O Me Miserum
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| Sitting on the Wall. |
Today we are walking in the footprints of the Romans - along Hadrian's Wall, then north to Bellingham. We are also doing two days from our guide in one, and aren't really looking forward to it. Indeed things quickly go wrong, as we reach Thirlwall castle to find that the picturesque ruin from the guide is now a mass of scaffolding - while the restoration is laudable, it's also a little disappointing.
But worse is to come as we take a wrong turn, and after fifteen minutes or so find ourselves back in Greenhead - there's nothing for it but to turn and retrace our steps. With this mishap behind us we press on to the Wall, which is as unimpressive in it's current state as we'd been led to believe. I take a photo of us sat on the thing (P1), and also a portrait shot (P2) and a shot of the view south (P3), and then we head off along the Wall.
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| More Wall. |
It turns out that the ridge we walk along is regularly cut by gorges, and the going is very tiring - before long we decide to take an unscheduled break at the oddly named Twice Brewed, at which we are very thankful for the pub (P4) being open at midday. After a couple of fortifying pints we head back to the wall, pausing on the way for Alex to study the local wildlife (P5).
The wall has been restored somewhat here, and while it's still not impressive in itself, the picture one gets of the effort and organisation involved in the original construction certainly is. Unfortunately after this glimpse of history, the Way turns north and into another prolonged trek through bog, this time made even more unpleasant by the presence of an unending supply of midges.
We trudge on as best we can, but it is a very long day - in fact it really isn't possible to express quite how unpleasant the conditions are. Suffice to say that by the time we get out of the bog and start walking through farmland (P6) both Alex and myself are beginning to suffer from trench foot. Thankfully from here it is but a little way to Bellingham, and the somewhat ominously named Cheviot Hotel (P7).
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| View south from the Wall. |
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| Bonus pub! |
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| Alex has a toad. |
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| More sheep! |
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| Not many pubs left now. |
Photos to go with this post can be found here.
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