It’s been a hard day! After breakfast I decided to get rid of a few things to reduce the weight of the pack. Managed to shed about 1 kilo. I’ve lost about 3+ kilos so hopefully this will bring my pack to body ratio back into line.
Leaving Wolsingham I managed to set off going east rather than south. For some reason (though marked red on the map) I took the A689, rather than the ‘yellow’ minor road. After about 15 minutes I realised that there were no hills and I was heading into the sun. So I back tracked and found the right road to Chatterley. It was hilly. I walked along roads south to Doctor’s Gate over Hamsterly Common where I had a choice of two routes through Hamsterly Forest. I took what looked the most worn but it was hard going, up and down before climbing out near a village called Woodland. I then headed south across farmland – some of the tracks easy to find, some not. A lot of fields with bulls, skittish cows and calves.
I arrived at Barnard Castle and followed a cycle route to cross the river Tees only to find the bridge closed due to repairs. I then had to back track again and follow the road to find another bridge, which was about ½ k away. However my classic mistake of the day was that there are two camp sites to the west of Barnard Castle and I went to the wrong one first! (I had booked into the caravan and camping club members one and they give good rate to backpackers).
I had walked for about 9 ½ hours and had nothing to eat since breakfast as my chocolate had completely melted and was not eatable. (I had bought a soft drink in Woodland). By the time I had set up camp, had a shower and done my washing it was 9pm, too late to walk the 2 k into Barnard Castle to find a pub for a meal. Fortunately, there was a Chinese takeaway that delivered to the camp site. I ordered a little too much so the leftovers will be breakfast tomorrow. When I leave Barnard Castle early tomorrow I may not find anything open it being Saturday.
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