HADRIANS WALL Aug 2010
I'd been saving Hadrian's Wall to squeeze in to a long weekend somewhere if and when things became quiet (ish) at work. The opportunity arose in early August just after I got back from exercise and prior to going away on overseas tasking.
I started from the Newcastle end having endured an "interesting" train journey the evening before.... Suffice to say "celebrity" David Guest (no, me neither) spent an hour on the phone explaining to a restaurant just how he wanted his dinner cooking that evening, how to make Thousand Island Dressing and that he would like to start with Can Apes. An exasperated fellow traveller eventually pointed out that the word is "canapes"... So much for the quiet carriage. I digress.....
The weather for the walk was initially very good and I set a slightly ridiculous pace on the level ground on way out of Newcastle. The Wall itself appears a couple of times during the first day however it's not until the second day, from Chollerford heading West, that both the landscape and the Wall remains become more impressive. Again, it's obviously a big tourist attraction so there are sections that are busy but generally speaking it's pretty quiet on the remoter sections and the peace and quiet coupled with the views are fantastic.
Having stayed in a YHA hostel in Greenhead I set off for Carlisle on Day 3. The weather soon turned grim and the walking from about midday onwards was a generally soggy, grey experience. I'm sure the scenery is great but I couldn't see it! I overnighted in the Carlisle at the YHA and feasted on Subway - the dinner of champions. Sort of. The final day was an early start to get out of Carlisle and up to Bowness. Traces of the wall pretty much disappear on this section and the landscape is flat and fairly featureless. I made it into Bowness at about midday having promised myself lunch in the pub there. Hilariously however the pub doesn't open until 4pm, there's no shop and the bus to Carlisle doesn't come until half 2....
