PENNINE WAY
Buying the tickets to Malaga airport
First prize to whoever can figure out the significance of the below picture.....
Our story continues from Hawes, with 200 kms to go north up to Scotland.
Yes, that is ice on the bogs of Great Shuner Fell
HAWES TO KELD- 20 KMS.
Starting out with a little help from friends Richard and Jane. Did I say a "little help"?? They were our trail angels par excellence!!!
Great Shunner Fell- 761 meters
Looking back across the Fell with major flagstones in place. Helicopters airlifted them into place in the 1980's when they kept losing people in the bottomless bogs.
Sheep everywhere! It is lambing season!
KELD TO BOWES- 23 KMS.
Above, where we stayed our first night: Keld Bunk Barn (30 pounds for a "private" room in the hostel) sharing a full kitchen, complete with yurts and tent platforms.
11 kms up to the highest Inn in GB at 1732 feet.
Celtic waymarker with beautiful stone carving. I see AD 807?
A pub in every village....ah, yes!!
This pub was in Bowes where we stopped for another refreshing ale.
TAXI TO BOWES THEN TO
CLOVE HOUSE BUNK BARN- lovely accommodation and great food
View from our bedroom, above!
BOWES TO MIDDLETON- 15 KMS.
Beautiful tree sheltering our walk.
Overlooking Middleton on Tees- staying at the Belvedere Hotel
The Vicarage where my friend's grandfather lived for many years. He played the organ at the local church for 48 years and was headmaster at the school.
MIDDLETON TO ALSTON- 24 KMS. (bypassed Great Dun Fell and Cross Fell stages through Dufton)
Above shows the openings to one of many micah mines.
Cross Fall in the distance as well as a weather observatory on the highest peak.
Below, beautiful and distinctive stone work on the walls. The horizontal stone pieces stabilizes the entire wall.
Alston Hostel- private room with ensuite for 45 pounds. Yellow bicycle honors the Tour de France stage which went through here several years ago.
Dining room and our dinner of pasties cooked up in the excellent kitchen. Nice view to the bird feeders and the river below. A lovely hostel with super friendly and welcoming hosts.
ALSTON TO SLAGGYFORD - 10 KMS. ON RAILWAY
SLAGGYFORD TO GREENHEAD- 17 KMS. WALKING
Ever-present sheep and lambs, a wonderful lambing season with many twins and triplets.
We followed the railway bed which is now a cycle path.
Gorgeous fields of daffodils, beautiful colours brightening our way.
Getting close to Hadrian's Wall, I think!! Ale Caesar brewed by the Twice Brewed company. Here's the story: in 200 AD, the Roman soldiers complained about how weak their beer was so....they brewed it a second time to strengthen it. Gotta keep the troops happy!!!
LOVE starting the day off with these amazing breakfasts....burning calories, don't you know.
Bicycle near Greenhead Hostel- to commemorate the Tour de France start in Yorkshire in 2015
HADRIAN'S WALL BUS RIDE TO HOUSESTEAD Museum- 10 KMS.
20 KMS WALK TO BELLINGHAM
Walking up to Hadrian's Wall from Housesteads Hostel
(but they forgot that the Antonine Wall was located a couple of hundred miles to the north!!)
Isn't this an amazing view along the wall, perfectly located on a natural ridge. Robert is today's Roman soldier, patrolling the wall for Emperor Hadrian.
You can see the undulation of the Wall beyond....we will be back next year to walk on this for 4 days. We will stay at The Sills, a beautiful new hostel.
Up and over the stile we go! Note herd of cows (bulls??!!) beyond!
Walking past another herd of cows....beyond, you can see the natural ridge that Hadrian's Wall follows.
Fallen marker points the way!
And what do I see with my wondering eyes?!
Below map shows the Pennine Way in red and the route to Hareshaw Falls in blue. The Falls route was the original Pennine Way route.
Bellingham is a beautiful little town, and the Belvedere Inn was extremely welcoming and generous to these weary travellers. They offered a tray of breakfast goodies for Robert who was knackered. They did a full load of laundry for us and had a lovely fire going in the pub while I ate my dinner.
We had a great visit with the people of this welcoming church. Note the age of this place and the style of roof tiles....unique.
They were preparing for a Spring event and everyone was decorating the church with flowers.
St Cuthbert's Well, right from the Holy Island.
6 KMS LOOP WALK TO HARESHAW FALLS
Trapped in yet-another turnstile.
