The final few miles!

Well we finally made to the end! Although you can't see by the photo with sore aching legs and feet but we made it never the less, and the sun finally came out for the final few hours of walking! Andrew was also in good spirits as we were stopping at the same campsite so he didn't have to carry the tent etc on his back on the last day! When we got to Bowness-on-Solway we found the Pub was shut until 4pm and we had got their at 12.30ish and our bus was at 2pm so we took advantage of the bench below the finish point looking out on the Solway sitting in the sunshine trying to dry our feet off as they had got very wet today trudging through lot's of standing water along the route! It was quite a week with quite a lot of highs of fantastic views and a great sense of achievement and a few lows with aching feet and legs, blisters etc but nether the less a great week and really worth while and the bonus that less than fortunate kids will benefit from it.

When we got back to the campsite it was sunny enough for the owner to cut the grass and he had made a very good job of cutting around our tent, when he saw us he made us a celebratory cup of tea, which was very much appreciated, so thank you West View Campsite! We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the sunshine looking towards the mountains of the Lake District contemplaiting what we had just achieved!



Flood Tide warnings! It was amazing watching how fast the tide comes in along the Solway, not high enough to flodd the road on the day we were there though!



Last long haul from Burgh by Sands to Bowness...a very long road!


End of the Walk at Banks, Bowness on Solway.

Day 6

Another long day which has taken us down off the hilly bits past
Carlisle following the river Eden. There is less evidence of the wall
but the ditch is still noticeable in places. The day was full of
sunshine and showers and a short burst of thunder shortly before we
reached camp! The last few miles of today were very undulating which wasn't much fun on our already tired legs so it was good to see a sign to our campsite saying it was only a mile away but a mile can be a very long distance when your legs don't want to move any further! The last half a mile along the road to the campsite seemed to take forever, however when we got to camp the owners were very friendly and made us feel really at home and made us a cup of tea and let us sit in their conservatory rather than sit squatted in our tent.

Day 5

Well after a very long day which started with us climbing back up on
to the crags where we left the wall yesterday and stopping for a cup
of tea at Birdoswald fort where last year we came across the Hadrains
wall walk we finally made it to the campsite with sore tired legs!


Heading down to the river before climbing up to Birdoswald Fort where we stopped for a well deserved bowl of soup and sandwiches!

Day 4

Well today was hard work lots of crags to climb but the views were
worth it. We also gave an offering to Mithras at his temple when we
passed by and was rewarded with a day of sunshine! We also visited Housesteads Fort which was quite a place and sat for a break at Sycamore Gap which is where they filmed the meeting of Kevin Kostner and Morgan Freeman in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. Due to the steep drops from the crags there was no ditch built along a large stretch of this part of the walk. It is quite amusing as you pass some of the mile castles in this section as it would have been impossible to pass through the northern gateways due to the sheer drops on the other side, it seems a mile castle was built every Roman mile, whether it was appropriate or not!


Mitras's Temple..thank you Mithras!



Milecastle Number 37


Sycamore Gap, no sign of Robin Hood!!

Day 3

Well the rain stayed off most of the day and we made good progress and
saw some large sections of the ditch and valum, and at the end of the
day we visited Chesters roman fort which was quite an impressive
structure with a large part of the walls remaining in particular the bath house which has particulaly high sections remaining. We also found a very nice oasis at St Oswalds tea shop where we had a very nice cup of tea and baked potato for lunch which was quite fortunate as the previous place where it showed a tea stop symbol was closed and we were to early for the pub! We also got to see the first real visible remains of a mile castle (19) although covered in turf still obviously visible, although stood on it was a group of cows, which looked quite amusing as though they were gaurding it! Tomorrow the hilly sections begin!



Cows gaurding Milecastle number 19



Bath house at Chesters, possible lockers for the soldiers clothing before entering the bathing rooms.

Day 2

Well end of day two which has taken us through the rest of Newcastle up onto the line of the wall itself at heddon on the wall which of course was a photo opportunity! We found a well placed cafe and filled ourselves with tea and cake before heading on. We then picked up the line of the ditch and the valum, the wall itself was not visible at this point and after realising that if we sped up we could get to the pub in time for food so we sped past the reservoirs to the call of food. We managed to get to the Robin Hood inn just in time for a very needed pub lunch! Just a few miles on we reached our campsite and a well earned rest and a chance to dry off after getting caught in a downpour! We also used our poles for the first time today, and although at first we felt a little silly I hate to say it but within a very short time we realised how much of a help they are when you are carrying everything you need on your backs!



First time setting up camp, something we got used to doing quite efficiently!

Day 1

Well end of day one and a bit of an adventure to say the least! After
arriving at kings cross to find nothing going further than Doncaster
so thanks to Virgin and Northern rail for rescuing we got there via carlisle only 3
hours later than intended! Well we have done the first 8 miles which
went well apart from a few sore spots from my rucksack! Tomorrow is
about 13 miles and we get to see the first real bit of the wall. The first section of the walk was all road and pavement walking which is always harder than walking on softer ground, at least there was some interesting structures along the way to keep our minds off our suffering bodies!


Baltic Art Centre




Cranes at Swan Hunter ship yard at the start of the walk next to the Segedunum Fort.