Walking The Wall

An Inquisitive Sheep on the Hadrian’s Wall Walk

We picked probably the best time to undertake the 84 mile walk from coast-to-coast from Bowness on Solway to North Shields on the Northumberland coast. June is a benign month, and we were not likely to have to endure adverse weather as we trekked along the Hadrian’s Wall trail for the vast bulk of our walk. While most walkers opt to undertake the journey from East to West, we considered it would be preferable to have the prevailing wind benefiting us, rather than not. In the mid-section of our hike on a breezy day, several walkers coming from the East commented to this effect.

Another reason from my point of view was to finish on the Northumberland coast and have time to enjoy the delights of the vibrant city of Newcastle over the weekend.

Hadrian’s Wall was built on the instructions of the eponymous Emperor in 122 A.D. as a defensive fortification to keep the Caledonians at bay. There are the remains of forts, mile castles, turrets and settlements all along the route and at one time, they deployed 10,000 soldiers along the ramparts.

We travelled by train, going from Newcastle across to Carlisle through many of the places we would later be walking. As we were staying outside of Carlisle, we had a warm-up walk to the pretty little village of Rockcliffe, beautifully located on a river bluff above the Eden estuary as it meanders into the Solway Firth.

We planned to stay two nights at the well-appointed air B&B cottage as we would take a bus out to the coast at Bowness on Solway and walk back towards Carlisle.

Several others were starting their walk and took the bus with us. We chatted with a young couple who were camping along the way and a couple of more mature years who were doing what we were doing, my wife and I and our friend Alan, which was staying at various places along the route.

The mountains of the Lake District were peeping out of the murk to the south while the hills of Dumfries & Galloway over the Solway Firth lay to the north as we left the official start point, having stamped our “ Hadrian’s Wall passports.”

The Clean and Beautiful Tyne just outside Newcastle

I had dipped my toes into the waters of the Solway Firth and proposed to do the same at North Shields in a few days. The terrain was relatively flat, with fields of tufty grass supporting grazing cattle and multitudes of seabirds, including scores of egrets on the mud banks at low tide. In the distance to the north was a wind farm, and the outline of an immense building, which appeared to be a power station, lay on the horizon.

Five and a half miles on, we came across a little place in Drumburgh with an honesty box where we could help ourselves to ice creams from the fridge. At lunchtime, the Greyhound pub at Burgh by Sands popped up just at the right moment for a beer and a shared Ploughman’s.

Walking was straightforward, but we ended up doing sixteen miles, which was probably a little too much. We concocted a simple, tasty meal from the store cupboard provisions and had a glass of wine but were all in bed by 9.45 pm, tired but looking forward to the next day’s challenge.

Six miles east of Carlisle on day two, we found another little place with an honesty box for a coffee break. This was very pleasant walking, through the Eden Valley and then into some undulating countryside and at one stage through a beautiful tunnel of blackthorn blossom amidst the rolling verdant meadows. Sheep and cattle gazed at us and then returned to their grazing.

We did another day of 16 miles and then took a cab to the pre-booked accommodation at the Blacksmith’s Arms in Talkin village.

A full Cumberland breakfast after a wake-up call by the resident peacock set us up for the day and our taxi man from the previous evening dropped us at our starting point.

It was a pleasant day with a mix of clouds and blue sky, not too warm and ideal for walking.

We made it to Birdoswald Fort by noon and stamped our passports as we took a brief rest. Hiking on through a beautiful mix of rolling pastureland and wooded copses, we headed on to Gilsland for a swift lunch break. The afternoon offered some challenging hills. Weary after fifteen miles, we caught a convenient bus into the small town of Haltwhistle marketed as the centre of Britain.

Our little shepherd’s hut accommodation was tight for three, but it was okay for one night. While showering in the tiny bathroom, care was required to avoid bashing knees and elbows.

The next day would be a tough assignment according to what we heard from travellers walking westwards. It was cool and overcast in the morning, which was good for what we had in store. There were lots of steep and challenging climbs and descents, and the landscape had changed into an upland moorland wilderness. We stopped briefly at the trig point about 1000 feet up and also at the iconic Sycamore Gap, with its lone sentinel tree. We met and chatted with quite a few intrepid hikers on this toughest and highest section of the trail. These fellow walkers were very amiable, demonstrating the camaraderie which comes from sharing a challenging physical experience.

