Day: 027
Date: Monday, 27 June 2022
Start: Bellingham
Finish: Haltwhistle
Daily Kilometres: 31
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 792
Weather: Overcast and drizzling much of the morning. Breezy and partly sunny in the afternoon.
Accommodation: Guesthouse
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Egg & cress sandwiches
Lunch: Tuna & sweetcorn sandwich/chicken pasta salad
Dinner: Fish & chips/Hamburger & chips/donut
Aches: Dave - feet wet and sore. Julie - nothing.
Highlight: Hadrian’s Wall is awesome. It would have been an engineering feat in any age, but to think of the Romans erecting such a formidable defensive wall across the top of England nearly 2,000 years ago is mind-boggling. What remains is very impressive and it was special to walk along about 10 kilometres of its length today admiring the Romans' handiwork.
Lowlight: There were some trail sections this morning, in steady light rain, where we had to slog through thigh-high saturated grass and carefully make our way across bogs. It wasn’t long before shoes and socks, despite the Goretex, were also saturated.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
We made an early start, leaving our accommodation around 6:15am in steady light rain. As we followed the Pennine Way through rolling hills and farmland we were soon very wet. The guidebook doesn’t give the section from Bellingham to Hadrians Wall a very high rating and we would agree with that. The trail was a mix of easy and difficult and although there were plenty of small climbs, it never reached great heights. The views were pleasant rather than spectacular.
Given the dreary weather, we delayed our breakfast break until after 9:00am, when we found a dry spot and the rain stopped briefly. This was along the original Pennine Way, as we chose not to take a diversion recommended because of storm damage because it seemed to add some distance. After breakfast, we had to deal with the storm damage, finding our way through the impressively big downed trees and dodging some deep bogs on the way. It was slow going for a while but, once through, it was again a mix of trail until we finally climbed up the escarpment on which Hadrians Wall was built.
The walk along the Wall was excellent (see above). Not only were large sections of the Wall and the outlines of fortifications clearly visible, but it was also a great vantage point to look out across the beautiful rural countryside. It wasn’t easy or fast walking, though, as there were many steep little ups and downs, often involving precipitous steps.
Originally we were going to follow the Wall all the way to Greenhead, then catch a bus to our booked accommodation in Haltwhistle, but a review of the map convinced us to leave the Wall and Pennine Way and walk directly to Haltwhistle, which we reached just after 4:00pm. Tomorrow we will follow a rail trail out of town until we again link up with the Pennine Way.
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