Hadrians Wall 2023

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.

Night nightRead more

The one with the impromptu singalong, a car accident and hot water!

📌 Location: Birdoswald to Carlisle
🥾 Distance: 18 miles
☀️ Weather: Dry and warm all day (bit overcast, so perfect walking weather).
⛑️ Health: Everyone is now feeling a little bit sore and tired, but so far, we have zero injuries (or that anyone is admitting too!).
🏨 Hotel: The Station Hotel in Carlisle is a little bit tired, but the staff are amazing and really can’t do enough to help.

SUMMARY:
Today has been a day filled with honesty sheds, gorgeous farmland and lots of livestock (including a field full of baby cows). It was a long day, but also a fairly cruise day which has been flat in most places.

THE LONG WINDED VERSION:-

7.30am - I popped out with Ann to find a geocache that is hidden in the grounds of the Twice Brewed Pub. I was located in the middle of an old beer barrel on top of a small hill. A good way to start the day.

8am - Breakfast was amazing, although the hotel still had no gas, so there were no hot showers and some of the cooked breakfast was limited. Twice Brewed has the biggest selection of fruit ever. They even had a huge bowl of fresh blackberries and the porridge is cooked just right (said the middle bear!).

8.30am - Scott, our mini-bus driver collects us and we are on our way to Birdoswald. There is an impromptu singalong on the bus… the wheels on the bus go round and round. Everyone seems in good spirits this morning.

9 o’clock and we’re off

935am - The walk takes us alongside The Wall for quite a way this morning, but if I am honest,, the novelty of seeing Hadrian’s Wall and the mile castles is beginning to wear off. I stopped taking photos of each turret and fort and just looked at the pictures. The sun is out and everyone is in t-shirts today which is great.

The discussion in the group turns to new words that the kids are using nowadays. Andrea talks about Epicwow! Which becomes a word we use a lot over the next few hours! We arrive in a dark wood and various ladies scoot off to have a “wild wee”. We then stumble upon an honesty shed that is stocked with ice-creams, a kettle, pot noodles, hot drinks etc.

10:08am We reach Banks noise in the background. My god, that donkey sounds in pain!

1039 am - I am now with the front group of walkers (Pam, Ann & Sue) as they reach another honesty shed. This one has a little box of notes where you can write a message and then pin it to the inside of the shed. People have written all sorts of messages and it makes for good reading. I walk with the three ladies until we reach the small village of Walton.

11.30am -We made it to the Reading Room / Teashop in Walton and I order a scone with jam and a cup of tea. I need this! A man comes into the tearoom asking if there is anyone inside with a black mini. The young girl behind the counter (about 20 years old) said “yes, that’s my car”. She looked worried as the man explained that his wife was outside and she forgot to put the handbrake on, and their car had crashed into the mini. The young girl was very upset and went to see the damage. Meanwhile, I devoured a homemade scone, whilst everyone else had a slice of cake and coffee.

1247pm - I will wait here until the last person in the group has arrived and then I will make a move. Lou & Katie arrived next and ordered coffee. Just as they were leaving the “fab four”, which is Andrea, Viv, Lynne & Rachael arrived (actually, you could hear them before seeing them as they are so full of energy and chit chat, it’s a delight to walk with them). I sat with them for a while and then made a move. I have been here for over an hour now and I need to get going. I like walking in-between the groups as I then know where everyone is.

There was not much that happened for the rest of the day, it was just one foot in front of the other. I caught up with Lou & Katie as they had stopped for lunch in a beautiful spot. I then caught up with the front runners and walked all the way to Carlisle with them. We did pop into The Stag pub for a quick drink, and we said hello to the alpacas on a campsite which was super cute.

5.30pm - Touchdown! As I reached the hotel it was full of scaffolding outside which made my heart sink. Inside, everything was fine and the rooms are clean, and more importantly, they have hot running water and we all have an actual bath in our rooms!

Most of the group go out for an Indian meal, and I enjoy a long soak in the bath and a film.

Tomorrow is out last day and we would have walked across a whole country.Read more