(Walked from 10.00-16.00 incl. 1hr stops)
After spending the night in Wylam, in the morning I had a very filling breakfast with all you
can ask and dream of. Had a
lift from Dad Craven to Heddon on the Wall and here had my first view of the wall's remains.
 |
| Remains of Hadrian Wall at Heddon on the Wall |
Not long after starting the day’s walk I crossed paths with
the other guests from the B&B – they were walking West to East. The day’s walk was really nice, with
spectacular views.
The path is
very well signposted and I had a read from my guide book (Hadrian's Wall Path,
Anthony Burton) here and then to make sure I missed nothing from the point of
view of sightseeing. Today the path started being dotted by stonewalls which
you have to climb (over steps made of stone sticking out the wall itself)
sometimes hard to negotiate if you have to balance it with a backpack on your
shoulders. There were also some ‘deer stiles’ as I call them. These are tall
wooden steps (like step ladders) going over the stonewalls and stepping down on
the other side. Again a little giggling act when negotiating them with a
backpack on your back. Also slowing you down considerably in your progress.
After
reaching the Robin Hood (nice to know that they also have rooms to sleep and
serve food every day till 9pm!*) the path turns quite hard underfoot with some
crashed stones which feel hard and pointy under the boots soles!
I crossed
the reservoir, popped in the hide but there was no sign of any birds. Kept on
walking and lots of fishermen on the other side of the road. From now on
the path is on the ditch of the wall. Effectively you are walking below the
road level and the view is not always there. Back in the old day’s ca.1700 or
before, the old roman wall (Hadrian wall) was used as a base foundation for the
military road as the wall was so straight it provided a perfect path. Therefore
even though you cannot really see the wall you are walking next to it, in the
ditch! Here the path was rather wet and fortunately on some stretches you are
walking on some flagstones which make it easier and less wet to walk. One of
the benefits was that the vegetation was sheltered and provided a good habitat
for what I believe being the Early-purple Orchid (see picture below and feel
free to correct me if you know better). Once you emerge from the ditch the
views open up again and they are fantastic.
 |
| Early-purple Orchid |
 |
| Walking on flagstones |
You also get
the opportunity to ‘see’ where the old wall (Vallum) was. You go by some large
boulders/stones and b4/ after you see fields all knobbly that clearly are
covering something larger once underneath.
Here you can
see the long wide line of what once was Hadrian Wall. From Wall Houses the path is also filled with
kissing gates and then later there become stone steps over the stone walls.
Some are pretty steep and hard to negotiate if you are carrying a backpack and
are short-ish. They also make the walking slower and a bit harder. [I’m
told after Chollerford/Chester Fort the walking really becomes harder and full
of ups/downs!]. Something to look forward for the next tranche!!
I will avoid
talking about the B&B in Corbridge. Just avoid the Hayes (see Travel
Advisor for comments and make your mind up). Retrospectively I really regretted
not taking the train from Corbridge to Wylam and stay an extra night at the
(Wormald House) that way I could have also left my backpack and spent the
night in a lovely B&B. Never mind.
