HW4
Hadrians Wall - Day 4
WEDNESDAY 20TH JULY 2016:
Another interesting weather forecast for today, the follow through after the heat and humidity : thunderstorms, lightning and heavy rain!. Things don’t look too bad out the window, but brewing. Breakfast is full of walkers, with lots of banter about the weather. I sit next to a family, including a young lad (12 or so?) playing on his phone. Car tourists I think…No, they are walking the Pennine way and 2 weeks into their trek! There is another couple preparing to leave for the next leg of the Pennine Way…they are aged 79! The Pennine Way is 250+ miles and one of the toughest treks, serious stuff. Others in the room are all doing HWP, including the Scottish couple I met yesterday. Vallum Lodge is placed right at the heart of these routes so is a real walkers base and popular so it has an atmosphere of camaraderie, a good place.
Given the forecast I am really not sure to wear but as it is still warm I stick to shorts & T-shirt but keep the wet weather gear to hand. I set off but not far down the road decide to put the mac & trousers on, the skies are getting threatening. I reach the trail and head up steep steps on Steel Rig, a well known crag on the trail. A group of 6 or 7 guys who were at Vallum Lodge follow me up. Views from the top of Steel Rig show menacing cloud and thunder is rumbling, with some lightning in the distance. I move on to the next crag but feel the weather closing in and turn around and decide to camp out at the base to let the weather pass by. “Had enough?” one of the guys in the following group asks as I drop back. “No” I say “but I am not going up there until this has passed, I am staying down here!”. Soon after, the group take the same view, particularly as it starts to rain. It really hammers down. I crouch down beside the wall to get some shelter, the other guys stand around. There is thunder and lightning although it is hard to work out where.
There is a good breeze so the storm blows through and the skies partially clear and we all set off again. This pattern repeats itself a couple of times over the next couple of hours. It really is quite wild. The rain is not a problem but I am just conscious of lightning, I don’t want to be walking along high hills if there is lightning around. It seems more focused on the larger hills in the surrounding area.
There are quite a few people around (as there were yesterday) clearly these are the dramatic portions of the HWP which draw people in, not just those doing the whole walk. There are some stunning views for all to enjoy, although a different flavour today from yesterday, then it was blue skies, now it is swirling grey clouds and mist, sometimes it seems the land is ‘steaming’. I am sure most would not welcome the weather but for me, I quite enjoy it!. The wild weather seems to fit well with the wilderness and it is such a contrast from yesterday I feel I have experienced the 2 ends of the scale….nothing like variety (although half a day quite enough!)
Some of these areas contain icon sights – milecastle 39, sycamore gap – and of course the wall prevalent, stretching over some of the more famous crags – Steel Rig, Highshields and Sewingshields. It really is a spectacular section, arguably the best on the whole HWP. If you see a photo of Hadrian Wall it will probably be from this area
There is another major fort as a stopover today – Housesteads – although I manage to pass it without realising! As it happens I get asked for directions by some walkers coming in the other direction and realise my error (I don’t suggest asking me for directions!). I back track and do a quick visit and get my passport stamp. The main event at Housesteads are the fort remains but the rain is so heavy that I only do a cursory inspection and move on – a bit of a shame as it is probably the most significant fort of them all.
After lunch the weather improves and over the afternoon the skies clear and the sun even peeks through a bit, although it is variable and whilst I put away the over-trousers the mac is on and off a few times. At one point I pass by a car park and there is a mobile coffee shop in a van so I have a hot chocolate and top up with water. The lady provides this all season and is doing a roaring trade. I say a few words to a chap and his family who recognised me from earlier – someone I would bump into a couple of days later.
I leave the hills behind me, the land slowly receding to a flatter plain. The path now is broadly following the Military Road, slaloming either side from time to time, perhaps due to land owner rights, perhaps just for variety. It is now mainly green fields and a bit of woodland but there are constant signs of the vallum (the ‘ditch’ that ran parallel to the wall). Ahead I see a couple of walkers and over time catch up with them, it is the Scottish walkers. I have bumped into them a few times and chatted briefly, today I walk with them for about half an hour, we relive our HWP adventures. They have done a couple of other LDW’s in Scotland before (West Highland Way etc) so are seasoned hikers.
We part ways and I move on, with this ultimately proving to be the last of the really stunning / rural HWP, things are about to change. I reflect on a few things, for example, how long does it take a cow pat to decompose, there are so many of them, surely it must be a while!! Also, I consider all the types of gate/fences I have crossed. I have been through masses of ‘kissing gates’ climbed lots of ladder stiles and a variety of other similar mechanisms for getting over a wall. For some reason, climbing over these features is very satisfying, I have no idea why.
I eventually reach my destination for the day, another English Heritage site – Chesters Roman Fort, near Chollerford, and get my fifth passport stamp. Another interesting site, in particular they have a display of Roman stone items and artefacts recovered by John Clayton, a man from the 1800’s with the foresight to preserve the wall for future generations, without him, things today may look very different.
There is no accommodation based right on the path so rather than walk an extra couple of miles I ring for a pick up from Chesters Fort. A few minutes later I am picked up and delivered to Halburns Lodge, a farmhouse with 4 guest rooms, overseen by Margaret, a marvellous character. A much quieter stay than the night before, plus you have to eat in as there is nowhere else to go! Evening dinner is with 2 sisters from the US, who don’t stop talking, and a couple from Belgium, who barely say a word to each other!. They are doing the walk, the sisters just doing a few bits. They don’t know too much about it, just following a programme by an agent. It is just a trip for them to catch up with each other every year. They are having a ball.
After dinner it is decision time for me. The plan the next day is to walk 15 miles from Chollerford to Heddon, but that leaves me stranded with my luggage for the following day, with a need to reach the airport for mid afternoon flight and certainly no way of completing the trail (which all stems back to the original plan). My solution is to jump forward and stay in Newcastle overnight and use that as a base to walk ‘forward and back’. It is not perfect and I won’t be able to complete the National Trail proper but it is making the best of the circumstances and fitting the most into the time I have. Also, I feel I may achieve more variety. The Chollerford to Heddon walk is going to be fairly pedestrian (excuse the pun) and maybe worth experiencing the urban environment more
With decisions done and plans made I settle down. Nearly 15 miles recorded on Endomondo today
REFLECTIONS ON THE DAY:
Another stunning day, occasionally wild and challenging again, but a real walkers experience
