HADRIAN'S WALL: DAY EIGHT: Haltwhisle and Biding Time

Distant Crags

WHAT'S THAT LIGHT IN THE SKY? It hurts my eyes and feels hot on my skin..... an alien life force of epic proportions......the sun at last.
Well, it IS getting close to June, just 2 days away, you would think, right?

Much as I want to walk because the addiction has set in hard, we went to nearby Haltwhisle by taxi to find a laundrette and stock up on dried mango. I was out of clean walking clothes and Phil had no socks. But I saw people gearing up and heading out, and like a racehorse left in its stall, I was stomping and prancing to go.

Rest is good too, muscles need to recover to get stronger. We're a day ahead of schedule having lengthened some stages, so we're good.

Some factoids about HALTWHISLE:

Probably in existence in Roman times, the good peeps of Haltwhisle claim their village is the exact geographic center of England.
The first part of the name is thought to be derived from Old English hēafod, for 'hill-top'.
The second part "twistle" means two streams or rivers.

I love this stuff....4 miles south of the village, and not on our plan today, is Featherstone Castle. It's private so we couldn't go in and didn't use the leg power just to peep. That's what the internet is for! The oldest part of the castle still standing is a 14C tower built by Thomas de Featherstonehaugh in the 1320’s. Abigail Featherstonehaugh, who lived in the late 17th century was to marry a neighboring Baron’s son, but was in love with another local fellow. As the bridal party rode to the wedding, the spurned lover made an attack, but the new bridegroom put up a good fight. All were killed in the fray. At midnight the sound of horses’ hooves were heard outside the castle, the door opened into the banqueting hall and the ghostly apparition of Abigail and the rest of the party entered. The Baron fainted at this spectral procession. It is claimed the ghostly wedding party can be seen each 17th January in Pynkin’s Cleugh, a narrow valley just over the river from the Castle.

Here's another one - Bellister Castle was owned by Robert de Ros and his descendants from 1191 to 1295. There is a very old Sycamore tree in front of the west side of the castle which is known as the ‘Hanging Tree’. It is reputedly haunted by a ‘Grey Man’, the ghost of a minstrel who, having been unjustly accused of being a spy, was cruelly killed by hounds as he fled the castle in fear of his life.

Clean Clothes!

Underwhelming Haltwhisle

Apples hung out to attract who?
It's too bad that Haltwhisle was a disappointment. It was glum, tired and unpleasant. Restraurant staff were acting as if they didnt know they'd have people coming in, one place turned us away, they simply had too many people to cook for even though there were empty tables. After doing laundry , and being chatted up by a woman who had to tell us every relative who had moved to the US and where they lived, we went back to Gilsland where we had a very nice lunch outside under the trees at Megs Tearooms. I can see Haltwhisle's purpose - train, grocery, pharmacy and laundry. It did have a 13C church, that had been ruined by renovation, and a number of fortified anti-Reiver bastles.