Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Hadrian's Wall Walk



On to Hadrian's Wall. Last year I did a hike along the wall from Housted's Fort to Once Brewed. This year I took a bus to Once Brewed (yes, and there is a Twice Brewed, too!) and then went from Steel Rig to Gilsland and stayed at a B&B there. All-in-all, the walk was about 10 miles + another one to get to the B&B. The person at the information desk in Once Brewed said it would be a tough walk plus the fact that it will be windy. It was an arduous walk, indeed, but she hit it about the wind. It was really whipping around on the hilltops. The views were spectacular and I had a great time walking along, that is, until the end. At one point, I decided I had enough, and that was about 3 miles before the end. I met up with an older father and son duo and ended up walking with them until we got off the trail at an inn called Sampson's. They went in for a drink, but I pressed on, wanting to get there. I tried to call the place, but my phone didn't work in the area -how aggravating! After asking a few people where the place was, I found myself walking up a hill that took me away from the village and into the farmland. I kept asking myself, "Is this really the right way to go? You should have knocked on that last door to ask to use their phone." I pressed on a little more and couldn't see anything but farmland. Eventually, I saw a farmer drive up and check a bale of hey. I asked him about the place, which he knew of and offered me a ride there. How nice! Of course, I accepted gratefully.
My room is in a converted hay barn and is done up rather nicely. It has just enough space to have what you need. It has some of the original stone and dovetailing exposed, which looks cool.
I didn't order dinner ahead of time, thinking I'd either bring something or go into town. The host drove me to the Sampson Inn to eat and picked me up when I was done.

Note to self: What were you thinking taking your laptop on the hike? Whatever writing

you had to do could have waited. Idiot!

3 comments:

Florence said...

Hi David,

Lovely pictures. You certainly have a lot of heart taking that hike. Oh, to be young again.

I am enjoying your posts and look forward to hearing about your daily adventures.

Love,

Florence

Anonymous said...

These pictures are beautiful!! Kudos to you for being brave enough to do the hike :)

Rick Cooper said...

Nice post, nice pictures. By the sound of it I think you are talking about Bush Nook Guest House - very nice, if a little way out.