Is your lady well?

A full-English, with only the best local ingredients, at Maggie’s breakfast table had the Office Walker and the Grey Bombshell re-charged and ready to face anything that Shepherd’s Walks and the Northumberland countryside could throw at us.

We bumped into volunteer walks leaders Martin and Janice. Er, no, we aren’t on the nine-mile walk today, we’ve opted for the six – the health-walkers group. “Better tell them you just had a lightly-poached egg then” says Martin.

We meet up at the Forestry Commission car park at Holystone. Most of these health-walkers look pretty fit to me.

First stop, out of the village was the Lady’s Well. Named after the Augustinian Canonesses, based at their 12th century priory built at Holystone, who looked after the well. It is now taken care of by the National Trust. In the grounds is a statue of St.Paulinus, or is it St.Ninian? 

The pure waters once supplied the village and it looks so good you could probably bottle it and sell it on on for a premium.

One of our company tells me about the chakras associated with this site and with Drake’s Stone, where we are walking tomorrow.

On through more colourful meadows to Sharperton, where we again tested Jon’s knowledge of sheep. No, not ginger ones this time – but they did seem to have rather long necks:

We walked a short stretch of quiet road, admiring, naming and photographing some of the flowers on the roadside verges, before realising that the rest of the group were well ahead of us. As we caught up, the rains came down as turned left into Harbottle Forest. Gaining a bit of height over the uneven and sometimes squelchy ground we took our lunch break, having left the rains behind. The chosen spot was a pretty waterfall – however the midges got there before us. Some of us ate midges in our sarnies; others just fed the midges.

As we continued through the forest there was evidence of logging activity all around and there was some discussion on whether it would be replanted with broad-leaved species or whether, for the sake of the red-squirrel, pine would be preferable.

Out of the forest was a short stretch of moorland, and then on to a paved path that took us all the way back to Holystone. Those health walkers were still in the peak, but we had managed to keep apace.

Pedometer: 11,606 (cumulative 75,417)