St Cuthbert’s Way Trip – Day 3 (Summary – Part 2)

St. Cuthbert’s Way – Resources and Index

The wi-fi situation has improved (but not the phone signal situation) so I might be able to catch-up now….. This is the second of two parts about the third day of our St. Cuthbert’s Way trip.

Click on this photo and you’ll notice the rest of the group are some way back. On this occasion I hadn’t rushed off, this was a dilemma caused entirely by Susanna (I have to be honest, there’s no way to blame anyone else). She had lost her phone and was devastated as she relies on that for gossip, so it was essential that she found it. I hadn’t realised at the time what was happening, so I remained at the top of the hill. This was partly (well, entirely) selfish as there was Internet signal where I was standing and there were also the cows that had confronted us at the bottom of the hill. Also, I was able to finish my lunch which had been brought to an abrupt halt with the flock of cows.

About half an hour later the walkers come up the hill, with four of them having grimaces and one of them looking very sheepish. Susanna explained “I put my phone in a part of my backpack that wasn’t part of my backpack so I couldn’t find it there”. Steve was overheard saying “I never want to get old”, but the others didn’t say anything. I heard Gordon say “have you ever heard of anything like this?”. It transpired that Gordon also opted out of assisting with the phone searching and he thought that it was a wild goose chase. I won’t grass him up on that though.

It was agreed that we wouldn’t dwell on Susanna’s mistake, as these things happen to us all. Admittedly, some a lot more times than others, but there we go.

The next obstacle was ahead of us, a field of placid cows with their calves. But sometimes placid cows can become galloping devils and so we eased our way across the field delicately, trying not to look at of the giant animals in the eyes for fear of annoying them. I walked with Sarah across this field and she was very calming and mature, although it’s fair to say that a few of us weren’t thrilled about this part of the walk.

I like this kind of landscape and it distracted me from thinking that it was too hot and too hilly.

As Steve said at the time, a signpost for short dogs.

We continued over the hills……. And well done to everyone, some of these walks are a bit of a slog and our entire group has kept going with high spirits.

From afar these looked like military pill boxes, but when up close it appears they’re related to grouse shooting or something similar.

Gordon on the way into Wooler which was our destination for the evening. A little ahead of us were Sarah and Andy, with Gordon commenting “I’m fed up with them holding hands, they think they’re in some Mills & Boon novel. They were kissing the other day as well and I wasn’t included”. He said that I could tell them he’d said that as he thought it’d be a useful contribution.

My room at the No 1 Hotel and Wine Lodge in Wooler, which could have been a little cleaner and it had problems with noise from its creaking cheap feeling extension. Lovely welcome from the staff member at reception though, but the ordering breakfast procedure was a little too complex for my liking.

We then went for a little meander around Wooler. The bench in the first photo above is a talking bench, where anyone can sit and people know they might be willing to have a chat. The other is more for sitting and thinking.

St. Mary’s Church in Wooler, which dates to 1765 and replacing a twelfth century structure. I was pleased to see that this was open, giving us a chance to pop inside.

Never a fan of gravestones being used like this, but more on this church in another post (which I’ll hopefully actually get to write at some point).

Our evening meal was at the Milan Italian restaurant located opposite the hotel and this was, to be honest, really rather lovely. The service from the owner was personable and welcoming, with the environment feeling laid-back and informal. There was an attempt by the restaurant to source some local beers and I enjoyed the bottle of Hare Raiser beer from the nearby Hetton Law brewery. Of interest to nearly no-one is that this beer was my 500th unique beer that I’ve listed on Untappd, a milestone that I celebrated quietly (very quietly actually, I didn’t realise until writing this).

It was just after this moment that Steve dropped all of the cutlery on the floor, which wasn’t ideal. We also started to talk about the awards of the week, an essential and childish component to any trip away. I started this stupid and irrelevant idea a couple of years ago and have now decided to stick with it. Andy and Sarah had some really rather wonderful ideas on the theme though and I’m still in a very good mood with both of them, so they’ll be winning some of the awards.

Gordon decided that he wanted a starter and so we ultimately all ended up with one. I’m not greedy so limited myself to a bread basket, which was perfectly delicious, whilst Gordon complained that his prawns had cost £3 each. He also commented six times that the restaurant should have green beans, before dropping a revelation about his private life. I’m very discreet though, so won’t put the details here. I’ve told Bev though, so perhaps I might as well of done. He also told us of a faux pas he made in Hike Norfolk, which is something else I’d better keep secret.

I’m disappointed that this photo doesn’t really show how big this calzone was, but it was a struggle to get through given the amount of food. It was perfectly cooked, the fillings were moist and delicious, the exterior had a crunch to it and it was one of the best that I’ve had. The others thought that their food was equally good, other than Gordon who said he’d had better pasta. He was being a bit challenging during the evening to be honest, I think it was the several pints at the pub before.

I had wanted tiramisu, but I saw this Limoncello sorbet with a shot of Limoncello, so I was sold on that. It might not be what is traditionally seen as a masculine dessert (if food can even be described of in that manner), but it reminded me of Amalfi and Bev’s antics, so it felt very appropriate.

And with that, we crossed back over the road to the hotel and sleep. With the trauma for me that the Internet signal wasn’t very good and so I couldn’t upload photos for this blog. That was at least two people disappointed….. Anyway, another really lovely day and everyone is great company, and surprisingly to me they’re not very annoying.