Castle Aching

[Edwardian]

7 hours ago, Donw said:

A walking tour sounds ideal. I remember walking up Snowdon I had been listening to Holst and my walk was accompanied by Mars running through my head most stirring and helped to keep going. I am sure a break from work and daily life will be good. 

 

Don 

 

Thanks, let's hope so.

 

7 hours ago, Northroader said:

Curses! Beaten on the draw again! A noble ambition, but seriously, how much walking have you done?

 

None

 

7 hours ago, Northroader said:

are your feet acclimatised?

 

 

No

 

7 hours ago, Northroader said:

what sort of distances are you planning?

 

84 miles

 

7 hours ago, Northroader said:

you're not carrying more than a day sack?

 

 

Tent and sleeping bag on one leg of the walk only

 

7 hours ago, Northroader said:

North, Scotland in August, midges?

 

 

7 hours ago, Northroader said:

 Signed, Most concerned of RWB.

 

As I say, kill or cure.

[Compound2632]

17 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

Ah, then I withdraw my gratuitous hairy Scotsman. Look out for the Mithraic Temple near Carrawburgh Fort - easily overlooked but as holes in the ground go, not a bad one. Handy if it's raining.

[Donw]

2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Climate crisis.

 

Its freaking everyone out, even the most vehement deniers of it, so we are in the grip of a sort of unfocused, frequently displacement-based, anxiety/panic.

 

Well, that’s my take on it.

 

Just to cheer you up some reseachers have announced the increased temperature  will cause the gulf srream to switch off  at some point after whichwe will slowly get colder and sea ice at the poles spread. It would be ironic if we have just made everyone switch to heat pumps before a mini ice age means they cannot cope. It all goes to show the climatic system is a lot more complex.

Somethings like good insulation can help with higher and lower temperatures, but others can be problematic. Wind farms dont like excessive  wind speeds or calm global warming may make our weather flip from one to the other.

 

Don

[Donw]

43 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

Thanks, let's hope so.

 

 

None

 

 

No

 

 

84 miles

 

 

Tent and sleeping bag on one leg of the walk only

 

 

 

 

As I say, kill or cure.

 

I hope you have a decent pair of boots that have been worn enough to be comfortable. Breaking in new boots is not ideal for long walks.

 

Don

[Edwardian]

15 minutes ago, Donw said:

 

I hope you have a decent pair of boots that have been worn enough to be comfortable. Breaking in new boots is not ideal for long walks.

 

Don

 

That at least I have done in a year of walking the dogs in them.

[Northroader]

He’ll be going in flip flops, Don, carrying a tent and a sleeping bag, I’ve seen ‘em on the south west coast path. As concerned parishioners we ought to admire his attempts at recapturing lost youth, then put a stop to this tomfoolery, maybe tell him he can’t have a Rapido Lion for Christmas?

[Edwardian]

19 minutes ago, Northroader said:

He’ll be going in flip flops, Don, carrying a tent and a sleeping bag, I’ve seen ‘em on the south west coast path.

 

 

Norfolk jacket and tennis shoes ought to do it!

 

19 minutes ago, Northroader said:

As concerned parishioners we ought to admire his attempts at recapturing lost youth, then put a stop to this tomfoolery, maybe tell him he can’t have a Rapido Lion for Christmas?

 

Ah, that might be a tad too late ....

 

[Schooner]

48 minutes ago, Donw said:

some reseachers charlatans have announced the increased temperature  will cause the gulf srream to switch off

49 minutes ago, Donw said:

and sea ice at the poles spread.

Bet you a tenner it doesn't.

 

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

 

Ideal. Rest sounds good too - it's a walk, gents, not a trek across the Alaskan wilderness!

 

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

Ah, then I withdraw my gratuitous hairy Scotsman.

I should think so too!

 

[Northroader]

 Very well, then, off you go, but we expect regular posts on here, with pictures of nice pubs and their meals, and any good scenic situations us stay at homes can use as a backscene on a small Northern type layout.

Now, on the way to the start, call in at a chemists, get a small pair of sharp scissors, a reel of narrow surgical tape, and a pack containing a hank of chiropodist’s (sheep’s) wool.

actually, I’m quite envious of the trip, hope you have a good time. (Like that Lion,too!)

