Kielder Water Walk

We had a pleasant walk by the shore of Kielder Water today, starting from the Hawkhope car park.

 Spiny puff balls.

We saw several nesting sites of Collete bees, which were interesting to watch. (They are smaller than honey bees). They make burrows in sandy soil and this species feeds on heather. They were buzzing all over the sandy soil at the entrance to their burrows in large numbers. We thought it was a swarm to begin with, but they were just going about their usual business.

Lunch was at Falstone Old School Café. Rob had the vegetarian cooked breakfast and a slice of coffee cake. I had a jacket potato with cheese and salad. With two Americano coffees the bill came to a very reasonable £16. The food was good and the café is a nice, light and airy place to sit with its high ceiling, and it has craft cabinets to browse. And it is dog-friendly. Recommended!

A Walk By Kielder Water, and A Sunset

We made the most of the fabulous weather today, with a walk at Kielder Water, starting from the Hawkhope car park, along the East shore of lake, by the dam. A Kielder trail guide is available here.

We had lunch at The Old School Tearoom at nearby Falstone. Rob had the all day vegetarian breakfast, while I ate a jacket potato with cheese and salad. We both had a cake and drink and the bill came to under £16. Very reasonable. The food was good and freshly made. Highly recommended.

I was just shutting the chickens in when I spotted this beautiful sunset and rushed out with my camera to get a few pictures, only to find our new neighbours doing the same thing. It really was quite dramatic, but hard to capture in a small image.

Kielder Water Walk

Rob, Brock and I went for a walk by Kielder Water today. We started out from the Tower Knowe carpark. One annoyance is that you either pay £1.50 for an hour, or £4.50 for the day. We would have liked a couple of hours, but £4.50 seems extortionate to pay for that long, so we settled for an hour.

Anyway, we did a shortish walk along to the peninsula and onto the beach.

The weather was stunning: warm enough for us to sit outside and enjoy a coffee and cake at the café next to the visitor centre and car park (shown below). (It had been heavy fog when we left the house, and it still was when we returned!)

The café that we had hoped to visit for lunch at Falstone turns out to be closed Tuesday and Wednesday at this time of year - a fact they had not bothered to mention on their website - Grrr!

Instead we headed back to Newcastleton and had lunch at The Grapes Hotel. We both had the vegetable curry and rice (Rob had chips/rice). It consisted of carrots, broccoli and cauliflower in a tasty, mildly spiced, coconut sauce. It was well-cooked and we both enjoyed it. The staff were all very friendly and welcomed Brock in as well (and gave him a dog biscuit). The only downside is that it was rather pricey at £13.50 per portion.

Brockie Boy enjoying the walk.