Baltic Art Centre

The one with the rain, the funny dog cage and £2k for charity.

📌 Location: Wallsend to Heddon on The Wall
🥾 Distance: 16.2 miles
☀️ Weather: Drizzily all day.
⛑️ Health: Everyone is tired but in good spirits. No health issues.
🏨 Hotel: Last night we stayed at The Leonardo Hotel. Fab rooms with super comfy beds and the breakfast was awesome!

SUMMARY
A long day but we made it to our final destination by 3.50pm. We stopped numerous times, took loads of photos and the group mainly stayed together. We’ve laughed, danced in the rain and enjoyed the day. Let’s hope everyone sleeps well tonight so we can do it all again tomorrow.

THE LONG WINDED VERSION:-

🌄 5.50am - Off I went in the cool morning air and the loud seagulls screaming as I passed by the Baltic Flour Mill thingy. I walked about 1.5 miles along the Tyne River and then on my way back I found a cheeky geocache (it would be rude not too!). My morning photo challenge ✅ and some me time in the bank. I’m feeling ready for the day ahead. Let’s get this sh*t done! (I hear Pat saying!)

🍳 7.22am - Went down for breakfast and was approached by a very stressed looking Viv. “Lynne has lost her bum bag. It has everything inside it from money to cards, ID etc”. Lynne approached and looked rather panic stricken. “We will find it” I tried to reassure her. “It can’t be far”. Viv said that Katie and Lou had just left breakfast and perhaps they picked it up in error. Phew! A quick phone call and we found it! All is ok in the world. For breakfast I had a fry-up, coffee, followed by a muffin and a chocolate pastry thing.

🧘 8.05am - Stretching fun in the bar of the hotel. Squeeze those glutes ! Lovely! Thanks Lou.

🚕 8.15am - Walkers briefing and then the taxis turned up. We hop in the taxis. Two very happy Geordies, one very grumpy, Geordie. 😂

☔️ 9 o’clock - Photos taken at Segendunum Fort. A few people saw the museum etc yesterday and got their stamp in Hadrians Wall passport. We took the obligatory group photo, in the rain!

🌧️ As we start the hike I start singing songs about rain. Others join in and we have all sorts of “rain” songs. Ie: It’s raining men, singing in the rain, the sun will come out tomorrow….

🌸 918am - Have you seen these? Asks Lynne? We call them “Mary Mary, pop out of bed”. They are little white flowers. “Oh” says Sue, “we call these Grandmother, Grandmother jump out of bed”.

❗️ 936 am - Sue is now reliving her childhood and gets excited when she sees Snowberries. “This takes me back” she shrieked, then subsequently put the berries under her foot and they made a popping sound.

🤩 10:02 am OMG! I couldn’t resist the rope swing in the woods but in hindsight I should not have had a go! (See video).

❗️ 1002 am - “check out the Dalec” we follow Sue’s pointy finger and sure enough, there is a dalec in the garden with a sign on the gate reading “No trespassing. Violators will be exterminated”’ 😂

🐕 1024 am - We see a massive Great Dane whom is taking his owner for a walk. It’s quite humorous as the dog was bigger than she was!

🚴 10.32 am - 4.5 miles done. It’s really raining now and we have a sea of ponchos on the trail! The Cycle Club is looming ahead. We stop for a welcome break from the elements and enjoy hot drinks and a loo stop.

💰 12:05 pm - Just met a dad and a son and they’re raising money raising for The Great North Ambulance. The young lad was only 10 years old and they’ve done Hadrian‘s wall in four days. How brilliant is that? They raised over £2k so far.

🥾 12:38 pm - Checkpoint. Five of us checked in at the sculpture on the roundabout. 9 miles walked and it’s still raining. Five minutes later and the rest of the group check in as well. We are all walking at a similar pace which is great!

🥛 1306 pm “What is that woman carrying?” I asked Andrea. She smiles and says “I’ve no idea but she probably went in to Lidl for milk and walked out with a laundry basket” lol. As the woman got closer we couldn’t help but howl with laughter as she had a brand new dog crate in one hand and four pint carton of milk in the other! Lol 😂

🍺 1335hrs - Yey! A pub! We couldn’t resist! The Boatman pub was a welcome break from the rain.

☀️ As we exited the pub the sun came out and the rain stopped. The next four miles were really lively as we had now turned away from the River Tyne and headed up a steep incline to Heddon on The Wall.

🤩 4pm - We receive a warm welcome from Paula at Houghton Farm. She reminds me of “Ma” from The Darling Buds of May. She supplied tea, coffee and free biscuits. We have the whole farmhouse to ourselves which is amazeballs.

Tonight we have a meal booked at The Swan Pub but for now I’m signing out.

See you tomorrow.Leia mais