Borderland

What a beautiful and unspoilt county Northumberland is - especially during good weather. Our recent short break took us round Kielder reservoir by bike, and then to the Farne Islands, where I was twice pecked on the head by protective Arctic terns, or rather, on the hat that I had been advised to wear for that reason. We were straying into their domain, after all, and in danger of treading on their eggs, had the locations not been indicated by the polished, numbered and carefully placed pebbles at our feet - and theirs.

We also encountered some vestiges of the former North British Railway and Border Counties Railway line from Hexham to Riccarton Junction [where it met the Waverley route]. The 42-mile, single-track line provided an alternative, though much slower, through route from Newcastle to Edinburgh, after 1862. It closed in a series of stages during the late 1950s. The substantial station building at Bellingham, which was the largest intermediate settlement, remains intact. Next to the platform edge, there is now a short length of track occupied by two Mark 1 coaches that make up the Carriages Tea Room, much lauded by the enthusiastic volunteers at the heritage centre and museum, located opposite within the old station yard.

We came across the former track-bed again on our ride around Kielder Water. Kielder Viaduct, built to cross the marshy ground, which became the Deadwater Burn after reservoir construction, was preserved by the Newcastle and Northumberland Society after the closure of the line. This structure provided us with a welcome flat section, in what otherwise felt like a very “up and down” path on our smaller wheels!