Hadrian's Mark

It is all done. Paul is back looking at trees in Bristol. Richard is back in Liverpool trying to get his emails to work. John is working too and DC flys back to NI today.

We made it to the end of walk by 4:20pm yesterday having walked 17 miles before lunch. Througout the day we all found it hard but walked with high spirits. Our feet were tired as much of the day was on tarmac and as you would expect the views could not match that of days 2 and 3.

Well done everyone whol walked and those who supported

Steel Rigg – East Wallhouses (21 Miles)

The intrepid explorers plodded on into the sunshine with the faithful westerly on their backs all day.

Once again it has been a day of dicsovery for one and all:

- After 2 early starts, Day 3 proved to be ‘the wall’ and none of us wanted to get out of bed, but Richard ensured we were on the road by 7.20am.  Breakfast?  Too early for YHA so a scone and a bit of cheeses had to do.

- This trip has been thwarted as far as food and drink go: more pubs either closed or not serving food and even the ‘Tea Van’ had shut by the time we got there.

- If you push yourself hard in the morning, you can allow yourself more leisurely breaks later on.  Still reached East wallhouses by 5.30pm.

As for the team, we discovered:

- DC is still a walking machine even if he was rather grumpy for the fisrt hour today.

- Alastair (sorry not to mention you yesterday) had an endless supply of home made flapjack and biscuits and was even seen wearing his sunglasses over his sun hat.

- John’s good night sleep set him up for another solid day’s walking and he is surprised to discover just how wet from sweat your feet get.  He confessed to wearing the same pair of socks for all three days so far as he did not want to risk changing them in case he got blisters from another, untried (clean?) pair!

- Richard once again lead with fortitude, skill, rigour and determination.

- Paul continues to consume vast quantities of fluids via his neat ‘Rehydration system’ built into his rucksack.  All I can say is ’What goes in most come out’.

All now set for the final push to the end of the Wall.

Walton to Steel Rigg (16 miles) – The Great divide

(7 set out, were joined by1 and 5 reached Steel Rigg ….)

Another dry day with wind on our backs.

Once again Richard made sure we were on the road (path) bright and early but it was obvious early on that reaching Steel Rigg was going to be a big challenge for some.

Today we discovered that:

- Geoff’s right knee is in worse shape than he thought and needs medical attention so he only made it 7 miles to Gilsland.

- David was more than happy to hang back and accompany Geoff and miss out on reaching Steel Rigg – what a servant.

- Neil battled on with serious blisters as far as Gilsland (7 miles). Well done Neil.

- John got so tired that he was in bed by 9pm (For those of you who know John will realise how incredible this is).  ‘Tired but content’ is how he described himself.

- DC continued to devour those hills as if they were not there.

- Richard bullied lead us to achieve our goals – At YHA before 5pm.

- Paul has an amazing capacity to just keep on going

Bowness-on-Solway to Walton (26 miles) completed in just under 10 hours. Weather was dry for most of the day and had the benefit of a stiff westerly to help us on our way.
Lots of sore feet, aching limbs and tired bodies. All feeling better having enjoyed a sumptuous evening meal and are now warming ourselves by the fire enjoying a game of Perudo.
It would appear that those doing the whole walk are in much better shape than the slackers who are only doing 2 days. Good job really.
We have discovered that
-Neil takes a long time in the bathroom
- John did not appreciate nearly being eaten by a horse
- Geoff’s knee held up all day especially when he got in ‘the zone’ with the walking poles
- DC is like a walking Forest Gump texting all the time
- David is the most ill prepared walker of all time
- Richard bullied us so badly all day that we weren’t allowed to stop for lunch til 2.35
- Paul is cool and windy

Below is a rough guide to our timings each day so that you know where we are and if you are planning to walk some of the day with us. IF you want to join us pleas contact us andwe should be able to confirm our timings and ring you along the way

Day 1: Thursday

We will be leaving Bowness -on – Solway by 7:45am and aim to be at Burgh by sands by 11.00am.