The Iconic Tree at Sycamore Gap

We ended up walking 20 miles, staggering the last mile into Humshaugh and finding the Crown pub for a quick couple of pints before we took a taxi to Hexham, where we were staying at the Station Inn. Jude, my wife, fainted at the pub because of a combination of low blood pressure, exhaustion, and dehydration, but luckily soon recovered. It had been a tough day.

Jude decided not to walk the next day, but would take a bus and meet us later.

After catching a local bus to pick up the trail, Alan and I strode out towards Heddon on the Wall. Alan was struggling with boots bought online and therefore not previously worn in. He was uncomfortably losing both big toenails, which was not helping matters. The start of the day was a steep three-mile uphill section, but then we were into an area of gently undulating farmland and wooded sections. Walking across a ridge, we came out onto the road at Postgate, where we stopped for a coffee.

The strong breeze at our backs enabled us to make good progress. We found the convenient Robin Hood pub after about 9 miles of walking. It was around one o’clock so ideal for a lunch break.

After a full afternoon of walking, we reached Heddon on the Wall, finding the Three Tuns pub just as Jude was coming down the road to meet us.

The Three Tuns was a cracking little pub right next door to our accommodation for the night, which was a converted garage offering two bunks and a single bed, a small kitchenette and a shower room. Perfectly acceptable, and certainly more spacious than the shepherd’s hut.

We watched some Test cricket for a while before having a decent pub supper.

The Friday walk, we found, was more straightforward than the previous day’s challenging terrain. It involved hiking down the slope towards the Tyne valley, meandering through three separate wooded areas, across a golf course and finally down to the picturesque river. It was then simply a matter of following the riverside path until we came to the outskirts of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. We walked through Blaydon and down the Scotswood Road, which had us all remembering the lyrics about lads and lasses, with their smiling faces, ganning to the Blaydon races.

It was by now a beautiful sunny day, and the metalled level path made for easy walking. We enjoyed an indulgent lunch break at a trendy little Sicilian-Italian café called Liosi’s. Salads and tapas washed down with a beer Moretti or two was the order of the day.

With 12 ½ miles under our belts and with 2 ½ to go to Wallsend, we had a final pit stop in the sunshine at St Peter’s wharf. The walk then took us through central Newcastle. It was a busy, sunny Saturday afternoon as we walked under the iconic road and rail bridges over the Tyne and further along the Millennium pedestrian bridge over to Gateshead.

An impressive sailing boat was heading downstream, along the sparkling blue Tyne, passing a couple of gleaming gin palaces moored on the quay. Several city-centre bars and riverside cafes were doing a roaring trade in the June sunshine. A vast Paddy Power sponsored fan zone was undergoing final preparations for the Euro football tournament, which was starting the next day.

Reaching Central Newcastle upon Tyne

We were soon out of the city and surprisingly in a green and pleasant riverside area with no real evidence of decaying ancient industrial buildings of any sort that we might have expected. There was a series of signs advising people not to go onto the foreshore, as a former tar manufacturing operation had caused some pollution, but otherwise, the river was pristine. Several anglers we spoke to vouched for the quality of the water and the fishing.

We found the Wallsend Roman forts, which meant that we had walked our 84 miles down the Hadrian’s Wall Trail, but we had a few further to go to complete the full coast-to-coast journey. A weary hour further on saw us reach the North Shields ferry terminal to cross to South Shields and our accommodation for the night.

South Shields looked good in the afternoon sunshine. I was expecting signs of urban decay and human deprivation, but it seemed a vibrant place with people readying themselves for an early summer Saturday evening out.

Our route to our Air B&B accommodation took us down a street where there were probably 15 curry houses. We selected a good-looking place and booked our celebratory “end of tour” meal for a little later.

Our apartment was only a couple of hundred yards from the beach, so we walked down to complete the coast to coast, congratulating each other on our achievement of walking across England.

It was then time for a shower, a couple of beers and a curry. Wonderful.