Wednesday 18th May: 222 miles and 31,368ft of ascents

Bellingham to Bryness

The penultimate day!

All my thoughts are on the weather for tomorrow..the longest and hardest day....but today at least seems OK ish. Annie is walking with me and we will be lucky to get away with out rain, but there is still a strong westerley wind blowing.

As Annie is with me, she is in charge of the camera!We set off from our campsite at Bellingham at 9.15am, at least in sunshine for the moment! The climb out of " Bellinjam" , after we have left the river, is steady and a long the road for a while, before turning onto a farm track. In the first hour we do 2.25 miles and climb 425 ft. Once clear of the farms, we are up to miles off open moorland again. Marshy and boggy, I think will be the situation for most of the day!

Blakelaw Farm, withe the unusual sign on the gate, see the gallery!! then onto Callerless Crag, Abbey Rigg, and Whitely Pike; up to now we have had a plethora of PW signs which have been useful, otherwise the compas is essential to keep you on track. Then the signs stop and after a while wandering across yet another boggy moorland area, Annie spots a PW sign and normal service is resumed!

Pleasantly now for several miles we follow a paved / stony path until doing a steep climb towards the forestry area. At the top of the hill , another steepish climb, we found a dry area to stop and have lunch...parma ham, salami and cheese sandwiches, followed by a kit kat and a swig of drink. Delicious!

Onwards and upwards, the ground over Brownrigg Head was surprisingly boggy and annoyingly it slows you down, as you have to "jump" from clump to clump of dryish grass! Annie wasn't so keen on this bit! But on we squelched through the romantically sounding "Rumblingsike Bog"...

With rain looking very imminent we made the massive forestry commission plantation, and after 0.5 miles, eventually reached a proper track- no marsh and no bog!

From here we joyfully walk north along the track at a much faster pace for several miles through the forested areas, gradually reducing height, Annie is delighted.

Evetually we reach Blakehopeburnhaugh, famed throughout England as the place that has the longest name. It's in the Guiness Book of Records! Half a mile later, we get to Cottonshopeburnfoot. If like me you can count to 20, you will note that it is one letter longer..strange!!

Anyway we end the walk strolling along the river to the campsiyte in Bryness. By now it is pouring and we arrive back very wet at 4pm.

Annie drops off here; I am going to walk on another mile to where I start from tomorrow morning. We were going to have a BBQ tonight to celebrate our last nights camping . Annie and I are celebrating the end of the walk with a night at the Border Inn tomorrow at Kirk Yetholm...a soak in the bath will be lovely!!

So, at the end of today: 16.5 miles, and we climbed 1775 ft.

This walk has been great so far and only tomorrow to conquer!