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.
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.
A lot more wall today! As we progressed westwards, we found more and more occasions when we could see more of the Roman archaeology. The required pace of today's schedule meant I didn't take many pictures, but here's the Mithraeum at Borocilitia: After a while, the path left the road and we began to climb the crags of the Whin Sill, with the more classic views of Hadrian's Wall with its rugged backdrop. Housesteads Fort mesnty another stamp on the passport. This was the most strenuous part of the walk so far, but we made it to our rendezvous at Twice Brewed with a few minutes to spare.
There's only one photo today. This is partly because it was raining for much of the walk. The other reason is that there weren't any masonry signs of Hadrian's Wall to be seen on today's walk. There were often traces of the ditch on its north side, but then ditched don't photograph that well, and one ditch looks much like another. The best trace of the wall and ditch was here, just after Bleatarn Farm: This was a twelve-mile walk, with a convenient stop-off halfway at the Stag Inn in Low Crosby. After that, the path largely follows River Eden, away from the line of the Wall. We continued to the Sands Centre in Carlisle, to get our sixth passport stamp.
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