Countryside of Contrasts
Part of the trip -
Exploring the UK
Hidden treasures found in the Northern Pennines, Cumbria and Northumberland.
First there is Hadrian’s Wall;
milecastles, hill forts and turrets and bucket loads of history from its
turbulent English – Scottish conflicts. Then there are the green fells and bubbling
rivers stained tea brown from all the tannin and the heather-cladded Pennine
landscape where sheep abound and rare alpine plants can be found. Mile after
mile of roller coaster roads with their blind summits and hidden dips, twisting
hairpin bends and narrow single lane bridges arching over wee burns. And long
forgotten viaducts striding over a river many vertiginous feet below.
You pass houses built in a golden stone with pots full of
bright red geraniums and purple petunias cascading down; some have been spoilt with
ugly plastic windows but others retain the charm of painted wooden sashes,
oriel windows, gothic arches and the occasional round window. Inviting
tea-rooms set amidst old rail tracks. Traditional pubs, some dating back to
the 12th century, others being used as a meeting place in the
Jacobite Rebellion. Where smiling serving staff greet you with their warm
northern accent and make you not want to leave.
Villages and small towns with houses crammed together
supporting one another down hidden snickets and narrow cobbled lanes with secret
gardens. Churches with ancient churchyards open at all times welcoming
strangers to view their beautiful stained glass windows, bell towers, carved
pulpits and unusual altars or simply to admire the craftsmanship of the
homemade pew cushions, lovingly stitched by the congregation.
Finally there’s the coast and the castles. Wide sandy
beaches, dunes and river mouths and wild flowers. A church cut off from its village by the river changing its course in a violent storm over two centuries
ago. History is around every corner.
Herons and cormorants and twenty-five white swans on the
River Coquet at Warkworth, Swifts and finches flying in and out of the barns,
stopping to briefly rest on the top of a stone wall beside you, but not long
enough for a photo. The call of an owl, the sighting of a hawk. Dozens of
rabbits scurrying around a churchyard at dusk. Grouse strutting casually along
the lanes as if they know it’s not the shooting season.
And the sky – the big open sky – cumulus clouds, a rainbow
over the fells, the zillion stars and the Milky Way. You want to gaze at it all
the time. Your eyes are drawn upwards.
Driving home after a very long day and meeting three lost sheep ambling down a lane they shouldn’t be in and looking, well, rather sheepish. Coming across a young rabbit, which, startled by the headlights, freezes in the centre of the road not knowing which way to turn. You slowly move the car closer, but he changes his mind and darts across in front of you again. Turning off the headlights, he calms down and moves safely to the grass verge and you pass by holding your breath and hoping he is still safe. Rounding a final bend you slam on the brakes once more as a young deer glides across the road in front of you. It stops, hesitates, throws you a look and then turns around to disappear back into the gloom of the woodland from where it has just come. Serendipitous.
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