Bellingham

A free day with promising weather had us thinking of a trip out.
It's ages since we've been to Bellingham, a Northumbrian Market Town just 30 minutes drive from Gilsland.
I wanted to visit the waterfall at Hareshaw Linn , it's in the ownership of Northumberland National Parks and has a well maintained pathway along the river edge.
This is known as the 'Waterfalls Walk' and there are several along the 1.5 mile walk, only two are accessible for photographs though.

The first waterfall by the picnic area

While the footpaths and bridges along the route are excellent, the views along the river are blocked by twiggy, scrubby branches.

 Lots of fallen trees across the river and while it's a natural environment and good for wildlife it does spoil the viewpoints as you can see in the following picture.

The scrappy saplings obliterate the view through to one of the waterfalls.

At the very end of the walk is Hareshaw Linn and you can get clear views of this waterfall and if you are agile from several different points.

It's an impressive fall and, in my opinion, well worth the walk along the track.

 Hareshaw Linn Waterfall, you know when you've reached it as the path ends here.

Detail in the waterfall

There's a car park near the start of the walk and it's less than 5 minutes walk into the town where there are plently of places where you can get a coffee or something to eat.

The Bellingham Heritage Centre is a museum of Northumbrian farming history and while I haven't visited I've heard it's very good.

It's only 17 miles to Kielder from Bellingham so maybe you could make a full day out combining the two destinations.

If you click on the photographs you will be able to see a larger version.