I did it (my way)

Well, I’ve finished the walk. My favourite part, the middle bit across the crags where you can actually see what a feat of engineering the wall was. I could easily image Roman legions marching along the military road. To me it felt like I was walking in the footsteps of history. Buried for 2000 years the landscape is still offering up evidence of what life was like for these men. Beautiful pieces of jewellery, glass, pottery, coins and much more.

My least favourite part – the rain. After great weather for the first six days, it rained steadily for most of the next day. Damp drizzle making the fields a muddy quagmire (and there are a lot of fields to cross). At least it wasn’t cold. The second day of rain was something else again – a steady stream of water that didn’t let up. Thank goodness for wet weather gear.

The final leg provided challenges of its own – tree felling just outside of Carlisle meant a 30 minute diversion to cover what should have taken 10 and then having to cross a busy motorway because the underpass was under water and I didn’t plan on swimming.

Sadly there are no pieces of the wall on the last section of the walk except in the walls of houses and churches in the villages on the route. It didn’t matter, I had a sunny day and I walked into Bowness with a smile on my face because I had made it.

Now it’s time to hang up the muddy and smelly boots and be a tourist for a while.Read more