Alston

day 26 Saturday afternoon 12 June

After our morning walk on the Eildon Hills with Gail, we drove along nice valleys to England and up onto the moor to Alston in Cumberland. Where did we have lunch?

We left the car at the hostel and walked into town. We asked about Spenceycroft and walked out there, then up the hill and found old Spenceycroft, then down a footpath through fields of sheep to the river and along to the town. We got some cheese from a specialty shop and a quiche on special at the supermarket.

Alston

an old town with steep cobbled streets among wild solitary fells.

The Parish church was built around 1770, and a newer church in 1869.

John Wesley came through this area preaching to lead miners and that was perhaps when our ancestors became non-conformist. Sarah Angus Dickenson met her husband Alfred Scales when he was studying at her uncle's college.

  

The South Tyne Valley/ Derwentwater Estates were granted by the Crown to the Greenwich Hospital in 1735 following the rebellion. The moor master [Thomas Dickinson] collected the rents for the Hospital.

Spenceycroft

Alston hostel overlooks the South Tyne valley on the Pennine coast-to-coast cycle route. 15 miles from Haltwhistle mentioned by Bill Bryson. I was in a separate dorm to Dick but the girl I was sharing with must have moved in with her husband and they left early next day so I had the room to myself. It had 2 women running it and a nice dining area. It was just near the cemetery and we had a beer on the terrace. We met some nice people walking a trail. They were cricket fans and had a narrow boat on a canal.

A local ale at the hostel after a day which included two hillclimbing walks.

It would be nice to stay at Langdon Beck hostel and walk to Alston – 15 miles?