Day 17 of Hadrian's Wall Walk

I'm doing a giveaway this week! Comment here and on the post for the past few days for an entry.

More info here.

ps Thanks for all your comments!
******

Yesterday was our 17th and final day!! of our Hadrian's Wall Walk.

We started in March of last year, while we were still living in Newcastle (where the wall started), and every so often had gotten on a bus or train to take the trail alongside the wall (though more often we were walking alongside where the wall once stood) that the Roman emperor Hadrian had built in AD 122.

I took a lot of pictures of flowers that day, for inspiration for my felted creations, here's two of my favorite!





I'm a city girl, and I'm fascinated by wildlife, so I take a lot a lot of pictures of cows. Here's the first ones we saw that day.



It might not surprise you that I loooove taking pictures of sheep.





Here we are, about to cross a very long stretch of road (a causeway, but fortunately we arrived during low tide), ready to face two miles of cows.





Our first view of Solway Firth! Solway Firth is water that forms part of the border between England and Scotland.




We got closer ...




And we made it!


Here we are! Probably the most unsuitably dressed hikers, and a bit ragged and tired from 10 miles of walking, but very happy!


And the last view of Solway Firth before we headed back.


The End.

Days 15 - 16 of Hadrian's Wall walk.

Last weekend we continued with our coast-to-coast walk. We were out of shape, and I think spent more time in cafes and restaurants than walking, and I'm pretty sure I gained some weight, but as a result I had a very nice few days.

I'm a city girl, so I took a lot of pictures of animals on Friday.

The first lambs we saw that day.


And the first cows



And the first horses



On Saturday our feet hurt, so we took a very short walk, most of which was along the river Eden.

Because there was some light rain and because buses didn't run into or out of Carlisle on Sundays we spent some time looking around the city.

The organ at Carlisle Cathedral.

This is the guildhall museum, a very tiny, free museum in a wonderfully crooked 500 year old building. The museum is mainly about the history of Carlisle's trade guilds.


Carlisle Castle.


Part of the castle is over 900 years old, some of it being altered in the 14th and 19th century.

During Monday's walk, starting from where the river Eden runs along the city, ...




Mud! As Jessamy was trying to find the least muddy part to cross I decided to just walk through it as quickly as possible.

Big mistake. I took a few tentative steps. Then put my right foot into the dirt. As my foot was sinking into the mud I quickly took a step with my left foot. It too sank. As I tried to take my third step my foot came completely out of the shoe. I was going to ask Jessamy for help, but when I looked over she was already bent over, laughing hysterically. After some awkward balancing and one sock in the mud I managed to force both shoes out of the mud.

Fortunately we only had a few minutes walk to the bus stop.


A little church in the town of Beaumont, where we waited for the bus.

And lastly one of my favorite pictures of the trip.

Day 14 of Hadrian's Wall Walk

Happy Halloween!

Today was Day 14 our our coast-to-coast walk.
The weather report for today predicted clouds in Newcastle and rain in Carlisle.
We decided to take a risk and walk, even though at this point in the journey we're closer to Carlisle than Newcastle.

We were only rained on briefly, and fortunately were armed with two umbrellas, so weather-wise it turned out just fine. I found myself singing several times during the course of the day, so I think that means I enjoyed myself.

Just to shake things up a bit I'll start at the end.

The last thing we saw was Lanercost Priory. A portion of the priory, built in the 12th century, has been restored and is currently a working church. The rest has fallen into ruins.
Complete with tombs.
And, oddly enough, the disrepair hasn't stopped two burials, with two "recent" tombs, one dating from the Victorian age.



At first we thought this was just a random little gate as there was no signage near it. After a few minutes of walking though we saw a sign on the other side of this wall and realized we should have gone through it to continue on the path. Still no explanation why it's so small. I think we ended up deciding it was made by the English gnomes.


A furry cute cow.
Rain cloud!

This is the start of our trip, at the Birdoswald fort which we saw last time. This is the site of an old orchard which they are in the process of reviving. It was one of our shorter walking days, with the trip being only 4.3 miles and just under 4 hours. But, if there is a next time we will probably make up for it as Carlisle is only 12 miles away!

Day 9 of the Hadrian's wall walk

Yesterday was Day 9 of our Coast to Coast walk.

After an hour's ride on the Hadrian's Wall bus we arrived at Chester's Roman Fort. So far this is my favorite ruin museum. Like Housestead you could walk around in the ruins, but there seemed to be a lot more things to see at Chesters, and the signs were better.

I think we ended up spending two hours there.

Here's me in the baths.


And Jessamy


We had learned all about the baths when we visited Bath 5 years ago. It's still amazing though to see how inventive and sophisticated their way of life was. And to think the "western" world is just now starting to use under-floor heating (hypocaust) again.

This is the barracks. It was built in the built in the 2nd century AD (the rest of the fort was built around the time of the wall, AD 122). They are not the original barracks but that doesn't detract much from the impressiveness.


A stable along the road.

After the fort we went to Chesters Walled Garden. It was established in the 1990s, but I got the impression there was an old ruin of a garden here previously.

They had a small dye plants section. Unfortunately their signs were faded from the light, or gone entirely. So I don't really know what these plants are, but we did buy a guide, so now I have a list of dye plants that grow here.

Then it was off to the path.

We were already tired at this point, having not done any of our coast to coast walk for a month, so we decided to cut the walk a little short from 5 miles to what we think is 2.

Good thing too, because it started with this hill:


The walk was pleasant an uneventful until:


Yes, that is a cow right where we were supposed to enter the field, and you can just see to the right of the picture two other cows. As soon as I realized what our predicament was I started laughing in what closely resembled hysteria. The last walk's experience still fresh in my mind. I'm a city girl, and those cows are big. If people didn't have pain inducing tools cows would really have no cause to fear us. Fortunately Jessamy was braver than I was and she went over the ladder first. The cows of course backed away as soon as we walked across the ladder, as I "logically" knew they would.

Before we knew it, and about 45 minutes of walking, we had come to the next bus stop. We had a tough decision to make at this point. We could gamble on reaching the next bus stop, which was around 3 miles, we guessed, away, or somehow kill over two hours until we could catch the bus that would bring us home. Fortunately I realized that even though the next bus (and the only one that stops around there) wouldn't be going to Newcastle, it would be going to Hexham, where haven't actually visited yet.


But before the bus came I was able to get a quick picture of the countryside.

Hexham was a cute town.

It's claim to fame is that it holds the first purpose-built prison in England, and it's abbey.

It was much bigger on the inside than I thought. I was particularly impressed by it's organ which we were fortunate to hear a little of.

Another highlight of the abbey was thirteen century stone stairs, which were worn and indented from centuries of use.

Shortly after looking at the abbey we caught the bus back home, slightly sunburnt but happy.