Mud, glorious mud (and an unexpected gibbet)

We decided against going as far as Alwinton as originally planned, and settled on going to Thrunton Wood, not far away, for a walk up to Long Crag. It's quite popular with mountain bikers and walkers, and on a busy day we've seen a few dozen cars at most. But today there were hundreds, filling the parking areas, all along the roadside verges, and in gateways - even the ones with 'No parking' signs. Maybe not, then!

So MrM drove us a little further down the road towards Long Framlington, where he'd previously noticed a footpath sign. We didn't have the right map, but the forestry tracks were well signposted, so no problem. Apart from the mud - ankle deep in places - it turned out to be a lovely walk, with views over to the coast in one direction (if you look hard, you can see the sea in the Blip), and to the Cheviot in the other. 

At the top of the main track, we opted to take the path to Old Moorside, rather than the one through the forest, leading on to, what we later discovered is an old stage coach road. We walked as far as a small beech plantation opposite to some ruins, apparently the site of the Old Moorhouse Inn. When the A697 was constructed in 1831, the coach road went out of use, as did the inn. It seems to have had an evil reputation, and was once described as "a house of ill-repute, opposite which stood a gibbet". Much to our surprise, there's a gibbet there now, complete with skull - erected in 2010 by local historian and poet Peter Athey to celebrate his poem 'The Hungry Gallows Tree'.
Interesting, when we got back home, to discover that the moor is not marked by name on the OS map.