{"id":4438,"date":"2023-09-29T19:10:05","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T19:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=4438"},"modified":"2025-12-24T22:28:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T22:28:02","slug":"5-a-tale-of-two-bridges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=4438","title":{"rendered":"5. A TALE OF TWO BRIDGES."},"content":{"rendered":"

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On Thursday, we planned to walk on the fells behind Rothbury.\u00a0 The weather was forecast to be fine after a slightly dodgy start.\u00a0 So, Rothbury Golf Club for a bacon and egg sandwich while the morning shower passed!<\/p>\n

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Which it did!\u00a0 A breakfast roll with a view AND a purpose (a 30 minute delay)!\u00a0 Excellent!<\/p>\n

There’s a wide track that runs in a big loop around the hilltop to the north of Rothbury.\u00a0 Several miles of it.\u00a0 A local told us it was known as “Victoria’s Carriageway”\u00a0 But as we now know it’s really the “Cragside Carriageway”!\u00a0 But first we have to climb to the top of the hill.\u00a0 It isn’t like climbing Everest or anything, but for us, lovers of disused railway lines, canal tow paths and beaches, it comes as a bit of a shock.\u00a0 Especially when the “uphill” route dives a couple of hundred feet down hill at one point!\u00a0 But we had plenty of time to sit and admire the view.<\/p>\n

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During WW1, soldiers trained for digging trenches up here.\u00a0 There are zig-zag scars where the effects of this work can still be seen over a hundred years later.<\/p>\n

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Then it was back into the “forest” which had been taken out by Storm Arwen in November 2021.\u00a0 Recent tree clearing has left a magnificent view of Cragside.\u00a0 A view which won’t have been seen for the last 30 or 40 years!<\/p>\n

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The final part of the walk brought us back down to Rothbury.\u00a0 \u00a0It proved almost as hard work as it had been going up.\u00a0 But in a different way!<\/p>\n

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So that was our exercise for the day – possibly the week.\u00a0 Nearly five miles.<\/p>\n

I’ve discovered that when you have Polymyalgia,\u00a0 you just can’t have enough drugs!\u00a0 Having set off for three weeks and extended it to seven, I DIDN’T have enough.\u00a0 It’s a long story, but in summary I contacted our surgery (electronically, as required in this digital age) for a top-up.\u00a0 They replied two days later to say my requests had been declined!\u00a0 After a bit of a panic, and a couple of urgent emails,\u00a0 I was eventually told that the requests HAD in fact been approved and the relevant prescriptions had already been sent to Mr Boots in Morpeth.\u00a0 It was just a technical glitch on their website.\u00a0 Duh!\u00a0 Anyway, the dedicated medication cupboard is now full again.\u00a0 This lot should see us out till we get home!<\/p>\n

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Now, back to the programme.\u00a0 Hexham and Corbridge, two neighbouring towns on the River Tyne are on the list!\u00a0 Corbridge is closest, so first.\u00a0 While Glenda bothered the shop keepers, I went for a walk to Hexham on the river-side (horizontal) path.\u00a0 Well, strictly speaking TOWARDS Hexham.<\/p>\n

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There’s a pile stones beside the river at one point …<\/p>\n

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These needed investigation!\u00a0 It transpires that the Romans, who were notably busy in the area back in the day, built a settlement on the North Bank of the river.\u00a0 They called it Coriosopitum – Coria for short.\u00a0 They also built a bridge to carry Dere Street – their motorway from York to Scotland.\u00a0 Remnants of seven arch supports have been located on the river-bed.\u00a0 More recently, a section of the approach ramp was uncovered on the south bank as the river changed its course.<\/p>\n

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In 2004, these building blocks were excavated, surveyed and then re-located a few metres above river level allegedly to prevent them being washed away by floods!\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 They look pretty heavy to me, and they have been there for a couple of millenia.\u00a0 Anyway, this is my pile of stones!<\/p>\n

The plaque on the current Corbridge bridge tells its history …<\/p>\n

“The first medieval bridge built in 1235 replaced the ford and ferry.\u00a0 It became ruinous and dangerous in the 17th century owing to frequent floods.\u00a0 The current seven arch bridge was completed in 1674 and was the sole bridge from source to mouth of the Tyne to remain standing after the severe flood of 1771.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Back to 2023…\u00a0 Our coffee needs were met by the Corbridge Larder caf\u00e9.\u00a0 A board promoted their 27 varieties of tea…<\/p>\n

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… but the interesting bit was the bottom left corner<\/p>\n

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Just like Amsterdam!\u00a0 (CBD being cannabidiol.)\u00a0 While it can be added to certain cosmetic products, I didn’t think adding CBD to foodstuffs was strictly legal in the UK!<\/p>\n

So there you have it.\u00a0 The tale of two bridges… plus a pair of posh cream boots, a pair of shoes, a new jumper, a pair of trousers, a bunch of dried pampas grass and a dress!\u00a0 Oh, and a conveniently sized package containing a metal wall hanging!<\/p>\n

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We never got to Hexham.\u00a0 But we did spend a very happy afternoon drinking coffee flavoured face lotions and hand cream tea!<\/p>\n

zzzz!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[pmb_print_buttons] On Thursday, we planned to walk on the fells behind Rothbury.\u00a0 The weather was forecast to be fine after a slightly dodgy start.\u00a0 So, Rothbury Golf Club for a bacon and egg sandwich while the morning shower passed! Which… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uk-tour-not-greece"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4438"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4613,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4438\/revisions\/4613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}