Byrness Monday 01 June 2015
Start: Bellingham
Finish: Byrness
Miles walked today: 15
Total miles: 663
Byrness is a tiny and remote place. The hotel is closed. As is the filling station where you used to be able to get a mean hot chocolate. The youth hostel is now Forest View Walkers Inn - the same two middle houses in a row of terraces which the hostel used to occupy. My only problem is that there is a "No Vacancies" sign in the window. There is nothing else in the village, and a campsite a mile or two back. It's just starting to rain and I'm feeling a little concerned.
The lady proprietor arrives and takes pity on me. I can camp in the back garden for free, so long as I have dinner. I'm happy with that as there is nowhere else to eat for miles.
The day's walk was short and uneventful. Some fields, some coniferous forest, some very boggy patches, and some gravel tracks. And a fence with five (yes, FIVE) strands of barbed wire.
Before I put my tent up, rain starts, and Keith and Dan arrive. Dan and I get our tents up in a brief pause in the downpour.
The hotel ìs full, there are lots of people chatting in the conservatory looking at my and Dan's tents and making jokes about the rain...
