My wife Rachel, her 2 sisters Frances and Sarah, together with their respective partners Keith and Aki, as well as Rachel’s’ brother Ian with his wife Denise, all went to Northumberland for a holiday and a ‘bit of a walk’. We stayed in a wonderful cottage on Belsay Hall Estate and travelled out each day for the walk.

Saturday 16th August.

 Rachel and I want to Wylam. It has the world’s oldest working railway station. We began walking at 10.30am and headed along the River Tyne towards Prudhoe. We took in George Stephenson’s cottage, and then followed the Wylam Wagonway to Prudhoe.
We crossed Hagg Bank bridge (this being one of the first bowed-arched bridges to be built anywhere in the world). I managed to lose my footing and fell, scraping my hand down the support wall for the bridge. This made a terrible mess of my hand and the wound bled for what seemed like hours but only lasted some 10 minutes or so. I managed to put blood over Rachel’s trouser. This spoilt the walk somewhat but we persevered and got to Prudoe about 1.20pm.  We went to the pub for a well earned drink and a rest before catching the train back to Wylam.

All of the walks can be found in ‘Walking in Hadrian’s Wall Country available from the National Trust. It was Walk 4. It not only gives descriptions of the route but also expected completion time and the severity of the walk. In this case it was classified as ‘Easy’. This was in fact correct as the walk was mostly on a flat footpath with no obstructions or obstacles to negotiate. The distance I covered today was 4.43 miles.

Sunday 17th August.

 Rachel and I visited Belsay Hall and Castle. No car today. Rained a lot overnight but was dry as we walked. Went to the Hall and Formal Gardens this morning. Back to Lake Cottage for lunch and Ian and Denise arrived. We returned to Belsay Hall in the rain but it soon cheered up. We had a magnificent walk through the quarry garden to the Castle. We climbed to the top of the tower and had wonderful views of the Belsay Estate. I walked 4.1 miles today.

Monday 18th August.

 Rachel, Ian, Denise and I visited Chesters Fort and had good look around. We also did Walk 6 and completed 2.5 miles. It was mostly following the roads but was and very up down. We returned to the car and drove to Carrawburgh and visited the Temple of Mithras. It was misty and eerie. Your imagination runs wild at this point and you feel that there are few Roman ghosts watch you. We managed to dodge the showers and managed 3.11 miles today. Must do more tomorrow.

Tuesday 19th August.

 We had an interesting visit to Vindalanda Fort and Museum. It was a very wet day. Vindalanda is the largest Fort on the wall and the Museum is full of treasures that have been excavated – shoes, tools, pots, pans, jewellery etc. The famous ‘tablets’ are also here, most have gone to the British Museum in London. According to a notice which stated that there is still a further 200 years of archaeological work to be done. After the museum, we drove to Hexham and saw the Abbey. Only walked 1.83 miles today, it was far too wet. Must do more tomorrow.

Wednesday 20th August.

  Decided to have a walk around Belsay Estate. We found it disappointing as we were met by locked gates. We returned to the cottage over the fields. Rachel got a very wet foot as she stood in a very large obstructed puddle. In the afternoon, it was decided to visit Gibside Park. Saw the ruins of the house together with the Orangery. In the grounds was a lovely Chapel. The sun finally came out. We walked a respectable 4.08 miles today.

Thursday 21st August.

 Rachel, Frances, Keith and I tackled the walk from Steel Rig to Houseteads Roman Fort In the walk book it is described as strenuous with several steep slopes. The author was not kidding.  We took 2 cars, 1 left at Housesteads Fort (the finishing point) and the 2nd car took all walking party members to the start point. This arrangement meant that no one has to back track to recover the first car.
We started the walk at one of the most difficult places, from Steel Rig to Housesteads Roman Fort. The first problem occurred 20 meters into the walk.
A climb of some 50 meters up to the next plateaux faced me. I would not have managed half of what I achieved without the patient assistance of my brother-in-law Keith. The footing was extremely uneven and difficult for me to cover any great distance with my condition.
As can be seen from the pictures, this was a very challenging walk with the pathway/wall uneven. If an Access Audit was carried out, there would be many issues, namely, the unevenness of the terrain. Allowances have to be made, bearing in mind that it was constructed some 2000 years ago and building regulations were not as stringent then as they are now.
During this walk, it rained on us just the once at Sycamore Gap. Here we sheltered under the tree until the rain had abated.

The remainder of this day’s action was completed in fair weather but the footing was difficult due do the bogginess but I still completed today’s walk having covered 3.5 miles and we all felt that it was all worthwhile. After having a picnic lunch, we all piled into the second car and proceeded back to the first car park. All completed without any hitch.
 
Friday 22nd August.

 Rachel, Ian, Denise and I went for a walk around Howick gardens. It was a dreadful day for walking, with rain and mist, it was most unpleasant. We visited the Bog garden, flower borders, rockery, church and a short walk in the woods. Not a good day at all and only walked 1.29 miles.

Saturday 23rd August.

 Keith, Frances, Rachel and I went to Craster and had a wonderful walk along the cliff top to Dunstanburgh Castle. It gave us beautiful views. We then went to Banburgh Castle, also with impressive views of the shoreline. We managed 6.31 miles today.

Sunday 24th August.

 Walked around Housesteads Fort with Rachel, then east towards Sewingshields Crag. It was a lovely sunny day. Had an interesting day visiting the fort and had magnificent views across the North and South Northumberland. The fort has well preserved ‘latrines’. These are where the saying ‘don’t get the wrong end of the stick’. On the return to the cottage we stopped off at Black Crags Turret, (some of the remaining wall that can be walked on).We walked a total of 3.5 miles today.

Monday 25th August.

 Rachel, Sarah, Aki, Rosie (Sarah’s dog) and I spent a day exploring the Hall and gardens of Wallington Hall. The weather was a bit ‘dodgy’ but we managed to do the gardens in the morning. We had a picnic lunch and in the afternoon, Rachel and I spent 2 hours looking over a very interesting house. Managed to cover 2.78 miles today.

Tuesday 26th August.

 Rachel, Sarah Rosie and I walked from Caw Gap to Cawfields Quarry. It was a bit wet and misty when we set out but cleared up and was moderately hard, but enjoyable walk along the wall. It was a very well preserved section. Aki met us at the Quarry with the car. We also went to the Roman Army Museum and walked around Corbridge. Walked a total of 1.54 miles today.

Wednesday 27th August.

 We (Rachel, Sarah, Aki, Rosie and I) went to Cragside, which is a National Trust property. It was owned by the Armstrong family. They made their wealth from the armament business, including selling battleships to Japan who then turned them on Britain in around 1914. The Armstrong’s also owned Banburgh Castle.
History lesson over, we parked and walked around Nelly’s North – a lovely lake. In the afternoon went to the house and visited the formal gardens. It was a nice dry day. Walked 2.23 miles today.

Thursday 28thn August.

 We went to Kielder Water. It was a little misty but managed to walk by the side of the lake and visited a Bird of Prey Centre. Despite the weather, we still walked 2.1 miles today.

Friday 29th August.

 Time to pack the cases and head for home, stopping at Nuneaton (Fan and Keith’s home). Returned on Saturday via Stratford on Avon to see David Tenant and Patrick Stewart in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. What a way to round of a memorable holiday. It just leaves me thinking of a further ‘expedition’.
I walked a total of 40 miles and raised £910 for the M S Society and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who kindly sponsored me to do this walk. Thank you once again.

Hadrians Wall Pictures