Walk up Simonside Hill in Northumberland

This weekend we went up to Amandas Mums house as we were taking her out for a meal as a birthday pressent. Also Amanda's Aunt Sandra had said to us a while ago that she would like to go on a walk with us.


I left work at 4pm on friday and got the train home. I quickly make dinner when I got in then we set off on the drive up to Newcastle. After a bit of bad traffic we got up there about 9.30pm. After arriving we pretty much straight away headed off down to the pub with Anne (My Mother in Law) and her boyfriend Barry.

On Saturday we set off on the walk about 10am with Sandra. By 11am, after a false start going to the wrong carpark, we set off on the walk. The total distance was 5.5 miles. The walk was mostly flat except for the bit where you climb up Simonside Hill.

Walking up this hill was quite tough as it goes up in elevation very quickly over a short period of time. The view from the top was really good though. It's a pity it wasn't a blue sky as you would beable to see even further. Getting to the top of the hill was a good excuse for lunch.

The whole walk too around 4 hours. It was meant to take 3 hours, but we wasn't in anyrush. Afterwards we drove to Rothbury for a coffee and some cake.

After we got back to the house we went out to take the dog for a walk. Whilst on the walk Anne showed us where you could pick some sloe berries. Anne and Barry have been making sloe gin for years, so we though we would give it a go. We picked about 3lb of berries to bring home. Anne also gave us a demi jon for us to make the gin.

In the evening we went out to a Chinese Resturant in Morpeth called the Mulan for Annes birthday. Amanda's sister, Angela also came along with her husband John. Also her brother Steve came along. The meal was very good, lots of wine and food. Probably one of the better chinese meals I have had before. Although it is quite pricey, so wouldn't want to go there too often.