I love being new places and hate getting there, and have been known to say on multiple occasions that I would give anything from a piece of my soul to a limb to a portion of my life savings to teleport. –V. E. Schwab, courtesy of Brainyquotes.com
While the states were dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Florence on this day we dealt with the remains of hurricane Helene. There was an Amber weather alert for UK which forecast gusts of up to 70mph but we moved forward. As a group we we’re undaunted. Rich was stricken with some stomach upset that morning so he decided to stay behind and take a cab to the next location, a move that would prove to be fortuitous to the rest of us a little later in the day.
We hiked toward the Roman fort at Chesters
We, or at least I, had gotten to the point that if you’ve seen one fort you’ve seen them all mode. So, we collected our stamp and moved on to the town of Chollerford where we encountered a very pretty river, the north branch of the river Tyne.
Leaving town we started our last major ascent of the trek and the wind started to pick up.
One thing I learned this day was how to keep a wide brimmed hat on one’s head. Provided one has a chin strap, run the strap under the chin and behind the ears. This is good up to 60 mph gusts, though that’s about the limit. At that point either the hat or your head comes off lol.
The rain for the most part stayed behind us and gave us a chance to see a very pretty rainbow
By this point we are walking in +30mph sustained winds with higher gusts that would have blown me sideways across the field had it not been for my trekking poles. For those who may not know me, I’m 5’10” and 230lbs and I was being blown sideways. I recorded another sample of the wind at this point:
Shortly after this point, the rain was imminent and we had decided to attempt to get to some shelter, in the form of a pub, roughly 3/4 mile away, at least we hoped it was there.
The storm hit is before we could get to the pub. Fortunately when it hit we were in a depression surrounded by trees so we had a little shelter as the rain hit. At this point Mike came over and said “I think we should call a cab when we get to the pub”, to which I replied “no shit”.
We made the dash to the pub during a break in the storm and once in shelter texted Rich to see how he was doing. Long story short (I know, too late 😂) Rich picked us up in the cab he was taking to our next stop and our day was through. Winds that afternoon increased to 58mph sustained with gusts to 70 mph. One thing nice about three foot walls, they don’t budge in a windstorm, though the door to the pub got sucked open a couple of times as the wind howled by.
Till next time.
Lou Hikes? 