A Walk along Hadrian's Wall and Beyond September 19, 2006
We were given the royal treatment by Paul and Judith this morning at breakfast. First there was a myriad of cereals to choose from to be followed by items that we chose off their menu and ordered ala-carte. After breakfast Paul gave us some advice on a hike and lent us his Ordinance Map to use for the day.
We drove east to a place called “Once Brewed” to start the hike. There is a pub named “Twice Brewed” there and we decided we had to find out the story behind the names. It seems that Prince Charley had his men building a road through this area and the men would go to the inn for a bite and a drink. They said that the ale was so weak that it had only been brewed once. The inn keeper started to serve a stronger brew and changed the name of the inn to “Twice Brewed”. Later a boy’s school was built here and the head master said that the tea served would only be brewed once so that was called “Once Brewed”.
There is now a visitor’s center there that dispenses information about Hadrian’s Wall and Northumberland National Park. A nice lady behind the counter recommended a slightly different hike for us to try today. Paul’s route had included visiting two Roman forts along the wall and the counter lady suggested the same stretch of the wall but turning north before we reached Vercovicivm (now called Housesteads Fort). This route has us utilizing the Pennine Way, a national trail, and then finishing the hike on a Public Footpath back to the car park where we started. We chose this route.
Hadrian’s Wall was built after the Roman Emperor Hadrian visited Britain in 122AD. It took professional soldiers and legionaries six years to build the 83 mile long wall that separates England from Scotland. It is generally accepted today that the purpose of the wall was to mark the northern boundary of the empire. Troops were stationed along the length of the wall to help protect the boundary against attack by the Picts from the north in Caledonia, what is now Scotland.
We started our hike at the Steel Rigg parking lot which is adjacent to the wall. The wall through this part of the country is built along a ridge line that can be up to 1100 feet high. The wall and trail that parallels it roller coasters up and down as it follows the ridge from gaps to crags. On both sides are now pasture land that are lined with the now familiar stone fences. The only crop that can be grown in these fields is grass which is used to feed the stock now and will also be mown and stored for fodder during the winter. The views are beautiful on this sunny morning with a few clouds and a twenty mile an hour wind adding a dramatic touch to the scene. We saw several ruins of Roman buildings as we hiked and stopped to read about each one in the book that we had bought at the visitor’s center. At one point the trail had eroded so badly in a steep descent that we detoured to avoid it. Several hundred yards later we rejoined the trail and continued on to find ourselves at Housesteads Fort, or to put it another way past the point where we should have turned off the wall trail. We consulted the map and decided the detour was where the Pennine Trail crossed the wall trail. We backtracked and found the crossing and continued on. Prior to this we had seen a lot of people along the trail. Walking and history are passions here and on this fine fall Tuesday the people were exercising those passions. The Pennine trail was different as we almost had it to ourselves. As a matter of fact there was only one other couple on this trail with us. We took turns passing each other as either couple stopped for a rest or lunch etc. The trail led us across marshy land and beside Greenlee Lough (Lake) Nature Reserve. Unfortunately the only kind of “wildlife” we saw was sheep, cattle, horses and one calico cat that was looking to be adopted or maybe just for a hand out. The cat followed us for about half a mile and when we stopped for a snack the begging began in earnest. We held off until we finished and then left the kitty a piece of our locally made oatmeal cakes that we had bought at the visitor’s center. It worked as the cat stopped following us and concentrated on the decidedly non-cat food we had offered. We finished the 10 mile hike with a long gradual climb back to the ridge and the car. A great hike and the weather gods had once again smiled on us.
The next thing on our agenda was food. It was now about 4:30 and all we had eaten since breakfast was a banana and the small oatmeal cake, or at least what the cat hadn’t eaten. As we found earlier, restaurants and pubs stop serving around 2 or 3 PM. Our plan was to get on the largest highway here which is A69 and drive toward Newcastle but hopefully find something long before we had to go that far. Luck was with us and we found a Little Chef which is like a Denny’s or Shoney’s. Not the best but after five and a half hours of hiking it filled the void.