We be having lunch just beyond Carlisle at Rickerby by around 1.30pm (I think we may be there nearer 2pm)

We will have a break by Bleatarn at about 4:30pm before finishing the day in Walton at around 6:30pm.

Friday:Day 2 (While this is out shorest day, a mere 16 mile, we will still be leaving early so we can have a good rest at the end of the day as day 3 will be the toughest dat)

We plan to leave Walton by 8am at the latest and have an earlier lunch at Greenhead by 12:30-1pm having paused at  Turret in Leahill

From Greenhead we will finish our day at Steel Rig car park by 5pm before exploring the pub in Twice Brewed

Saturday: Day 3. While this is not the longest day in miles it is still over 20 miles long and will be far the toughest day. With already tired feet and legs we will have the most hills to navigate through. For thtis reason it is hard to estimate timings as we will walk as quick as we all can.

Another early start as we plan to be leaving Steel Rigg Car park by 7:45am. Lunch will be at Chollerford in or around the Hotel by the North Tyne River. We will have walked 12 miles to get there but should be there by 1:30- 2pm. We will have a break at Housesteads on the way to lunch  and should be at Housesteads by 10am

From lunch we will stop at the pub that is marked by the roundabout where the A68 crosses the B6318. This will be a part of the walk and is a long slow ascent. We would hope to have this break around 4:15pm. We will then finish the days walk  in East Wallhouses by 6:30-7pm.

These estimates have been conservative but I allowing for ascents and descents as well as tired legs and feet.

Sunday: Day 4

Day 4 finishes with a much flatter section but we will still be starting early as some of the team have planes to catch.

We will aim to leave East Wallhouses by 7:45am. We will have a stop at  Newburn before having our lunch at the Tyne Riverside Country Park by 12:30pm. We then set off to complete our walk at Wallsend having stopped by the Baltic centre at around 3pm

I am just back from a week in the Peak District. We had amazing weather and managed some walks. The highlight was a 14 mile walk up and over Kinder Scout and back around some of the Edale. Also did a couple of smaller walks but I did have Wilf on my back. One went up dovedale and the other into Tissington.

It was a great week but was reminded that we are walking long way and it really will be a challenge. I will post the day by day timings this week. Richard

You might be aware that the two Radio 2 presenters Radcliffe & Maconie are walking the wall this week and presenting their radio shows from pubs in the evening. Details here and here

Well they might have beaten us to it but I am sure that ours is a much more worthy cause. But folowing them might give you an idea of what we are up to – so why not tune in or follow them on Twitter or Facebook

The rugby season is just beginning so I hope that this is help improve my fitness. Also I am walking longer with Wilf (our chunky 18 month yr old) in a rucksack. An hour with him on my back has to be helping! 

The website http://www.scriptureunion.org.uk/HadriansMark/95806.id is now up and running where you can support us and give online.

A little more detail about each day so that if you can’t join us for a whole day you could still come for part of a day. The longer sections can even be broken down further. Later in the week we will work out approximate timings and meeting places. All distances are in miles.

Day 1 – Thursday 24 September.

Bowness  to Burgh by-Sands     8,    Burgh-by-Sands to Carlisle     7,     Carlisle to Crosby     4,      Crosby to Newtown     5,     Newtown to Walton     2

TOTAL     26

Day 2 – Friday 25 September

Walton to Gilsland     7,      Gilsland to Greenhead     2,     Greenhead to Steel Rigg     7

TOTAL     16

Day 3 – Saturday 26 September

Steel Rigg to Housesteads    3,     Housesteads to Chollerford     9,     Chollerford to A68     5,     A68 to East Wallhouses     4

TOTAL     21

Day 4 – Sunday 27 September

East Wallhouse to Heddon     6,     Heddon to Tyne Bridge     10, Tyne Bridge to Wallsend     5

TOTAL      21