Day 1/6 Northumberland 151km Circular Walk - Rothbury to Elyhaugh - 15 Mar 2008

That's how it all begins... from buying an INN WAY walking book written by Mark Reid. (I'm an Inn Way member now :) ) The excitement of fellwalking became an interest and now it's an ECSTASY. Nothing can resist me from its temptation, including exams...HOHOHO!!!!

The super-inexperience but garang-minded me made my first step into the wilderness of Northumberland. A long-distance walk that not only requires determination and strong-willed, but also some experience in navigation and hillwalking. The safety guidelines in the book says: "Always walk in a group unless you are very experienced....." Erm...ya...but...who cares...HAHA!

So off I went. Hopped onto the bus to Rothbury from Newcastle City Centre. Heart beating fast...so excited to breathe... Rothbury is a traditional old Northumbrian market, surrounded by a long sloping tree-shaded green: A gateway to the Northumberland National Park. After a few photos, headed to the river side (River Coquet), as instructed in the book.











The walk followed the banks of the River Coquet. It was alright till I entered some woodland which was wet and muddy. Unexpected and gave me a very bad start on my first day. Slow progress. Then....OOPS!!!!


Lol...don't laugh. Shaking my head now. Probably due to inexperience of not knowing where to step and wearing improper walking boots. I remembered: My whole shoe went deep into the soft mud. I pulled my leg out, and yes...it's out...but my shoe was out of my foot too. Got to kneel down to pull the shoe out with my hands. It came out finally after a few pulls and tugs. Was really stuck!!! My new NIKE shoe became so disgusting both inner and outer. Had to dig out all mud inside in order to wear it back. Just the first few hours and I was already quite despair and ya... muddy.

Made really slow progress. Lots of detours, trial and error, wasting lots of time. Some places were quite inaccessible, not because they were meant to be crossed, but because I somehow made a wrong turn and got onto a wrong track. A steep muddy slope slowed me down even more. There was the fear of sliding back down again.

Animals - sheep and horses - were interesting. Nice to say outloud: "Hi" to them, and they would all come running towards me and when closer, they all got scared and scattered. Hardly any sights of human along the way. Solitude, wilderness...that's what it means.. The sound of silence lingering in the air...only my panting and voices of nature speaking. Lost in my thoughts. I smiled.

Got lost again, then a nice chap in a farm tractor stopped to offer to help me with my directions. Got my compass and map out but at that moment of anxiety, they all seemed to be pointing in the wrong directions. I need to learn to be calm in order to have a clear mind. Something which I really need to overcome in my life.







Half of day 1's walk was without socks..just because I ran out of clean ones due to all the muddy muddy stories. Didn't expect this to happen, hence didn't bring enough. Only managed to complete 1/2 of my designated distance. That's unexpectably slow! When darkness fell, got panic because I was in the middle of nowhere. No town, nothing. Just me and my backpack, a large cowdung field and the river beside. Was supposed to be staying in a campsite for the night, but obviously couldn't reach there on time. So...HAHA....out popped my tent and I camped overnight in that field. That was around Elyhaugh. Could remember how frightening that night was. Not about g----, but it was the fear that the SUPER strong wind would blow the tent down. Cold, shivering, a bit hungry. Mp3 blasting into my ears in order to cover the howling wind.