24 km (390.42 km) – Tuesday 19th July. The taxi took us back to where he’d picked us up yesterday and we thought leaving at 9 am would give us ample time to reach Bellingham. We hadn’t factored in the 32 degrees in Northumberland national park. We avoided putting on our gaiters for as long as possible but with increasing boggy-ness we eventually gave in and tried to tolerate the added sweatiness 🙁. The first part of the day was quite wet under foot but as we passed into the national park the ground conditions slowly improved. The midges and cleggs (horse flies) compounded the heat of the day and there was much mad flapping and swatting throughout the day – I am really missing Joanne but today I was a wee tiny bit glad that she wasn’t here because in day 1 I said that we wouldn’t need the family size bottle of ‘skin so soft’ that she’d packed, today I’ve been dreaming of that big bottle that I sent back to Wilmslow with Imogen. The Avon product has the unintended side effect of being the most effective deterrent of midges and bugs on the market ( you can buy it at most outdoor stores)…strange but true! Today I nearly hung up my NEW walking boots for good; after much soul searching I came to the realisation that I don’t like the rain and I don’t like the heat so I only like walking when it’s cool and dry, which isn’t often in the uk. We marched on willing the day away, passed a very welcome honesty fridge at a farm where we had a coke and signed the visitor book…in the run down fame yard that seemed just a little like a scene from an American horror film – the only murders seem to be of chickens the, given the number of feathers on the ground.  We finally staggered into Bellingham (pronounced Bellin jum) at around 4pm, once again a perfect place to stay. It’s apparently going to be thunder and lightening tonight so fingers crossed for a cooler day….I complain about the rain, the cold and now the heat, I know!

SaveSave