Falstone to Bellingham

July 23, 2025

We spent two nights at the Pheasant Inn outside Falstone; it was one of those stops where we had nothing planned on the free day. I just wanted to make sure we weren’t stressing Dave’s knee and we had some downtime. We more or less spent the entire day working on the journal, catching up on emails, and trip planning. Dave also did some bicycle maintenance. In the middle of the day we walked into the village of Falstone (1 km away, pop. 214) and split a sausage/bean/cheese panini at the local tea shop. It was weird but my choices were baked beans on my sandwich or mayo - so beans it was.

Falstone is a tiny, cute place with one tea shop, one pub and a church.

Because we ate two breakfasts and two dinners at the Pheasant Inn we got to know our servers, Alice and Manako, two young women, a bit.

In a brief conversation with Alice when I came in to the bar to get a beer, I asked her which cocktail is hardest for her to make. Without hesitation she said it was a Pimm's because she had to cut up a bunch of veg and fruits. So, naturally, the next day I had to order one. She new immediately which customer had ordered it.

Manako was born in Japan so of course we chatted about our recent trip and her family.

We liked the inn, the rooms were comfortable, we loved being able to park our bikes right outside our door, and not to have to climb any stairs. The service was friendly, although a little random. We liked the dinners which were original and varied.

We found several items on the menu that interested us, so much so we had a hard time choosing. We decided to dine there both nights knowing our choices would be excellent.

We also talked to many other guests, because when you are hanging out for two days and everyone is eating at the inn there is lots of time to interact! We met John, an archeologist and a poet, who had some great tips on our upcoming visits to the sights associated with Hadrian’s Wall. We talked to a couple, Barry and Linda who were there on a visit with their two grandsons. And we also visited with Robin and Sjoerd, a Dutch couple. They were kind enough to write out some ideas for us for our trip to the Netherlands in September: our route is not yet fixed so I will be devouring their ideas on my next “free” day.

The friendly and very helpful Dutch couple, Robin and Sjoerd

The following morning we had a very easy one hour ride to Bellingham (17 km), riding back through Falstone, but I had made up for the easy cycling day by throwing in a hike to Hareshaw Linn waterfall once we arrived. We left a little after 10 am and had a great ride on a beautiful tiny road passing lots of farms with hillsides that were inevitably replete with sheep. The Fountain Cafe and Rooms had our room ready so we were able to check in, change and get our bikes stashed away before going on our hike.

Calling Falstone a village might be a bit of an exaggeration.

The bike storage here is in the old mortuary.

Entering the mortuary. (Asking for the keys to the mortuary is frighteningly fun.)

The resident mortician watches carefully over our bikes.

The mortuary had an outlet so we were able to charge our bike batteries without hauling the batteries upstairs - which doesn't happen in Britain very often. Our room (114£, the low end of what I can find that seems decent, with breakfast) is quite nice with a wild bathtub that not only has jets but also a tv to watch while you tub! I passed on both the jets and the tv but the hot water was great.

OK. This is a first; a Jacuzzi style tub bedecked with a waterproof, one supposes, TV.

We unpacked and then headed out for our hike, 5.4 km along the Linn River, past some smaller falls, crossing six small bridges, finally arriving at the Hareshaw Linn waterfall. This area was the site of a major ironworks plant in the early 1800s to 1845 so much of the river was dammed. The plant closed in the mid 1850s and was eventually demolished. It’s now a lovely natural area with lichens, mosses and some cool fungus:

Bulgaria inquinans, commonly known as black bulgar, or poor man's licorice.

The hike was cool, lovely and about our speed.

One of the six bridges crossing the Linn on the way to the falls.

There were many different ferns and lichens along the river banks along with the lovely bellflowers.

We ate lunch at the Fountain Cafe afterwards and later had dinner at the Cheviot hotel and Pub. This seemed like the best place to eat but it was definitely on the casual end. We split a pepperoni flatbread pizza and a too warm Shiraz. We had ordered a salmon terrine as our starter, but it came mixed with mayo so Dave got to enjoy that more or less on this own! We noted the correlation between the cost of our accommodations and the cost of dinner: If we stay in an inexpensive place we tend to eat more cheaply but if we stay in a fancy place we go for a nice dinner! Today was good for the budget.

Bellingham - our town — is pronounced “Bellinjum”- if you live in Northumberland. We got that report from several locals here. The town is on the Pennines walking route so most visitors are walkers. The Pennines Way is a 431 km trail running from Derbyshire in the south to the Scottish Borders, running through the Cheviot Hills, which we skirted by going through Kielder Forest.

Today's ride: 17 km (11 miles)
Total: 2,945 km (1,829 miles)

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