Titanium Dude’s Hadrian’s Wall Walk

 
I’ve mentioned before, somewhere on this blog (you’ll have to look it up yourselves if you’re that interested) about  how involvement in the TGO Challenge improves the quality and quantity of  a chap’s walking companions.
And so it was with this little expedition. Titanium Dude aka Paddy Burrows, TGO Challenger and yet another Fight Club Hiker, once banned from Trail’s Live for the Outdoors forum – a status which many may well envy…) – announced his intention to walk the Hadrian’s Wall LDP on the Peaceful Hiker Forum and , me, having absolutely nothing better to do, asked to join him for a day or so.

And Lo! it came to pass that I paid the £3 parking fee at Housesteads Roman Fort and wandered Eastwards along the wall in the calculated belief that at some point T Dude would be met coming the other way.
It was sometime after lunch that I arrived at Brocolitia, (site of the temple of Dave Mithras, bull killer and general all-round good-guy as far as Roman Gods is concerned) where there’s a chap selling coffee from the back of a small van in the well preserved Roman Pay and Display Car Park

There, I fuelled my addiction to tasty caffeine and, sure enough, a few minutes later T Dude turned up. We had another coffee and marched off towards Carlisle.
The weather wasn’t great it has to be said – very humid and spitty and the local black flies were, it would seem, on their holidays too.

After trespassing inside Houseteads Fort, and, by using the lie of the land and the walls of a granary, we managed to avoid two individuals in high vis jackets who looked as though they might want to inspect the tickets we hadn’t bought – so we nipped out of the North gate and traversed the outside of the wall to rejoin the path. I noticed that one of the main defences to Houseteads was a sign which said that admission charges applied. This was found to be ineffective, however due to the fact that it wasn’t written in proto-Welsh and the locals weren’t up to reading or obeying rules like that. In fact, we just nipped over the fence. Paddy claimed not to have seen the sign….

A short distance later, i left Paddy to walk on to Winshields Farm whilst I retraced in heavy rain to retrieve the knipemobile from the car park.
We met later on the campsite and withdrew strategically to the Twice Brewed pub for our tea and some beer.
Later, there was snoring and a rude awakening from heavy early morning rain coming through the tent door that I seem to have forgotten to close.

The farm provided breakfast and once more we headed off towards the Solway. More humid stuff – more showers – more blackflies and a few midges later and with lots of up and down work – we eventually arrived at Birdoswald where, after tea in ther cafe, Paddy continued towards Walton and I explored a deep gill to kill time till the bus came.
The AD122 whisked me back to Twice Brewed for the princely sum of £3.80. This is a great bus service by the way – the buses are new since last year and, in theory you could walk the wall by staying in, say, Hexham and just using public transport to return to bas eat the end of each day.

Anyway, I trust Paddy is yet still forging Westwards – he didn’t seem to be having any problems with the route or the walking, so , all things being equal (which they never are, actually…) – its a fair bet he’ll arrive at Bowness on time and with no significant damage.
I have just the one day off to dry my tent, then I’m off again on a little worrif resolution…..
For those intent on just sampling Hadrian’s Wall for a couple of days, the best bit is between Chesters and Birdoswald – in my ‘umble…..
Altogether, I walked 25 miles with 3100 feet up uphill.

