Upper Coquetdale

The day dawned cold (so cold that MrM switched the central heating back on for a while!), wet, and windy, and we had a lazy morning doing very little. By mid-afternoon the sun was shining and, as the forecast for the next few hours was good, we decided to escape from Wooler for while and headed for Coquetdale. We went through Alwinton, and kept going along the military road until we found the spot with this fabulous view, where we enjoyed a picnic and watched the River Coquet meander down the valley. A tad chilly for eating al fresco, but we had gone prepared and it was lovely to be outside.

On the way back we stopped for a walk in Harbottle Woods, where we encountered the first people we'd seen all afternoon. A very friendly and interesting couple from the village, who seemed to be suffering from verbal deprivation - as we are - and we had quite a long chat with them. At a distance, of course! They mentioned that we'd need to climb over some tree trunks to go much further along the track, as the trees have suffered from considerable wind damage (extra).

While we were in the woods the weather had changed completely, and just after we got back in the car to head for home the rain started...