The weather was getting nasty and we were feeling over-exposed, luckily Haltwhistle has a great pub in the form of the Black Bull. After three days we were well-established with the locals. They speak with an uncannily Geordie-like accent there, although they are adamant that their accent is different. I had a shock when I walked past a newsagent to read "North East man feared dead in Christchurch earthquake", as I have two good mates from Newcastle who lives there (I stayed with them last year), fortunately they were ok. Such an idyllic place, but with a terrible reality lying in wait underneath (New Zealand that is, not Newcastle. Although...)
I was feeling a bit restless on monday morning so I decided to walk part of the Transpennine trail which runs quite close to where I live in Stockport. Probably the most interesting thing I came across was the ruins of some old mills near Broadbottom, so named I think because the nearby hills look like two giant curvaceous butt-cheeks. I walked for about 5 hours in total, to reach Hadfield, I was feeling a bit fed up by then due to a very painful blister on my right heel (actually caused by my wearing "proper shoes" to an interview over a week ago) so I didn't stop to invetigate the town and just headed for the train station. Only when I read a tourist information board while waiting for the train did I realise that Hadfield was the set for Royston Vasey in the TV programme "The League of Gentlemen". So I missed the opportunity to go into a shop and be asked "Are you local?" before being subjected to some form of surreal torture.
I'll leave you with a weird scarecrow I saw in an allotment as I was coming into Hadfield:
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