Walking Across England / Hadrian's Wall - Day 3

Apologies for the photo-heavy post but this was one of most rural parts of the English countryside I had ever found myself wandering through. It had to be fully documented.

Welcome to the third instalment from a recent hike I did from coast-to-coast across England following the 2000-year-old ancient Roman wall. Please check out my blog if you want to read the previous days first!

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We managed to survive the night faintly sheltered from the pounding winds. Awoken by fellow trekkers that were shocked to see us in sleeping bags in the middle of nowhere. As we snoozed I had a look at the forecast. My heart skipped a beat. Rain all day long. I didn't know whether that made me want to get up and moving as soon as possible or hunker down and imagine that it wasn't going to happen.

Packing up our sleeping gear

Remains of a turret along the wall

It was rather fortunate we stopped when we did because very shortly after recommencing our voyage we came across some of the first Roman turret ruins. Although it could have made a rather special wild camping spot if you could have coped with a hard, gritty floor.

The rain that I had been fearing from the safety of camp didn't seem as bad as I had thought. The weather had actually improved from the night before but a damp, blustery headwind remained. Visibility wasn't too great either but it gave quite a cool atmosphere to the scenery. We were starting to realise that this was going to be an absolutely gorgeous day of walking.

Someone else enjoying the weather

Yet another turret

Our suspicions were confirmed when we came across the first big chunk of wall. It was a lot larger and more well preserved than the piece we found the day before and really gave us a sense of scale. The surrounding landscape we were immersed in also gave it extra pertinence.

We now found ourselves hiking along an impressive ridge with a treacherous plunge to one side. The Romans had definitely picked a very strategic location to build their border defences. As we continued onwards, it became apparent to us that we were going to be tracking the real original wall in all it's glory. The Hadrian's Wall adventure had well and truly begun!

Hey, look! A 2000-year-old wall!

Yeah, just some more wall

I don't think this is the original wall but it certainly looks cool

The amount of moisture in the wind slowly began to reduce and our clothes actually started to dry out a little. Things were looking up. We squelched our way through a rather wonderful wooded section. The breeze whistled through the branches. Some respite from the conditions was welcomed.

As we exited the woods we were confronted with a rather stupendous sight. An extremely thick and well-kept section of wall leading directly to a huge geometric structure atop the next hill. My buddy Jack recognised where we now were as he had recently done a whirlwind touristic trip of some of the local highlights with his family - albeit in a car. We took the opportunity to scramble onto the wall. Possibly a bit disrespectful but we felt like we had earned it by this point as we were now well over 50 miles (80km) into this voyage. However, we didn't take into account just how exhausted our legs were and how slippery the wall was. After a short photo op we very cautiously lowered ourselves back to the safety of the surrounding mud.

Hiking on top of the wall to the remnants huge fort

Exploring the grand fort

Pretty cool to imaging what this would have looked like in it's heydays

After having a good look around the expansive fort we continued onwards. It was at this point we bumped into a rather spritely New Zealander who had apparently been hiking on his own for the last 3 weeks. The best part about him was the fact he was wearing shorts. What a hero. He was the injection of inspiration we needed to quell any negative thoughts we were having about completing this challenge in the four days we were aiming for.

The next highlights that awaited us were another smaller fort which appeared to have an integrated archway and another cliff slicing through the scenery. This time it plunged into a lake of sorts. Luckily for us the trail tracked along the top and we got some breathtaking glimpses over the edge. There were actually some moments where the footpath felt quite dangerous. Almost as if it was a proper mountain hike. No one of us took a fall, thankfully.

Making headway on the trail again

Smaller fort remains with archway

Shadowing the original wall again with some nice grass on top

Imposing cliff further along the trail

You can tell how windy it was from this vantage point atop the cliff

Leaving the touristic hotspot behind we found ourselves plunged back into desolate landscapes with no other humans in sight. I think we both preferred it this way. However, that wasn't to last for too long. We were soon to arrive at the famous Sycamore Gap. Don't worry, I didn't know what it was either. It is a section of the wall which has a solitary sycamore tree sitting at the base of a depression in the landscape. What made it well-known was due to it being used as the filming location for a scene in one of the Robin Hood movies. A randy local had excitedly shown us clips from YouTube the day before.

The steps down to the tree were quite daunting. My new boots seemed just about up to the challenge. Breaking a leg out here would be rather unfortunate. Jack decided it was a good time take a break and make some hot food next to the tree. Instant noodles were the only item on the menu. Better than nothing. I made my way into some of the biscuits (cookies) I had been hauling on my back for the last three days.

Approaching Sycamore Gap

The famous tree

Sycamore Gap as seen from the other side

The hyper-rural landscape of the national park we had been walking through was beginning to come to an end. The hills were settling down and the horizon opened up. We were targeting a town called Haltwhistle which was a few miles off of the actual official trail but we were desperate for some talcum powder for our feet.

Before splitting away from the track we were gifted the sights of even more beautiful scenes. Even more cliffs. I wondered how they were formed out there. More gorgeous ruins. This was the day that just kept on giving. The visuals of the wall dipping and diving over the rolling hills really was something to behold. A cool flooded quarry topped of our trail experience as we made our way onto the road into town.

A rather beautifully preserved turret or fort - not quite sure

More dramatic scenes

Horizon expanding

Looking back on our steps

An old flooded mine on the wall (not Roman era though)

Walking along roads felt strange and dangerous although the traffic was light. Our thoughts were solely on getting some warm chips (fries) and some talc. The town was at the bottom what seemed to be a valley. Our legs loved the easy ride down into our sanctuary to-be. Although a strange thing started to happen. As the distance to our destination decreased, the effort it took to cover half of the remaining length felt more and more difficult. It was almost as if we would never get there. I find my mind plays weird tricks on me when I'm doing big endurance challenges and I start affixing set goals.

We arrived. We stocked up on Coke, crisps (chips) and heading to the chip (fries) shop. As always, we didn't settle for one portion and ended up with two big bags each. Delicious. After briefly warming up and getting some food in our bellies it was now time to head out again. On the way out of the town we passed a sign stating that it was the 'middle of Britain'. We had a look at the map and realised we were bang on the middle of the country. A nice bonus bit of trivia to add to our tale.

It was now full-blown night and we still had a way to go before we felt comfortable with the distance we'd have to travel for our last potential day. Along the route, we walked down some very long straight roads and then diverged from the road onto a footpath that shadowed the original wall. I recognised a section from a YouTube video I had watched which someone had made documenting their trip. I was surprised I did bearing in mind it was almost pitch black.

Somewhat creepy fort remains at night

Drawing depicting what the wall turrets may have looked like

Yet again, we were traipsing down a very, very long and very, very straight section of road. It was now gone midnight. We had no idea what was inspiring to us undertake such an arduous task but we were doing it nonetheless. We came across a hedgehog in the middle of the road and helped get them back to the safety of the verge. The remains of a turret appeared and seemed to have a nice ground surface. There was also some good obstruction of visibility from the road. We didn't want to be awoken in the night by angry locals.

With almost 22 miles in the legs this would be the spot we'd sleep that night. On a piece of grass. Sandwiched between two ancient Roman walls.

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Thanks,
Joseph