Day 4 - Hadrians Wall

The one with a ram with attitude, a castle and a gorgeous cream tea!

📌 Location: Twice Brewed to Birdoswald
🥾 Distance: 12 miles
☀️ Weather: Not too bad. It drizzled on and off all day but no heavy rain and pockets of sunshine.
⛑️ Health: All good. People have their trail legs now. No blisters or shin splints which is usually the issue by day 4.
🏨 Hotel: The Twice Brewed Inn is the best hotel on Hadrians Wall. Comfy beds, excellent food, a good bar and fabulous customer service. The breakfast is also outstanding. Saying that, they did have problems with their gas tank this evening and therefore we had no hot water for showers or a bath tonight. (Complimentary drinks were offered at dinner).

SUMMARY
Listening to everyone’s “Roses and Thorns” at dinner made me smile. Even though it was a damp day everyone had more “roses” about their day than thorns. From meeting a guy who carried a Roman flag all across the country, to the PUDS. Everyone had a great day.

THE LONG WINDED VERSION:-

🧘‍♀️ 850 am - Stretches in the bar area, led by Lou and then a quick briefing.

☁️ 9 am - It’s been raining all night but as soon as we step outside to start the walk it stops. Phew!

🥾 915 am - Yey! Not long in to the hike and we meet the halfway stage of the trail. Can you believe we’ve walked half way across the UK!

☔️ 930 am - and the rain came! I have my rain jacket and my umbrella up. Thanks fully we have very little wind.

⛰️ These PUDS are steep and very slippery today. I’m walking with the front runners Sue, Ann and Pam. Ann is descending a PUD and slips onto her rear end. I’m concerned for people’s safety and I really don’t want any broken bones on this trip so I send them off to the left to take the Roman Military Road. This cuts out the dangerous section. I wait for the rest of the gang and lead them the same way.

🐮 1023 am - Katie didn’t know that I was right behind her. It’s now raining quite heavy and people are slipping on wet grass. She screams at the top of her voice “Cowpat”. It was so loud that I nearly trod in the cowpat out of fright! From then on we had a giggle shouting “dog poo”, “sheep shit” 😂 (you had to be there moment).

🚻 10.59 am - There are two quarry’s on todays walk and we reach the first one. A little truck is selling hot drinks and we also have toilets here. It’s been drizzling on and off but now it’s quite heavy rain, so out comes my poncho, over my rain jacket.

🌲 1130 am - A group of young army cadets march by us in the woods. They are all laughing and very polite. There must have been at least 20 of them and they were all smiling (even in the rain).

☕️ 1pm - Yey! We made it to the second quarry (Walltown) where we had a break from the elements and enjoyed a sarnie, ice cream and hot drinks. At this quarry they have Hadrians Wall stamps so you can stamp your whole passport, which some people did. Other purchased “I walked the wall”’ t-shirts.

🏰 2pm - The rain has now stopped and we are back to t-shirts. The rain gear has been on and off all day. We stop to admire Thirlwall Castle and Rachael finds her first geocache.!

🐑 2.40 am - I’ve lost count of how many ladder stiles we’ve clambered over today. I find myself in a field with lots of sheep. One big black and white one wouldn’t move from the path and was giving me “the look”. He (it was a ram!) then started walking towards me at quite a pace! I had to use my walking pole and shout a lot to keep him away from me. Yep, this sheep had attitude!!

🍰 3pm - As we made it to Gilsland The owner of Megs Coffee House was putting the signs up saying “cafe closed”. Looking through the window we could see Sue, Ann and Pam (all with big slices of cake and coffee!). They waved and we carried in. Our final destination is about 1.5 miles from here so we will grab a coffee there instead.

This section of trail is wonderful. You see loads of The Wall, mile castles and old Roman forts.

🧁 3.50 pm - Made it! I delved into a warm cream tea with blackcurrant jam. It was a slice of heaven. Yum! Everyone else arrived shortly afterwards.

🚌 5.30 pm - Our mini bus collected us and Lesley the driver drove 10 chatting ladies back to our hotel.

We have the penultimate day tomorrow and the weather is looking ok. For now, I’m making the most of the hotels drying room and cozy bed.

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