Hadrans Wall day 5 Birdoswald to Carlisle

I think that Cumbria is in the North-West of England. Carlisle is, surely, a North-Western city. So, when the weatherman said it will be wet in North-east England, it could be argued that in Cumbria, there wouldn’t be so much rain.
Apparently not. I set off from Birdoswald at 9:00 am in chucking rain and walked for the next five and a half hours in chucking rain, and a further hour in drizzle.
A Kiwi in an unusual jacket and hat I met along the way suggested that England wouldn’t be so nice and green but for the rain. And, as for the mud? Mud? You’ve seen nothing like the mud we’ve got 176 degrees South of here, mate..
As the day continued, the mud got muddier and the fields got more flooded. In parts they were quite shallow – only a few inches. In others, things were getting serious for the worms. I considered taking off my boots and socks before they wetted out completely. Maybe I should have done. Bare feet could well have been just the thing.
Its very soft and sloppy.
I pressed ever Westwards towards the brightening sky. It was just a different colour of rain. I sheltered in a sort of garden hut in a garden at Haytongate. I made a cup of tea, considered the mars bars too expensive at a quid a go and put my money for the tea in the honesty box. I read the messages on the wall. The emperor Hadrian was, apparently complaining about the state we’d left his wall in, and various peope said thanks for the tea… Later, there was a wooden box in a grassy (slightly underwater) lane. Inside the box there were sweeties and crisps and a little dish to put your money in.
It’s a good idea, this, provided nobody nicks anything.
Was the bar at the closed pub in Walltown really an “honesty bar”. I didn’t have time to find out, I had to keep going towards Carlisle and the last bus to Birdoswald. It would be an expensive bus-miss either in terms of extra walking effort or yer actual money.
Eventually, after 18 miles of mud and rain and Himalayan balsam by the riverside – I arrived in Carlisle – and promptly got lost, passing Debenhams three times from different directions.
I caught the AD122 bus back to Birdoswald, though, with 20 minutes to spare. Possibly a close run thing.
Rain? Don’t talk to me about rain….
18 and a half miles and just 700 feet of climbing.
Probably a very nice walk on a sunny day in early September. The brambles are fruiting and the elderberries will be ready in a week or so – so if you want to make wine, there’s absolutely loads of ‘em.
And there’s sloes too….
And very depressed-looking cattle and sheep.
But what of the route – well, it’s easy again. Very easy walking, in fact. Not much uphill at all either, and its still well waymarked. And, apart from the honesty tuck shops, there’s a few pubs/hotels and a farm near Crosby on Eden which does snacks.
The archaeology gradually disappear to just a flooded ditch (maybe not always flooded!) – and then there’s a bit of lane walking, then some nice riverside paths which take the walker into Carlisle without seeing much of the city. It’s a short trundle into the City Centre.
Nearly finished this – just 14 miles to go.

Hadrians Wall Day 4 Housesteads to Birdoswald

Having postponed my walk on Hadrians Wall due to a duff weather forecast, I turned up at Housesteads car park (pay and display £3 for the day) – in heavy rain… well dhuuhhh… Anyway, it soon stopped. Then it started again. Then it stopped..stated ..stopped…. I think you’re probably getting the picture.

I’ve walked this part of the wall many times before, and most of today’s walk coincides with the Pennine Way (wot I’ve also done – see Doodlecat)

There’s a lot of up and down. In fact, it’s up and down like a bride’s nightie – but there is a lorra lorra archaeology, chuck and the actual wall – sometimes as high as eight or nine feet – is followed for closely for most of the way. This includes the absolute classic view of Hadrian’s Wall that appears in all pictures of Hadrian’s Wall. I’ve included one version of the same pic. The cliché bit is about the poor Roman soldiers all lonely in their turrets, gazing out over a brown steppe-like countryside wrapped in their woolly togas, fondling their short swords and thinking of Rome.

I strongly suspect it wasn’t much like this. They were more likely to be thinking of Spain or somewhere else, and there was probably a healthy social life involving celtic beer and naughty ladies. Possibly naughty goats, cos some of the Romans (it is said) were a bit like that. And the countryside was farmed and those to the North weren’t by any means all hostile all of the time.

So it was probably just boring. Doing a stint in a milecastle or a turret would have been deadly dull, cos nothing much happened for ages and ages and ages….

And it’s a little bit like that. Sometimes you can get just a bit too much of the Romans. But it’s The Wall, innit. I mean to say, it’s The Wall.

This is a tough bit, though. I covered a bit less ground than intended. There were attempted muggings by some youthful beef, but I was standing for no nonsense. They soon lost interest and went back to eating the landscape. The ground was also waterlogged with becks in spate. The path isn’t very muddy, though. I think the failure to do the full planned distance was more to do with a late start and all those contours.

Today also crossed the highest point on the wall - Winshiels crag at 345 metres. This categorizes this LDP as a low level walk, (thats what I think anyway) - but walkers, especially thise maybe doing their first LDP, should be aware that this section is harder than anything else. It is the crux of the route, if LDPs have a crux. Take your time on this part, and don't plan it as part of a long day. There's coffee and cakes to be had at Carvoran and Birdoswald and there's a pub just off route near Great Chesters and a pub at greenhead. Take advantage of these. You are on holiday y'know....

I walked for a while with an American with an Osprey rucksack and trail shoes. His opinion was that this was a very beautiful country and , of course, he was right. He knew a lot about the Romans….

At the end, at Bordoswald, I had a coffee and got the AD122 bus back to the Housesteads. This is an excellent service with very helpful and friendly drivers – and it seems to be well used.

Another 12 miles of the wall done – and 1800 feet of up and down.

This is the best section (so far…)

After this I visited Hexham for the supermarket and the petrol and headed off down to Clapham in the Yorkshire Dales for a little bit of caving… more of which in a bit.