Setting off

A new long walk for us! We set off tomorrow on the Hadrian's Wall national trail, after what seems like years of preparation. Here we are at the Spanish City in Whitley Bay, where we had a glass of champagne and a posh fish and chips.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To East Wallhouses

Image
After a short walk along the Tyne, we were able to walk uphill to join the course of the wall again. At (the appropriately named) Heddon-on-the- Wall we were a able to see a proper bit of Hadrian's Wall, with shiny of the Vallum beyond. We had a coffee break at  Bell e Buon  in Heddon and bought a newspaper and some snacks nearby. For today's walk, the wall has been built over by the 18th century Military Road, so there's not a great deal to see - but just here and there are  signs of it at the roadside. Bits of Vallum and ditch come to light. We have had this trip organised by  Contours Walking Holidays , which today meant a pickup from the  Robin Hood Inn .Having arrived there nice and early, we had time for both coffee and beer before pickup.
Read more

To Gilsland

Image
Setting off again from Once Brewed (the name of the place, it is the pub that is called Twice Brewed) we walked up to Steel Rigg and resumed the journey westwards. It continued now across the crags, with many traces of the Wall evident, in places more substantial. The view south of the wall was dominated by the Vallum, with the Roman Military Road between. I thought here to have spotted some quarry pits along the Military Road. By now we are beginning to recognise what a turret or a milecastle should look like. We had seen Milecastle 42 from our accommodation last night but this was closer up. Gradually the crags became lower and the ups and downs less strenuous, but still with impressive bits of the archaeology. The pace of today's walk allowed more time for photos.By the afternoon we were off the crags and following, mostly the ditch, through pasture. This brought us to Gilsland. We are past the summit, the r...
Read more

To Walton

Image
Today was very rainy at first, which meant not many pictures were taken. Thankfully, we were well prepared with wet weather clothes. Stopping at  Birdoswald  was a chance for the rain to clear. It also meant a good look round the Roman fort. Afyer also stopping for a coffee, the weather had indeed improved, although not totally dry for the rest of the day. It was generally a gentler walk, mostly downhill and into better agricultural land.  All the way along the walk we have met many others doing the same walk, mostly chatty, and there is a great spirit of camaraderie among us. Today included charity walkers, many from Invictus going east. One solitary gentleman was doing the walk the fourth year in succession after a new hip. There are still traces of the Roman archaeology, not quite as frequent as on the crags. We arrived at Walton a little early and took tea at a nice tearoom.
Read more