re likely to scuttle off when they hear adventurers plodding through the landscape. Liam reassured me that adders don’t tend to sit in the wet grass waiting to eat walkers, but he’s not a trained herpetologists and so I ignored him.

There’s a mixture of delight of seeing a wooden bridge which avoids a trek across a ditch, whilst also thinking it’s all a bit easy. Ditch jumping does add so much to an adventure.

A slippery path, how lovely. I’m pleased to report that I remained standing.

An 1853 parish marker. And also my walking shoe which I forgot to exclude from the photograph.

Liam had located us a well worn path…… But we could have walked along Hadrian’s Wall if we wanted lots of people and clear paths. The element of the rural here was undeniable, it was peaceful and calm.

We went very slightly wrong here, but the helpful farmer soon let us know when we were about three metres off course. He opened a gate to a public footpath that I’m not entirely sure should have been closed off, but he also ensured that his dog was behind closed doors which was also a relief. I would have made a poor postman in the countryside as I’m not entirely confident that I can trust dogs, but I’m pleased to note that there were no issues and the farmer and his wife seemed pleased to see a walker. I’m not sure how many they get here.

We walked down to see the River Lyne and I had a little paddle about.

Liam sensibly decided to keep his shoes and socks on.

One more look at the Lyne and we decided to continue on with the walk.

An abandoned building which looked rather more residential than agricultural.

This area was heavily attacked by the border reivers, but this structure seems to be from a later period, perhaps a family that was part of the migration to the United States.

A stream to cross without a bridge, which I did with gusto. Liam and Ross decided to walk across a drier route further along.

There then followed a forested area which seemed to be in near complete silence. As someone who lives in a city, the sound of complete silence is hardly commonplace.

Liam on a collapsed tree. It had collapsed before he got on it I’d better add.

The overgrown foliage meant that we nearly missed the stream that was merrily flowing away under our feet, but fortunately there were no disasters. Not for the first time on this walk, I did wonder just how many people actually walked along this route.

The sheep came to play. I called these sheep Keir, Rose and Mia.

Very sweet.

This was the point where we were meant to go straight ahead and into the next field. Liam, who is oblivious to fear which is quite annoying, and Ross, who didn’t realise what he was letting himself in for, went ahead and promptly were in the middle of a herd of charging cows and a flock of demented sheep. I walked along the road, past a farm that sounded like it was breeding dogs for a Hound of the Baskervilles remake and met up with them a few fields further along.

Matters became more sedate after that, with this field of calm sheep and lambs in.

Over what is marked as Chainfoot Suspension Bridge on the map, which excited Liam as he’s currently building a bridge.

I had no chance of avoiding this field full of marauding cows without walking an extra two miles, so I sent Liam ahead to scare the cows.

Liam didn’t scare the cows, he just walked straight by them. Fortunately, they didn’t prove to be a problem, but it’s always sensible to take care about this animals as they’re large and somewhat unpredictable. For walkers with dogs, they might have to be extra careful, I just always make sure that there’s an escape route as cows can be quite clumsy when they’re charging about.

Safely back at the Crossings Inn after what was a tiring walk, but one of the favourite little adventures that I’ve had for a while.

July 24, 2023