Hadrian's Wall Path: There & Back

16+ miles in two days may not seem a lot to some folk but to us it was a major achievement.  We seemed to have been guided by angels on the walk; angels wearing hi vis who showed us the way and the Angel of the North watching over us although we didn't spot it until near the end. Most of this section of Hadrian's Wall Path was a means to an end but elements of it made the whole worth while. We met a helpful postie who wasn't wearing shorts (I thought shorts were uniform now), two golfers in a car looking for a golf course on a bridle path, two women checking they were on the right path (I'm sure these ladies were the better halves of the lost golfers), very pleasant cyclists (with bells), chatty walkers and friendly locals, many of whom served us food and drinks.   Newcastle is an amazing city whether you undertake the walk or not.  To see such familiar sights first hand was wonderful.  One of the best views of the city was from  The Redhouse whilst eating handmade pie

The buses served us well today.  The Q3 took us to the bus station and the 685 to Heddon on the Wall.   This section started with a delightful walk through the town and downhill past beautiful houses and through a golf course, continuing onto a disused railway line.  Apart from nearly getting run over by a very apologetic greensman on a golf buggy, we appreciated our surroundings and had a taste of the countryside. The river stayed close by but out of sight for much of the way.  If doing this walk again, which is highly unlikely, I would follow the River Tyne Trail for this short section and re-join HWP after a mile or so.  A sheltered, tarmacadamed path is perfect for cyclists, yes they were there again, but less so for walkers.  Although we were using a trusty guide book, another joy of following a designated walk is what you find on the way.  In this instance, we found Tyne Amateur Rowing Club which was open to the public. Not only did it have good coffee, homemade cake & beer

Our starting point this morning was our hotel, next to the River Tyne near the Millennium Bridge & the Baltic.  We had intended to catch the bus and walk from Wallsend but it was Sunday and we were unsure of how long we would need to wait for the next so we set off walking east. As we were leaving the centre of the city we approached The Cycle Hub.  An obvious place for those on bicycles to use the facilities, cafe and outdoor seating.  It was busy - maybe a sign of things to come.... Moving on we found our refreshments in St Peters Basin at an award winning coffee & snack van, La Verne Vintage.  We continued to followed the river east and passed interesting industrial sites on the way including the skeleton of an old wooden vessel.  The remains resembled a dinosaur grave which maybe closer to the truth than we thought.   Leaving the Wrecksshipasaurus, we followed the path inland.  Fortunately a hi vis cyclist showed us the way otherwise I think we might have missed the turning

We're home again after our first outing to walk Hadrian's Wall Path.  We're both looking forward to continuing from where we left off and already have an outline of a plan for the middle section.  This, we will probably do in two parts but we'll see. One of the best things so far, is being able to accommodate changes to make the most of the circumstances in which we find ourselves.  Fortunately, we're not restricted too much on timing or timescale and intend to enjoy all of the walk rather than dash through to tick some sort of box. The highlight so far is discovering places, sights, sounds and even fragrances we would not have experienced without undertaking HWP.  The villages are beautiful and are obviously loved by their residents; Carlisle's riverside spaces and parks are lovely and the River Eden, a constant companion offers picturesque viewpoints which I could imagine 19th century, romantic painters and poets using as inspiration.  In different circumstanc

An early start today.  We needed to have had breakfast (with covid restrictions the table only service was keeping the staff busy running around for everyone so breakfast could have taken a lot long than it did), checked out & loaded the car and be at the bus stop in time for the 685 bus to Warwick Bridge.  Then onward to Low Crosby Bridge by taxi.   It was great to have the short taxi ride to our start.  Paul Messenger, Warwick Bridge Taxis , was a mine of local information and an excellent contact for when we return to walk our second part of HWP but I jump ahead of myself. Paul dropped us off in the beautiful village of Low Crosby Bridge.  The path was easily spotted, this time heading West towards Carlisle.  We followed the route through open pasture alongside the River Eden.  It was so beautiful we even followed a long meander around the edge of a field even though a desire path had been made straight across the middle.   We continued through Linstock where we were surprised

Caught the first No 93 bus of the day from the centre of Carlisle to Kirkandrews on Eden to walk back to our hotel.  We arrived to start our walk at 1pm.  This late start is why we've used our bikes on the previous days.   The weather was good again and we soon got into our stride.   Passed a homemade swing in a tree.  Someone had made it to resemble a horse:  it was brilliant although my photo taken balancing on uneven ground on a 45 degree slope, doesn't do it justice!  We also crossed Sourmilk Bridge which, we found out later, was near Milestone 69.   On our way to Grinsdale we passed two women walking the path West to East.  They were much younger than us so we did say we would meet them again later when they would inevitably catch us up and pass us.  They did, in Grinsdale however we could see they had missed the path and after we waved them back, they overtook us again. The walk along side the river was at the top of the river bank with trees between us and the water.  I