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Posted: Wednesday 17 June 2009
North East Associates
Return to Kielder
- June 16th -
Ten years ago the North East Associate group set forth on their first coach trip, heading north-west into Northumberland to visit Kielder Water reservoir, Britain’s largest man-made lake.
Today we repeated this excursion visiting both the market town of Hexham and Kielder Water, but not necessarily in that order! Two coaches left Newcastle under cloudy skies and once under way the two groups were not scheduled to meet again.
With so many new Associates since the first trip no-one complained about the repeat!
One coach was in full operator livery. The other was plain white without any identification, this apparently causing confusion at its first stop in a large car & coach park.
For Coach A it was straight to Tower Knowe, one of the two visitor centres at Kielder, where birdsong was the only sound.
An indication of the visitor attractions
We just had time for a coffee before joining the MV Osprey for a cruise around the reservoir. Noise and comfort levels on the boat left a little to be desired, though. After about an hour as we approached Leaplish, the other visitor centre, we were "buzzed" by a couple of swallows who had apparently built their nest in the bow of the boat and wanted to feed their young.
Here we disembarked and headed for the restaurant, where an excellent lunch was served to our tables.
Following this we had time to enjoy the views of this large pond and the surrounding Kielder Forest countryside before heading south to Hexham.
In Kielder Forest Park
Meanwhile Coach B had gone to Hexham first where maybe those folks caught the market in full swing and, like the later arrivals, were able to enjoy many of the visitor attractions there. The Abbey and the Old Gaol are two of note.
Hexham Old Gaol
Among the buskers in the narrow streets was a chap playing the Northumbrian Small Pipes, a much more pleasant and civilised sound than that offered by our northern neighbours.
The pavement piper
Kielder Forest Park is Europe’s largest man-made forest and currently there's even more of a buzz - the place is showing great excitement as a pair of ospreys have nested here and hatched some chicks.
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Where are you going, John?
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Please!! I'm trying to count!
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We were counted on . . .
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. . . and counted off again!
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Is this ours?
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This one looks familiar!
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Then it was back to Newcastle independently for both groups but no doubt many did meet up again afterwards in their favourite post-excursion haunt, the Union Rooms.
ph 17/06/2009
pictures: ph & lp
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