BYRNESS TO WYNDY GYLE- 16 KMS. including descent to the road to be picked up by Joyce of Forest View Inn
Scottish Borders sign....looking north into Scotland
Best hosts, Colin and Joyce, of the Byrness Forest View Hostel- incredible food and wonderful service for our boots. Joyce drove us to the Chew Green section of the path and we continued north for 16 kms. She picked us up at the base of Wyndy Gyle and took us back to the Forest Green Hostel.
Feral Goats everywhere, Wyndy Gyle ridge and cairn beyond, our destination. Lunch with this view was magical.
More feral goats and Scotland border fence....
Heading up to the cairn.
OS marker on Wyndy Gyle cairn
Looking north from Windy Gyle towards my hiking buddy, the Cheviot Hills and Scotland....and a pint after at the Forest View Hostel!! Thanks for such great hospitality, Colin and Joyce!
KIRK YETHOLME BY TAXI- The Border Inn
RONDA TO JIMENA DE FRONTERA, Spain, WITH JIM AND DIANE
4 lovely days of walking and hiking on the GR 141
This map shows the first day of our trek, Ronda to Estacion Benejoan- 14 kms
Looking over to the Grazalema Parc Natural from the Ronda escarpment. Our destination is just beyond the first range of hills and down the "hidden" valley. Montejaque means "lost village" and cannot be seen from this view.
Above 2 pictures are views back to the Ronda escarpment as we descend to the valley. We are greeted by a pair of horses!
Looking back to Ronda with the escarpment lit up by sunshine.
Wild orchids abound in this area.
Chapel at the top of the plateau. People from Montejaque had come up here to "catch" Internet from Ronda and were watching a soap opera on their devices. Funny. The karst-like topography around the chapel is stunning.
OVERLOOKING MONTEJAQUE, probably one of my favourite pictures. So atmospheric.
We stayed in Montejaque in 2013 for a week and did many day hikes from this area. Such a memorable area. Robert and Richard did a hike from Ronda 2 years ago and took the GR249 over to the GR7 towards Ubrique and into Grazalema Parc Natural.
BELOW, LOOKING DOWN THE VALLEY TO ESTACION BENAOJAN, our destination
In Benaojan, we explored a few places by the river like this entrance to the restaurant.
EXCELLENT CASA RURAL EL NACIEMENTO
Our hostess, Nadia, seen below, went far beyond any expectations: full offering of snacks, a bonus half-case of beer, lots of stuff for a cold breakfast and enough for a take-away lunch. Our accommodation was a lovely 2-bedroom apartment with nice lounge by a rushing river.
ESTACION BENAOJAN TO JIMENA LIBAR- 13 KMS.
What a gorgeous walk along the river! Stunning views and quite a few birds. At one point, we noticed something strange; the railway had been washed out and was only half-rebuilt. The long story of it all was that the November 2018 rains had flooded the entire river system and most of the infrastructure holding up the rails was GONE. Apparently the flood had reached 20 feet high! Here I am in the riverbed with debris from the washed out valley.
What was doubly-strange was that I had bought railway tickets from our destination Jimena de Frontera back to Ronda on the Renfe website. Hmmmm, what to do? Stay tuned.
Above picture shows us on the valley path heading south. You can see the river winding its way down, looking very peaceful. At the turn-off for Jimena de Libar we had great difficulty finding the way up from the riverbed due to the wash-outs. Eventually, we figured it all out. As we ascended up to Jimena de Libar, we came across this wonderful sign for an "orchid trail". This would be worth coming back for the next time.
Basically the trail ran out in Jimena de Libar. A lovely British ex-pat who Diane met while exploring the town told us everything was closed! A note of caution while touring Spain in the "off-season": check ahead for what is open and shut!
Here we are relaxing in the town square while we waited for the taxi she ordered for us. This gentleman in the statue is a key figure in Jimena de Libar's history.
We roared over to Cortez de Frontera by taxi for lunch. Then we then realized we needed to go back over the mountains to Benadalid where we had our accommodations booked!!
Quite a hair-raising taxi ride but thank goodness he headed down the steep streets of Benadalid to our wonderful FINCA ALMEJI IN BENADALID. Definitely one of the most unique accommodations I have ever stayed in. We were told in Cortz Frontera that there was nothing open in this village so Diane and I bought salad stuff and fresh bread before leaving Cortez. After arriving to the warmest of welcomes, taking showers and "freshening up", we sat in front of a lovely fire in the most amazing dining room, drank wine and generally felt transported into another world. Our huge salad with cheeses and bread meal with dessert was a perfect way to finish our day.
An attempt at a panorama view of the whole room.
After our dinner we relaxed in front of the roaring fireplace with another glass of wine and enjoyed a lovely chat with our hosts.
