Otterburn, 1st October

Otterburn Hall lies in the heartland of the forgotten Northumbria National Park, a beautiful and varied area full of history. Click here to see the photos.   Our arrival was made challenging by rains and wind which flooded quite large areas,  but we all made it safely got on with enjoying ourselves!  Just walking into the hotel we heard the hooting of the Tawy owls and we set up a vigil to watch them flying along the driveway.  In fact with an i-player and a red lensed torch we went out to see if we could tempt them down, but all we managed was a few fly pasts and a brief if eery conversation with them! Still a bit of fun

Saturday dawned well and we headed off to Rothbury on a perfect blue skies day!   We strolled along the River Coquet, up on to wild escarpements, sought out old church caves, ancient cup and ring markngs, explored stone age forts ad conquered Simonside summit where we were rewarded with some epic views over the area !  And to top this all we even managed to finish with a few well earned pints in Rothbury still in the sunshine.

Sadly Sunday was not quite what we had dreamed of and torrents of rain were steadily falling as a few brave soles headed out.   The rains had however taken their toll with swollen streams and waterfalls adding another dimension to the scenery and another challenge to the walks!!!  Well only one wet bottom from the crossings and our map was saved from its own white water experience!!