Collected Musings of a Hill Wanderer

My heading home to Ireland for a few days allowed me to catch up on my outdoor reading while on my travels (and in between the work needing to be done at my parent’s) and an odd thought struck me. Outdoor magazines like TGO, Walking World Ireland and Outdoor Photography do feature articles on the environment but suggestions as to public transport options for getting to locations for photography or walking do not get the mentions that I feel they should. Admittedly, Trail and Country Walking are better for this while TGO does try as well. One assumption might be that public transport is not up to the task and that is a point when you head off the beaten track, especially in Ireland. Another valid point is that public transport does not run according to the demands of landscape photography, for which the extremes of the day are best. However, I suspect that car-using writers simply do not get to mentioning other options for whatever reason. I have lost count of the numbers that I have seen the Traveline phone number, which to my mind suggests a certain lack of application. Maybe we need to make the point to them?

Being a large county with a low population and dramatic hilly countryside means that care and planning are required when using public transport in Northumberland. Northumberland County Council does produce a useful leaflet that helps a lot with bus services but Traveline remains the best authority. Train services are provided in the county by GNER, Virgin Trains and Northern Rail but it is the bus network that really allows travel to its many sights. What follows are a series of pointers as regards getting to these.

After experiencing Northumberland’s glorious coastline last January, I fancy the idea of a return. Arriva and Travelsure operate useful services that allow you to get to such sights as Holy Island, Bamburgh Castle, Dunstanburgh Castle and the villages like Alnmouth that dot the coast. Trains serve Berwick-upon-Tweed and Alnmouth to boot. Historic Alnwick, some miles inland, is also well served with buses.

Exploring Northumberland’s national park, one of the least visited of the bunch, remains an aspiration of mine. Given the distance from Macclesfield, a day trip is a tricky proposition but having engineering works on the train line between Edinburgh and Newcastle-upon-Tyne like on next Saturday and Sunday (with journey times doubled as a result) makes it even trickier. Nevertheless, a journey to Hexham via Carlisle remains a viable possibility with a ride on bus service thereafter. Overnight coaches might help but spending a weekend in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Hexham or Newcastle is an altogether more comfortable proposition, allowing for Friday night travel and a long Sunday journey home (a minor perturbation if enough time is allowed). A stay in Berwick would mean that I could then pop over and back from Wooler from there on services 267 and 464 and enjoy a day in the Cheviots. Weather permitting, that remains a possibility for the coming weekend. Otherwise, basing myself in Newcastle could get me to Rothbury, Kielder and Bellingham.

Northumberland’s attractions include stunning coastline and empty moorland; it is also one of the least populated counties in England. The coastline is certainly a sight to behold: beaches, rugged cliffs and castles abound. In fact, the Northumberland coast is classified as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and it also is possible to follow a lot of it on public footpaths. And there are plenty of beaches too, should one want to walk along them instead. While the dramatic coastline and big skies keep one entertained, Northumberland’s coast would not be as engaging were it not for the landmarks that pepper its length. Holy Island, playing host Lindisfarne Castle and also a terminus of St. Cuthbert’s Way, is just one of these and you need to watch the tides if crossing over to it on the causeway. There is a bus service there and the timings follow the tides, making for a very eccentric timetable. Castles also abound and examples include the inhabited Bamburgh Castle and the decaying hulk of Dunstanburgh Castle.

Last January, I took myself up to Alnmouth by train (the station is a mile (less than 2 km from the village), itself an engaging spot, for a coastal walk to Craster. The coast certainly held its drama and the mild day surprised me with some of the gorse in bloom, unusual for the time of year. The sky, however, was largely cloudy and I fancy a return before I have photos totally deserving of the location. Continuing further up the coast to take Bamburgh and Holy Island remains another idea for the future.

Before dwelling on the county’s coastline, I did mention that Northumberland possessed some splendidly empty moorland. In fact, it hosts a national park, probably the least frequented in the U.K. However, in spite my plans to pay the park a visit, it has not as yet come to fruition and sights in the northern extremities of the Pennines such as the Cheviot and High Cup Nick remain unseen by my eyes. The Pennine Way frequents hills these as it continues through Northumberland to its northern terminus at Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders. Also passing through the county on its way from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to the west coast beyond Carlisle is Hadrian’s Wall and the national trail that follows it.

Combine the above with engaging the above with a variety of engaging towns and villages and Northumberland seems to have it made. It is definitely worthy of a few days stay and the price of rail travel from Macclesfield to stations like Berwick-upon-Tweed and Alnmouth might see to it that my explorations may indeed follow that train of thought (no pun intended).

Following some issues with Blogware, I have decided to bite the bullet and set up my own blog (using Wordpress and MySQL). All the previous stuff has been carried over and this is where you will find my musings from now on.

John.

Getting to Moffat by public transport takes some care but it really is worth the planning and the effort. Moffat lost its railway branch line some years ago and is now dependent on bus connections. Nevertheless, the West Coast Mainline still runs near it but the nearest station is Lockerbie. And there is the A74(M) for those endowed with a motor car.

Speaking of Lockerbie, the obvious thing to do is to get the train there when travelling to Moffat. However, the connecting bus (Stagecoach 382) to Moffat is not as regular as it might be. Another option is to get to Dumfries and catch a bus from there: these are more frequent. However, getting to Dumfries is then the trick. There are train services there from Carlisle but there is an air of irregularity about them. There is, however, a regular bus service (Stagecoach Cumbria 79) between Carlisle and Dumfries with a journey time of up to 90 minutes. From the north, there are somewhat infrequent services from Glasgow (Stagecoach Western 974) and Edinburgh (McEwan’s Coach Services 100 and 199).