Section 2, Day 1: Haltwhistle
We leave the Lambley bypass car park at about 4.30pm, having left the other car in Haltwhistle. It makes for a short trip but we walk slowly.
We start a little distracted, still full of thoughts of other worlds, and slowly different beings of the landscape draw us in – the giant cream-coloured slime mould on a fallen alder (commonly known as ‘moon poo’), the pink purslane with their cupped leaves, the song of the willow warbler. Then stopping by the flowing water opposite the old prisoner of war camp approaching Featherstone castle we give our attention fully to the river. The sand martins flying in gangs, swooping and swerving over the water. The clattering oyster catchers. Josh perches on a boulder just off the bank and stares into the clear steady flowing current, becoming slowly mesmerised, a layer of tension sloughing off.
We take the path on the north side of the river (slightly less well trodden) and enjoy the magic of this intimate meandering route that takes us through thick undergrowth, winding under hanging branches, through hawthorn, bluebells and moss.
We walk on past the sharp bend in the river where the exposed cliff juts out and the bank below tumbles to a rocky outcrop spilling into the deep channel – The ‘Corner Pool’ as our friend later remarked, which was the choice swimming spot for the ‘Halty Crew’.
As we climb the bank to the road we hear a fragment of the song of the increasingly uncommon wood warbler. On our approach Haltwhistle we pass a couple and their dog and we realise they are the first people we have encountered on the walk today. We might have stopped to chance a conversation about the river but time was tight if we were going to get our order in for food at the pub. We make it with minutes to spare and tuck in, reflecting on the day.
