With the birds singing and the sun starting to set on another week we headed over to Wetheral for some sniffs and a good walk.
Dad parked the car in a lay-by at the side of the B6263 and we started our adventure.
We have been to Wetheral a number of times, including a big visit in 2008 which you can read about here.
This time our walk was to be a simpler affair lasting just over 90 minutes.
Getting our own back
It is well know that one thing that really upsets drivers is the application of loose chippings on to roads.
Arriving it would seem a little earlier than usual, possibly due to global warming and changing weather patterns, the weapon of choice of councils around the country for scratching car paint work, is here.
Sharp rock flakes are spread on top of a sticky solution of tar to create a new road surface on many minor roads.
Basking in the early evening sunset this pile of chippings found near to where we parked the car, was, shall we say, investigated most throughly.
Wetheral viaduct repairs
Our path left the road after about 100m and we started on a very quiet road leading underneath the Wetheral viaduct.
Looking up at the walkway dad noticed that some scaffolding was attached to the outside of the bridge and that most of the walkway had been removed.
We were later to find the timbers, which formed the footway and looked like former wooden railway sleepers, stacked up in the small car park adjacent to Wetheral Station a few metres up the railway track.
Holy Trinity Church
Taking a sharp right we climbed up a narrow dirt path and through a metal gate and arrived in the grounds of Holy Trinity Church, Wetheral.
The Church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, St. Constantine and St. Mary.
Built in the 1600’s, the church recently became a focus for the assorted media outlets around the globe as Sgt. Sarah Bryant, the first British woman soldier to be killed in Afghanistan, had her funeral.
Looking back towards the viaduct we caught a glimpse of a train passing over the bridge. Without the white ornate walkway this side of the viaduct seems a little industrial and not a pleasing.
Leaving the church through the ornate wooden gate we proceeded uphill towards the green and then the railway station.
Lack of information
Walking over the bridge and out of the station on the opposite side of the track we came upon this info-gate.
It would appear that this one gate has become the information hub for the village.
Written in marker pen on one side are train arrival and departure times whilst on the other are public notices. These include a quite funny, written in jest notice, possibly too dodgy to publish.
Suffice it to say that the author is not to happy about the length of time the the repairs to the viaduct are taking and the amount of consultation in advance of work starting.
Need a drink
Our walk starts to fall back towards the river and the start of our journey, as we pass alongside a large house with a tennis court.
Just beyond this, dad spots a sloping piece of stone with some letters written into it.
‘The Holy Well’ is the title carved into the stone along with some other text which dad thinks is:-
The Holy Well
Called in the 12th Century
Fons Sancti Cuthbert
Repaired 1897 and 2001
Sadly this well did not seem to contain any water for us to have a drink but we were now not far from the car and our bottles of water.
Until next time
Buster and Charlie