Homeward Bound

Even though the house is freezing, and there's a very odd smell in the pantry, and the chaos and disruption of frantic hungover packing is so much worse than I remembered.... it's still grand to be home.

We left my folks in the morning, after a shift feeding the lambs at the farm next door. The farmer has a few pet lambs (ie orphans) but most have been matched with sheep whose lambs have died. However, he does have a couple of lambs that need extra food as one has what he described as a 'teenage mum' and the other a very old mum who just can't be bothered! The kids loved it, of course, and were content not to think too deeply about the lamb under the heat lamp that had a bad birth and probably won't make it. I think I'm too sentimental to be a farmer - but I suppose you just have to get on and look after the ones you can help.

Although it was still really foggy at Mam and Dad's place, the weather cleared by the time we got to Kielder, where we'd decided to spend some of the day. For those who don't know it (and why would you?) it's a huge reservoir in north Northumberland (biggest in the UK) surrounded by the biggest planned forest in Europe. Kielder Water was opened in the early 80s and I still remember the regular local news updates on how full it was (I think it took a couple of years to fill, but I might have misremembered that). It was, of course, very controversial at the time - not least with the folks whose valley it flooded, but seems to keep the north east clear of the water shortages a lot of southern England suffers from.

Anyway, we had a couple of chilly but entertaining walks, including one through the part of the forest shown above, ending with an art work consisting of lots of shiny disks hung up in the trees. (It was way cooler than that makes it sound!)

We also discovered (ooh, makes us sound like explorers, rather than people obediently following maps and signs) a fantastic walk at the A68 end of the park - Hindhope Linn. It's a short, fairly easy trail by a stream, with lots of old moss laden trees, and just a half mile from the A68.

It's part way down the 'Forest Trail', a slightly rough, part paved, forest track between the A68 near Byrness and the main Kielder village. I wouldn't try it in a car where I cared about the paintwork or suspension much, but it was great fun in our old banger!