The Centre of Britain

Haltwhistle claims to be the centre of Britain although other places make the same claims. In Haltwhistle's case it is based on being the midpoint of the longest north-south meridian. There is an official notice board.

In my blip you can see The Centre of Britain hotel in the background on the left.

I was there this morning to see of the two coach loads of walkers who were setting off on Day Two of the four day Eden to Tyne walk. Woolly hats and warm gloves were likely to be required when they started walking from Hartside towards Black Fell and Thack Moor.

The second coach left 30 minutes later and this way we could accommodate twice as many walkers. Demand for this walk was very high.

In my blip you can see Sandy and John waiting for the coach in the sun with the reflection of various high street buildings behind them. The driver thought I was photographing him, but I could not see him through the darkened glass. He was probably pulling faces.

Tonight I was at the Book Festival for Kamal Ahmed, talking about his book, The Life and Times of a Very British Man. Kamal had a Sudanese father and an English mother. He grew up in London in the 70s when being mixed race was unusual. He was interesting, but I was not tempted to buy the book.

Julie, her Australian friend, Anna and I went for a quiet drink and a chat afterwards.