Back to Bush Nook, a shower and planning for tomorrow. The weather is starting to catch up with us and the question is will the rain come tomorrow or the next day. We watched the weather tonight and the wind and cooler temperatures are blowing in from Ireland and we’re right on the edge. We’re going to get wet.
We drove east to a place called “Once Brewed” to start the hike. There is a pub named “Twice Brewed” there and we decided we had to find out the story behind the names. It seems that Prince Charley had his men building a road through this area and the men would go to the inn for a bite and a drink. They said that the ale was so weak that it had only been brewed once. The inn keeper started to serve a stronger brew and changed the name of the inn to “Twice Brewed”. Later a boy’s school was built here and the head master said that the tea served would only be brewed once so that was called “Once Brewed”.
There is now a visitor’s center there that dispenses information about Hadrian’s Wall and Northumberland National Park. A nice lady behind the counter recommended a slightly different hike for us to try today. Paul’s route had included visiting two Roman forts along the wall and the counter lady suggested the same stretch of the wall but turning north before we reached Vercovicivm (now called Housesteads Fort). This route has us utilizing the Pennine Way, a national trail, and then finishing the hike on a Public Footpath back to the car park where we started. We chose this route.
Hadrian’s Wall was built after the Roman Emperor Hadrian visited Britain in 122AD. It took professional soldiers and legionaries six years to build the 83 mile long wall that separates England from Scotland. It is generally accepted today that the purpose of the wall was to mark the northern boundary of the empire. Troops were stationed along the length of the wall to help protect the boundary against attack by the Picts from the north in Caledonia, what is now Scotland.
We started our hike at the Steel Rigg parking lot which is adjacent to the wall. The wall through this part of the country is built along a ridge line that can be up to 1100 feet high. The wall and trail that parallels it roller coasters up and down as it follows the ridge from gaps to crags. On both sides are now pasture land that are lined with the now familiar stone fences. The only crop that can be grown in these fields is grass which is used to feed the stock now and will also be mown and stored for fodder during the winter. The views are beautiful on this sunny morning with a few clouds and a twenty mile an hour wind adding a dramatic touch to the scene. We saw several ruins of Roman buildings as we hiked and stopped to read about each one in the book that we had bought at the visitor’s center. At one point the trail had eroded so badly in a steep descent that we detoured to avoid it. Several hundred yards later we rejoined the trail and continued on to find ourselves at Housesteads Fort, or to put it another way past the point where we should have turned off the wall trail. We consulted the map and decided the detour was where the Pennine Trail crossed the wall trail. We backtracked and found the crossing and continued on. Prior to this we had seen a lot of people along the trail. Walking and history are passions here and on this fine fall Tuesday the people were exercising those passions. The Pennine trail was different as we almost had it to ourselves. As a matter of fact there was only one other couple on this trail with us. We took turns passing each other as either couple stopped for a rest or lunch etc. The trail led us across marshy land and beside Greenlee Lough (Lake) Nature Reserve. Unfortunately the only kind of “wildlife” we saw was sheep, cattle, horses and one calico cat that was looking to be adopted or maybe just for a hand out. The cat followed us for about half a mile and when we stopped for a snack the begging began in earnest. We held off until we finished and then left the kitty a piece of our locally made oatmeal cakes that we had bought at the visitor’s center. It worked as the cat stopped following us and concentrated on the decidedly non-cat food we had offered. We finished the 10 mile hike with a long gradual climb back to the ridge and the car. A great hike and the weather gods had once again smiled on us.
The next thing on our agenda was food. It was now about 4:30 and all we had eaten since breakfast was a banana and the small oatmeal cake, or at least what the cat hadn’t eaten. As we found earlier, restaurants and pubs stop serving around 2 or 3 PM. Our plan was to get on the largest highway here which is A69 and drive toward Newcastle but hopefully find something long before we had to go that far. Luck was with us and we found a Little Chef which is like a Denny’s or Shoney’s. Not the best but after five and a half hours of hiking it filled the void.
Back to Bush Nook, a shower and planning for tomorrow. The weather is starting to catch up with us and the question is will the rain come tomorrow or the next day. We watched the weather tonight and the wind and cooler temperatures are blowing in from Ireland and we’re right on the edge. We’re going to get wet.
posted by Gary and Holly Davis @ 11:27 AM
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