At Last The Wall

Day 2 – Tuesday 9th July 2024 – Wylam to Chollerford, 19.10 miles

Well, despite being next to the main railway line from Newcastle to Carlisle I slept rather well. So it was up with a cup of team, get organised and then a DIY breakfast of toast, jam, etc in the pub’s resident’s kitchenette. No, The Boathouse doesn’t do proper breakfasts (:(). I made myself a Marmite butty (yummy! :)), grabbed a chocolate pastry, biscuits from the room and made a flask of coffee.  My “foraged” packed lunch no. 2 of the walk!

The day’s walk was to be about 19 miles and, at the start, the weather didn’t seem too bad.  So after the obligatory “off we go” photos, off I went at about 10:15 – over the level crossing and the bridge across the North Tyne. Almost immediately it started raining so out came the full waterproofs which I was to wear for the rest of the day – hot and sweaty though they are (does Goretex really work?!).

I “re-passed” Stephenson’s cottage and then turned left to re-join the Hadrian’s Wall Path with not a soul around other than a couple of maniac golfers braving the weather. The walk from the golf course to Heddon-on-the-Wall was quite nice – across a few fields, through some small woods and up a hill to the small town where, for no real reason at all, it follows a road right around the town and down the side of a church rather than going straight on. Perhaps it was so that walkers can see the (modern!) mosaic of Hadrian, which was quite good I have to say.

Soon after Heddon the path follows the Military Road (the B6318 – presumably the Roman Military Road) – now a very busy and noisy main road – for most of the way to Chollerford, though fortunately the path mainly runs beside it, rather than alongside it.  This was a rather boring stretch of path with continuous noise from heavy lorries, tractors and general traffic.  The rain fell steadily and the path went along a series of narrow ditches called vallums (probably “valla”, since they are Latin) which cut you off almost completely from the countryside, making the whole thing rather boring.  But I plodded on….

Between Turrets 17a and 18a I thought I saw a mirage – an oasis called The Robin Hood pub where I met Noelene and had a very tasty pork and gravy stottie and pint (of lime and soda) – no beer until the walk’s complete! I stamped my passport and got going quickly before I got too comfortable.

The path continued alongside the Military Road and I caught up and spoke to a few walkers that I’d seen in The Robin Hood, including two women from Oudenaarde in Belgium who’d been in the Ship Inn at Wylam the previous evening.  Eventually I reached a small piece of The Wall – at Planetrees and I greeted it like a long lost comrade.  After all “we’re all just brick’s in the wall” – Christmas No. 1, 1979!

It was only a little bit of wall but it was my first sight on this walk. I’d asked a couple of guys earlier, “So where is this f*****g wall then?”, which thankfully amused them. Until then I’d only seen an empty field where, supposedly, there had been a fort 2,000 years ago. So I read all about this particular piece from the information board in the poring rain and how an amateur Victorian archaeologist had stopped a local farmer from using the stones to build a barn – something which was commonly done and one of the main reasons why so little of the wall remains.

The rain got heavier and heavier and my walking became slower and slower.  I was a bit fed up if truth be told.  But, at about 5:30, I eventually reached The George Hotel at Chollerford, home for the night, met Noelene, put my wet things to dry, including boots beside the fire in the lounge (I know – you shouldn’t put leather walking boots beside a fire – but they are old and I did it cos they were so wet) and used the hotel’s small pool and jacuzzi fro a while. It was lovely, warm and relaxing.

The George is okay but it really does need some TLC – especially painting, decorating and “tidying up”. But it’s on the banks of the North Tyne, has rather lovely gardens and we had a decent sized room with a comfortable bed.  Oh, and it serves Twice Brewed beers! So I won’t complain too much.

I had fish and chips, which were excellent as were the two pints of Twice Brewed’s Sycamore Gap ale.  Afterwards we relaxed in the residents’ lounge for a while whilst others watched some bloody football game in the bar – very noisily!

And thence to a well earned sleep.

Impressions of Day 2

Long, wet, noisy, boring in places and a feeling of isolation from the countryside when walking in the Vellums.  But I do subscribe to the thought that “there are no bad walks, some are just better than others”! However, there was my first view of The Wall on this walk so that was rather pleasing and good that it came towards the end of the day – a sort of reward for paths well trod.

Some Day 2 Photos