Bellingham and Boots

I headed out of London mid morning and up the M1. It's not a great way to begin a holiday and I found myself feeling tired, sleepy and wondering if I'd have been better staying at home and doing some organ practice! I therefore stopped a lot and didn't feel particularly inspired to continue.

Two things happened to change that: caffeine (my first dose for several days) and the thought that nobody was forcing me to do this, and I could turn round at any point and go home - the only pressure to go to Scotland was coming from me!

Oh, and a third - the realisation that I was going to pass Altberg, a company I've wanted to order boots from for some time - they do a brilliant waterproof leather boot which is perfect both for riding and for walking/climbing, so I stopped at their factory in Richmond (N Yorkshire) and got myself measured up. The boots will arrive in 6 weeks.

The weather was alternately sunny/cold and hailstorms/very cold. After Richmond I continued north and had a quick ride through Durham, a city I haven't been in since 1991, then found a great camping in Bellingham, a village in the hills of the Northumberland national park, just south of the border. It's very beautiful and also very wet, though thankfully the inside of the tent is dry still. I hope there'll be a few minutes without rain when I can pack everything up in the morning. For now, though, it's great to be outdoors again and to use the gear I haven't used since returning from Turkey at the end of August. It was pasta and chamomile tea for supper and it'll be green tea and porridge for breakfast tomorrow.

So, I'm happy and relaxed and enjoying the open air - though the conditions contrast sharply with the 40+ degrees of Turkey and Greece!

Alt Berg shop

Thursday morning - cooking breakfast in a gap between showers