May

What wonderful weather were having. For a change bank Holiday Monday was a scorcher. It was the day of the Northumberland Show and thousands of people turned up, including my better half. I had planned to go but caught a bug and was too ill, I missed a great day I was told. Agricultural Shows are a great day out for all the family, each of the farming communities have them and there's something for everyone.

I might have missed the show but I've been out and about on the Wall with my camera and nature has been putting on a show, just for me it seems.

I went out to Kings Hill the other night hoping for a sunset. I love the names of the places along this section of Hadrian's Wall between Housesteads and Sewingshields, there's Kennel Crag, Clew Hill, Kings Hill and Kings Wicket and I always wonder why they have those names. I know the King is King Arthur, yes the 'round table' one, he was actually a Northumbrian King!

To the North of Kings Hill we have Kings Crag and Queens Crag, a lovely area to walk with masses of history attached. If you look at the OS map you'll see markings for standing stones and bronze age burial sites along with a few Roman remains like fish ponds. NY791693

The view from Kings Hill is one of my favourites, it's looking west along the line of all the crags, past Housesteads, Cuddys Crag, Hotbank Crag and all the way to the high point at Winshields Crag. It's open access land so I went through the gate at Kings Wicket and follwed a sheep track alongside the north face of Hadrian's Wall, hoping to catch the sun on the stones of the Wall and I wasn't disappointed.

Sewingshields isn't one of the busiest spots but it has some lovely walks AND it has the Old Repeater Station to call in for coffee and a generous piece of cake. This was once a BT Telephone Repeater Station and it's now a B&B run by 'the laconic Les' as one journalist referred to him. He's one of the characters and a visit to his establishment should be on your must do list.