The Border Forest campsite was delightful in great weather – not so sure how nice it would be in a storm though!! Set off on good time today with the aim of covering the 14 miles to Bellingham by 1pm for a lunch stop and a change of bags. Cath has gone to meet friends and they will rejoin me tomorrow at Hadrians Wall so I’m camping for the first time on this walk.
I raced through the Kielder Forest and skipped a tricky section of the PW – a slightly longer but probably faster route with clear views across the moors
, before ploughing across the heather covered Whitley Pike 
and then across farmland and down into Bellingham on time 
– but not before an encounter with some lively young cows. I’m not comfortable with those beasts at the best of times. It was t-shirt weather and thankfully quite breezy on the open moors but a bit oppressive when sheltered from the wind, especially after lunch carrying the extra weight. As I climbed out of Bellingham and down the pretty Shitlington Crags to Shitlington Hall farm
how I love that name – the perspiration went into overdrive. My spirits were revived by a phone call from a good friend to encourage me and I made good time to get to Stonehaugh in beautiful sunshine. 
The camp site was occupied by a couple with a large tent and soon after a girl arrived walking the PW alone. I settled down to my spicy sausage and pasta meal thinking of Cath, Lynda and Ray tucking into steak at some country pub! It’s a tough life.
Met a few PW walkers today – they all said I have some bog hopping to do tomorrow before I get to Hadrians Wall – looking forward to that!
Hi Dave
I’m a colleague of Pearl’s doing LEJOG over a number of years. 800 miles down on a fairly windy route so far. Really looking forward to watching your progress. If you have any questions about areas further south please feel free to ask.
Cheers
Gill
Thanks Gill great to have you following. I am a bit concerned about stories of non existent footpaths across the Somerset levels. Did you go that way?