A rainy start was a bit of a dampener until we had a fine stop at Birdoswald, but not at the museum. The day had more pieces of wall than I was expecting and it was a fine stroll through the English countryside. The side trip to Brampton brought some pleasant and less pleasant surprises.
First, we noticed another invasion. Subtly occupying Britannia alongside the Bovines and the Baabaarians are the Arachnids! The mist and rain revealed their camouflage.
There was plenty of wall today. And ditch! Just when we thought all pieces looked the same, we found new things like a lookout tower and a bridge.
For the first time, we walked in the north side of the wall!
At this stretch, we noticed how smooth the edge of the wall was, but how rugged the internal joints were. It makes it even more amazing how the Romans made it!
And now, to the day’s walk. First, while there are many mysteries around the wall, questions remain about English taps. And the challenge of washing your hands in nice warm water. It’s either freezing or boiling. Others have suggested “the dance” to me, bouncing the hands between two streams of water to avoid scalding. Or to use the plug, which is normally missing. Intriguing.
We were shuttled back to Greenhead and saw the AD122 bus! I’m glad we had avoided injury and not needed it, but it would have been fun to ride.
As we walked back to the path along the river, there was this old ford. We were glad there was a bridge!We made it back to the point we left the path yesterday. Despite the rain, we were happy to walking again and were warm and dry under the our jackets.Pretty buttercups.In Gilsland, we noticed this sign which was the first one which showed we were close to Cumbria!A bus stop had been converted into this cool book swap stand.We are about to quietly enter Cumbria. Northumberland make more of a fanfare when you enter their county here.A cool bridge over the River Irthing. It was lowered into place by helicopter to avoid disturbing local archeology.Loving the damp conditions.
And then, we had the best stop at the day. Birdoswald. OK, so it was only the cafe. But the hot chocolate, Victoria sponge, and Tiffin honeycomb were fantastic in a dry warm cafe with the friendliest staff.
Yum.A good selection of snacks.Roman sheep!The cafe was built right next to the wall.While we were eating, it was still raining outside when the radar showed it had stopped. It soon did stop though and we continued walking, well refreshed.It brightened up.No wall, but there’s the ditch!As we headed into some woodland, these trees tried to block the way by joining hands!Mud, glorious mud!A welcome sight at Coombe Crags, right on the trail.A stern warning. However, it was between two signs like this where we would have taken the road rather than the path, because of below…Most of the path was like this. We walked along straddling the water, and for a whole new set of aches and pains in our legs!We were excited to spot some Oreo cows. I must call them Belted Galloways or Sarah will correct me 😎.This spot was exciting as we could see Helvellyn, Blencathra, and Skiddaw in the Lake District, though the picture does not show it.This donkey stood like a statue.These beautiful flowers are called a Policeman’s Helmet.Cool dead tree!There were many thank you notes at the Haytongate Honesty Shed.We headed off trail toward Brampton and soon arrived at the Lanercost Priory which dates back to 1137.There are two tea rooms at the priory. We found this one in Dacre Hall and enjoyed some soup and a fine scone and looked at a rug exhibition. The other tea room is run by English Heritage.We continued over Lanercost Bridge which was built in 1724 for 493 GBP.Just after the bridge, there was a sign for a public footpath to Brampton. It was an unexpected pleasure to walk along a stream in the woods with this waterfall.Very tranquil.But then we hit the mud. Deep and across the whole path, with a vertical bank on one side and a drop to the river on the other, so there was no way around it.After that footpath, there was either a wall along the road into Brampton or a path along the ridge. We chose the latter which involved a climb but was a pleasant walk.Brampton!
Even though today was 12.5 miles, we did not feel as stiff as earlier in the walk, so we must be getting our trail legs. Just in time to finish! We are looking forward to the next two days and are talking about what next. For now though, it’s about rest and getting ready to walk into Carlisle tomorrow.
This blog post is linked to from my Hadrian’s Wall Path page, where you can find the accounts of the other days in this adventure.
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"Cajunlimeys" combines Lousiana (Janet) and Britain (Peter). British sailors in the 19th century were nicknamed "limeys" as they drank lime juice to prevent scurvy. However, while Janet is a fine cook, she has no Cajun blood, but the name fit.
We love adventures and use blogging to write a photo diary to preserve our memories. Some crazy friends enjoy following us, and my notes might help others plan.
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Jeff – there is an unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email that you get . I can’t find a way to remove you myself.
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