Holiday - Day 4

Oh the relief when I woke up and me bum wasn't going off like the landing light on an aeroplane. So, we were good to go... Wooler to Beal and a slightly shorter day's walking today; only about 13 miles. And the sun was shining, the birds were singing (and my bum wasn't) it was a lovely day for walking. It was easy going to start with and all three of us seemed to be enjoying it... Until we had to cross a field. Alright, it wasn't the field that was the problem per se. It was the whacking great bull that some jolly old farmer had put in the field and what he was intending to do with the cows. No, that's wrong. It wasn't what he was intending to do with the cows it was actually what he was doing to the cows. We stood at the gate in an agony of indecision mostly because the bull had finished and was looking around for another... well, you know what he was looking round for, and we didn't want it to be one of us. Eventually we spied an escape route, squeezed under a fence, walked along a river bank and re-entered the field away from the amorous bull but right int he middle of a herd of cows and their calves. I never knew humans could run as fast as that... but they can. By lunchtime we'd made it to St Cuthbert's cave... so called because 1,200 years before monks from Lindisfarne, fearing an invasion by the Vikings had high tailed with with the old boy's body and rested under and outcropping of rock. It was sort of sobering, even for a woofer like me, to think that those monks has stood in that very spot all those years ago. So, onto the last leg to the Lindisfarne Inn at Beal. Richard said he was ready for a pint and was therefore very disappointed when we got into an argument with the manager. Lindisfarne Inn markets itself as dog friendly but I wasn't allowed in the bar, conservatory or even in the garden. I had to be locked in me room and they didn't even do room service. Fair play to me humans; they were having none of this and immediately cancelled the room. Fortunately our car was parked nearby so we went back to the Black Bull (the picture on the pub sign looked suspiciously like the randy devil we'd almost been chased by earlier in the day) where we spent that evening... Very convivial it was, too. Next week,q the final stage of the journey... Beal to Lindisfarne and don't forget to sent me your holiday stories: I'll post them on me blog for you. Send them to reneemackay@taxassist.co.uk