Sewingshields, Northumberland in the mist

Today Mr hazelh and I took part in an archeology walk organised as part of the Haltwhistle Walking Festival. Given the location of this activity just north of Hadrian's Wall, we might have expected to spend five hours or so tramping around Roman remains. However, instead we covered some of the neglected evidence of prehistoric, British-Romano, and medieval settlements in the area that go back some 4000 years.

On land of the  Sewingshields estate we saw, and learnt all about, hut circles, medieval shielings and farmsteads, stack stands, boundary walls, the Black Dyke, rock art, and a string of burial cairns and cists.

It was quite eery in the mist, especially when - apparently out of nowhere - we were joined by three different fox-hunting hounds. (We later learnt that there was an early-season hunt today. It was likely that these young dogs were new to the job and had simply lost the rest of the pack.)

Our guide told us a couple of Northumbrian Arthurian legends as we crossed the boggy landscape. This added to the mystical feel of the place, especially when we came upon a huge boulder described in one of the stories. From King's Crags King Arthur hurled it in the direction of Queen Guinevere during a row. It (supposedly) shows the marks of the comb that the Queen used to ward it off from her position on Queen's Crags.

If you would like to see more pictures from the festival, please take a blip-peek at walkingMarj's journal. It was through Marj that we learnt about these excellent walks.

Exercise today: walking (9,755 steps).