Rob-n-Hild Take the High Road!

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Hadrian's Wall - only some of it. Hiked 10.26 km with 305 metre ascent in 3:11 hours.

We had a false start this morning because we got part way from the camp site to Hadrian's Wall and realized that we had left our hiking socks in the tent. Wearing hiking boots with normal/small socks is not great, so we turned back. Hild thinks that Rob just wanted to make sure that he has more kilometres of driving than her. Sneaky!

Eventually we arrived at the Sill where we found a parking spot for Percy. A quick toilet break and some photos (including of our intended route map) - and we were off.

The Sill gets its name from the "Great Whin Sill", which is an outcrop of rock formed when molten magma was pushed through the earth's crust 300 million years ago. The Sill is one of the most distinctive landscapes of Northern England - and we agree especially when you climb up and down it multiple times on your hike.

There were fun "facts" on the walls of the Sill centre:
* The earth said: "Whin Sill". Emperor Hadrian said: "Frontier!"
* Ancient swamp said: Coal. People said: Warmth, Factories, Trains
* Glaciers said: High Hilltops. Tribal chiefs said: Mine!

Our first view of Hadrian's Wall was impressive. It snaked up the hill and we could spot the stairs we were about to climb.

Hild liked how tidy and square the construction is!

Originally, Hadrian's wall was built with 3 to 6 metres thickness and 5 metres tall. The wall sections we saw were much narrower and lower, but the square rocks are distinctive compared to English walls that we often see with flat rocks or a mix of shapes.

Rob was happy to climb some Roman stairs!

The full wall was 73 miles long across the country with forts (milecastles) approximately every mile. We got to see milecastle number 39.

We do like the stairs built along the wall. They are sensible in step-height contrary to what we experienced at Ben Lomond with its giant steps.

Then we reached the famous Sycamore Gap where a Sycamore tree stood for 150-years until some crazy people cut it down in 2023. The two were found guilty and are now awaiting sentencing.

In general, we are told that there are no idiots, only people who do idiotic things. Now we're not so sure.

There are seedlings sprouting from the stump, but it will take 150 years to get back to where we were in 2023.

Hild, whose knowledge of history is often gathered in movies, remembers the tree best from Kevin Costner's Robin Hood movie in 1991.

The path along Hadrian's Wall changes from grass, to mud, to gravel and stone stairs. Never a dull moment.

On our way back from the Wall to the road we came across this old limekiln - from back in the 19th century when the farmers made quicklime for their buildings and fields from local sandstone. Hild just wanted to climb the stile to go see the cows on the other side. The cows were, thankfully, very relaxed this morning.

Moments later, we found the huge Crindledykes limekiln. An information sign tells us that, while people have found over 300 limekilns in the area, this one is the only one with four draw arches (where you extract the quicklime) around one single pot (where you wheel your cart up to pour limestone in to burn).

Our different personalities meant that Rob was worried about a weak bridge up ahead. Hild was worried about a sign that said "Public Right of Way" at the same time as "No Open Access". Some online research says that you have the right to walk across the "No Open Access" area if you stick to the path and don't scare the livestock. We wonder what happens when you can't really tell where the path is... Better stick to the road, we thought.

Looking back to where we had been, we could see Hadrian's Wall and the small lime kiln. Gives you a sense of achievement to see where you've been - far away!

We walked straight past the Roman Vindolanda Fort and Museum. We only really wanted to take a quick look and then have a picnic lunch. Not worth 15 pounds each. So we pushed on - even if we were getting tired and hungry. There was really nowhere to sit down along the road.

We ended up having our picnic lunch back in Percy in the parking lot. There was a park but not as nice as it would have been along Hadrian's Wall. If we'd known then what we know now, we would have walked our route backwards to get the timing right for lunch by the Wall.

On our way home to the tent, we needed groceries and stopped by Sainsbury's in Haltwhistle. As it turns out, this is also the official centre of Britain. There are many other ways of finding the centre point of Britain, mainland, with/without islands but we won't bore you with such details. We chose this one because we needed milk, apples, and mandarins - not because it is the mid-point of the longest north-south meridian.

We also experienced that, when you find the centre of Britain, you find a laundromat and a pub/restaurant. Seems reasonable!

The laundromat building used to be a 16th/17th century Bastle: a defensible house. With all the fighting between the Scots and English, you had to be prepared to defend your house. If you weren't hiding in there during a siege, you were keeping livestock on the ground floor and living on the top floor - accessed by a ladder. Convenient but somewhat smelly we think...

We learnt more about the Reivers or raiders. With no livelihood these families turned to stealing cattle and goods throughout the area between Scotland and England. They were not nice people and were punished if you could catch them. It was because of the large number of Reivers that Haltwhistle has so many Bastles.

In 1525 the Bishop of Glasgow tried to solve the Reiver problem with a 500-word curse. Didn't work. They also hung people for intermarrying Scots-and-English in the Border region. Possibly more effective.

Their legacy lives on in that we are still using words such as: "bereaved" and "blackmail". Also, when calling someone "cack or kerr handed" is derived from the Kerr family of Reivers who were apparently all left-handed.

On that note, we went home, did some work, had dinner, and went to bed. Ready for another adventurous day tomorrow.

Coming up: Lake District

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