Day 4 Haltwhistle Autumn Walking Festival

I felt much better today and joined the shorter walk - a circular of 7.5 miles from Matfen. This was an almost flat walk through fields and there were wide open views in all directions.

It was hard to know which bit of madness from the day to blip. We had a lot of fun. Here is the team. On their recce they found a stile that was impossible to use. Kevin (hat) reported it to the Council. When the footpaths' officer returned his call, he spoke to Kevin's wife, Catriona, whom he knew from her work with the National Park. Now, I am not saying that this had anything to do with it, but the farmer has put up a new stile and we were able to cross safely.

We'll not mention the padlocked gate on a public right of way. We had to climb this. It was very stable, but one or two of the group found it challenging. Another one to report.

It was sunny for most of the day and very windy for part of it.

The team had arranged for us to park at the pub in Matfen and to drink there afterwards. All good, until the first people arrived and were told, in no uncertain terms, that they could not park there. An email confirming it was produced, but the publican then said that he didn't read emails, so it must have been his wife. Oh dear! We moved our cars and we chose to drink elsewhere (Matfen Hall no less) after the walk. What a shame on all sides, although Matfen Hall was very grand and comfortable.