Meanwhile, in the Market Place.......

The long walkers did a 9 mile walk in much less time than usual. Our leader, IW, had chosen a fairly flat route, just the occasional hill to climb, and he set a cracking pace. It did not rain; there was still a stiff breeze to contend with, but we will be very happy if the weather is like this on Saturday for the Haltwhistle Challenge.

We were able to sit outside the pub for our post walk "discussion" and I nearly blipped the image of happy walkers sitting in the sun. It's not something you see very often at this time of year "up north".

As I returned to my car and braced myself for a big supermarket dash, I saw the men who were cleaning up the newly laid flags in the market place. Haltwhislte Main Street and the Market Place are having a face lift. Some shop fronts have been done up to give a consistent old fashioned appearance to the street. The cobbles and flags in the Market Place have been lifted and reseated.

This chap was amused to see my camera pointing at him and started to pose for me. If you look closely you can see that his face and safety glasses are mud spattered, but he seems cheerful enough.