It’s funny how a day can start one way and finish completely differently. We started out from the Twice Brewed Inn with the mist covering Hadrian’s Wall, moisture on the windows, a brisk breeze, and we finished in Bellingham in burning hot sunshine, me having had my left nipple chewed by a horse.
So, we donned the wet weather gear and climbed back up to the Wall. There were again a couple of ups and downs as we climbed the various crags on which the Wall sits, before the Way splits of and starts to make its way north again. 
It was here that we got our first taste of the huge expanses of pine forest that the Forestry Commission tend to. Unfortunately it’s also where a huge amount of flies congregate, so we made our way fairly quickly through the first forest.
It was at this point that we decided to pack away the waterproofs, as the sun was starting to burn through the clouds. A bit of moorland and another pine forest later, we were in rolling farmland. 
There was a brief climb down and climb out of the valley containing the very low Warks Burn, and then we came across a farm with some all-to-friendly animals. First, as we crossed a field of sheep, the resident sheep dog came out to say hello. It sat at our feet, wagging it’s tail and panting expectantly, then it would move in front of you when you stepped forwards, holding you hostage until you’d given it some fuss. But then we stepped over the stile into a field with horses in. The first one seemed quite happy nibbling the top of a fence post, but two other (probably younger) horses cantered over to us to say hello. They were quite happy being patted and stroked, and sniffing us, but then one of them took matters a little too far. While sniffing me, it bared it’s teeth and gave my nipple a nibble. I of course stepped away and communicated my displeasure (the horse hadn’t even asked for a date, after all) before any actual damage was done. We then ceased fussing the horses and started to depart the field, but not before the nipple-chewing one had attempted to eat Adam’s backpack.
Then the last few miles fell into two sections – Shitlington Crags (I’m told it’s pronounced Shotlington, although, funny anecdote – WordPress just autocorrected Shotlington to Shitlington), and Russian Roulette on the main road into Bellingham. It was a bit of a climb up from the Hall of the aforementioned crags, and the crags themselves loomed quite large and looked like quite the scramble. In the event, as we approached, there was a rock staircase built into the crags. So that went fairly smoothly. Unfortunately Adam was suffering quite a bit during the day, and towards the end. So the last couple of miles of road walking were not pleasant.
It also wasn’t pleasant because it’s a busy road into Bellingham, taking a few twists and turns, and there’s no pavement on either side of the road over the twisty-turny bit, making it really quite dangerous.
We now have three days left. Into Byrness tomorrow, then Byrness to Kirk Yetholm split in two. Very much looking forwards to arriving at The Border Hotel and the end of the Pennine Way now.
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