Ewartly Shank

Lucy and Jake were keen to find some of the six locations of Poems in the Air. At each of these locations in Northumberland you can,  supposedly, use an App. on your phone to listen to a poem by Simon Armitage inspired by that place. The poems are, as yet, only available via the App.

So, in the morning, we set off for Dove Crag near Holystone. It involved a pleasant forest walk and didn't take us too long to reach the crag, with its natural amphitheatre and 'secret' waterfall (Extra). But we couldn't listen to the poem - the App. didn't allow access! No phone signal and no GPS near the crag, so maybe not surprising, but rather a disappointment. However, it was a nice walk to a very pretty place.

After a picnic lunch at a nearby Forestry Commission site, we decided to try a second poem, and MrM drove us to the Shepherds' Cairn at Ewartly Shank near Alnham - it's a memorial to two shepherds lost in a blizzard. It was only a short walk up the track to the cairn, where Lucy and Jake tried, again unsuccessfully, to listen to the poem. 

It was a pleasant day, and Jake got to see quite a lot of wild Northumberland, but poems - ha!  I'll be in touch with the Tourist Board about the App. before we go to some of the other locations, maybe next summer!

Home to a venison stew and a glass or two of red...