This room was originally an olive oil press room. Absolutely fascinating.
Here is a detail picture of some of the mechanisms that aided the olive oil production.
Looking to the albergue from the town square with the church to the left
After dinner and relaxing, we had a lovely evening stroll through the village's main square near Hotel Almeji, sign pointing down the street near the church.
BENADALID TO EL COLMENAR THROUGH GAUCIN- 20 KMS.
Our Finca Almenji host drove us to a trailhead which was about 4 kms. north of Gaucin. He refused any compensation and proceeded to help some fellows who were working on a gate! Lovely walk through a cork forest from the trailhead.
Robert checking out the Fuente de los 6 Canos- from 1625
Gaucin is so very interesting and I'd love to go back and spend more time there. It is an artist "colony" and has an nice overlay of cultures. Below, we are with a local artist/real estate agent from GB with his Moroccan friend who runs a carpet/craft shop.
As we enjoyed lunch in a lovely park with a great view to the east a "gaucho" on his horse rode by. Love the clopping sound of the horse going by.
Looking back to Gaucin as we head up and over the pass. You can see a bird of prey wheeling overhead.
Good signage up and over the pass....all is well. Right??!!
We headed over the plateau and saw many cork trees with harvesting layers exposed.
We started down the other side of the plateau, stopping to "take the view" over to El Colmenar.
After a few adventures with very bad (read non-existent) signage and a field full of horned cows with calves, (if you ask us anything about this 4 day trek, ask about the field full of horned cows!!!) we finally came to a clear track towards El Colmenar. Cherry trees and Diane in pink made for a wonderful view on the descent! Note Robert and Jim getting ready to follow Diane's lead!! The view is over to the Grazalema Parc Natural.
We walked into El Columnar and a good hostel, Hospederia Las Buiteras. I loved this plaque listing all the medicinal plants of the area with beautiful ceramic artistry.
Hospederia Las Buiteras was good place to stay. They opened up the kitchen for an earlier dinner time than usual. Most Spanish establishments don't open until 9:00!! We were hungry and tired so we appreciated their hospitality. Another example of great Spanish hospitality!
Another British ex-pat in El Colmenar really helped us with the logistics. The short story is this: there is no direct trail to Jimena de Frontera! She told us that a local woman had tried 3 times to find the trail, got lost 3 times but was able to make her way back twice. We are still wondering what happened to her on the 3rd attempt!!
Hmmmm, what to do! Another taxi ride back over the mountain ridge and down towards Jimena de Frontera....hair-raising again but the local people seem to know the roads so we arrived safely.
EL COLMENAR TO JIMENA DE FRONTERA- 13 KMS.
Robert had spent an overnight in Jimena de Frontera a few years ago with hiking friend Richard, arriving by train. Yes, there is another story here: ask Robert next time you see him!
Lovely ceramic pictures here as well. Above a nice overview of Jimena de Frontera. Below a tribute to the railway which links all the villages from Ronda to Algeciras. Washed out now!!! It states that these 2 men were affiliated with Renfe which is the present-day railway company.
The castle presides over the town and we totally enjoyed checking it out. Robert had been very impressed with it a few years ago, saw it then and had a nap while we explored.
Looking towards Gibraltar, amazed that we had arrived within views of the Mediterranean coastline.
Views of the castle
Food and water storage areas
The winding streets of Jimena de Frontera were fascinating and bustling with business and crafts. The marketplace was open and I discovered a great T-shirt with a red maple leaf!
POSADA CASA GRANDE courtyard, an excellent accommodation with some very interesting characters hanging out in the foyer.
Nice lounge area and we had a very interesting chat with a local fellow named Johnnie.....from Texas, I think!
Wine cellar off the inner courtyard
This restaurant was recommended by one of the locals: Al Anon had excellent hospitality and the food was so tasty. Again, the history of the railway predominated which was ironic considering it was washed out.
Sunset over Jimena de Frontera looking north towards Ronda
So, the short story about the washed out railway is this: i was able to buy tickets on the Renfe website! When we arrived at the Jimena de Frontera railway station, we were told that a shuttle van would pick us up! It took close to 3 hours to make our way back to Ronda, stopping at EVERY designated railway staion: Cortes de Frontera, Gaucin, Jimena de Libar, Banadolid, then Ronda. The views down to the hiking path 100 feet below were again....hair-raising!!
Just a great adventure and it was wonderful to plan it all with Jim and Diane. We Skyped through December and January to decide on the route and accomodations.
MEIJAS HIKE WITH JIM AND DIANE
