Kielder Forest Plague

The Kielder Forest is very beautiful, however, the midges and mosquito's are not and they come in gangs!

We had to batten down the hatches by 6pm and stay inside so that we did not get bitten by many. Even going to the car in the morning meant getting a few bites and that was also using strong bite repellant.

We went to the Observatory at the Battlesteads Hotel, where we tried to see the stars despite the dense clouds above. We did see two stars but it was hard to see them even with the telescope. It would be much better to go there in winter when the sky is darker, however, the hotel stay overnight was really nice and was mosquito and midge free.

Kielder Water stretches for miles and is a lovely sight from any angle. Many streams and a couple of rivers flow in to it and the heavy rain we experienced during our stay meant that these water sources went from very dry, to a good level with water cascading over the rocks by the time we left.

No mobile or broadband signal for almost twelve miles in either direction meant that we were only reachable when we ventured further away towards civilisation. It brought home to us how much we use Sat Nav as we had to use TWAT NAV or more commonly known as me and a map. Luckily, we only took a couple of wrong turns in the nine days we stayed and in doing so found a couple of nice coffee/tea shops we would not have found otherwise so I was let off for my malfunctions!