[Annie]

Is this Midge then?

[Compound2632]

2 minutes ago, Annie said:

Is this Midge then?

 

Could be Mary; probably not Mungo.

[Caley Jim]

1 hour ago, Annie said:

Is this Midge then?

Naw!  This is midge .

"If ye should kill yin

Another ten million

Are bound to turn up for the wake!'"

Jim

Edited July 27, 2023 by Caley Jim
Add song extract

[Edwardian]

2 hours ago, Annie said:

Is this Midge then?

 

Not sure. This one cetainly is ...

 

[St Enodoc]

2 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

Not sure. This one cetainly is ...

 

So's this:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midge_Ure#/media/File:Midge_April84.JPG

[Donw]

Have a good time James. The boots sound good i mentioned it because you wouldn't have been the first to start a walking trip with new boots. If you are camping and are not carrying a gas thingy to boil water and need to start a proper fire ;

site the fire properly 

if it has been raining dead twigs on trees will be drier than those on the ground

fire lighters may be cheating but do work. 

don't set the hillside alight 

 

Schooner its alright about the gulf stream someone has announced they have it wrong. In truth I do not believe any one knows quite what set ice ages off. The sun may well have played a part or volcanos. You're on for the bet the date for the stream switching off was from 2026 to 2096 or thereabouts plus a few decades for the ice to spread say say 2140. If I gave you a 20p piece now that's probably all a tenner would be worth by then.

 

I am a bit envious Marion wouldn't be up for such trips these days. Mind you she hasn't forgiven me for the time she twisted her Ankle between Wrynose and Hardknot passes. She had just limped up Hardknot  in poring rain when I heard a whistle from the Ratty. i dragged her a fast as possible to catch the train down to Ravenglass. 

 

Don

 

 

[Edwardian]

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

 

 

Good luck Waltzing Your Matilda.  Watch out for jolly  Jumbucks in your tuckerbag  and 

may all your Coolabah trees be shady ones.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 28, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Schooner]

 

Edited July 28, 2023 by Schooner
*by Robert Louis Stevenson, set by RVW

[Compound2632]

Or Quirley-Shirk, as my Grandmother used to call him.

[St Enodoc]

10 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Or Quirley-Shirk, as my Grandmother used to call him.

Shirley that was so that she didn't call him Shirley.

[Edwardian]

And so to Newcastle by train (it's only half an hour up the ECML)....

 

 

Passing the castle, which in the context of our Roman wall walk, represents the site of the Roman fort here,

 

 

We had a hotel in the centre of the city. The walking was supposed to start tomorrow, but we thought we would cover the portion of the Wall east of the city centre today, heading out west tomorrow.

 

So we took the Metro out to...

 

 

Just down the hill from the station is....

 

 

This is a museum on the old Swan Hunter shipbuilders site where the Roman fort that marks the start of the Wall, Segendunum, has been uncovered.  The control tower like structure affords a view across the site.

 

 

At the bottom left of the fort, a wall leads left down to the river Tyne, closing off access past the fort on the river side.

 

 

This went some way into the river and ended in a shrine.

 

 

Now the 'Hadrian's Wall Trail' takes you down to the river and you are to follow it until you clear the western limits of the city. This is, thus, the official route, so the one my son, Lupin (when he's being Lupinesque) took when he walked the Wall in a mere five days in March.

 

If you want to know where the Wall actually went, look more to the top right of the arial photograph. Go a little way along the main road and you will stumble across it.

 

 

Hard by this is a mine of 1781, which was connected to the river staithes by a short waggonway.

 

The mine ...

 

 

 

 

By 1816, steam locomotives were in use to take the coal to the staithes.

 

When I announced my intention to follow, as closely as physically possible, the actual route of the Wall, Lupin scoffed "good luck walking through Byker". Even the staff at the Museum, who described this as a route only a "purist" would take, seemed a bit dubious.

 

However, it proved to be a perfectly pleasant walk and before long the streets allowed us to pass from very near the course of the Wall, to actually on the course of the Wall.

 

  

 

So we went along the main road and onto Shields Road and onto Byker Bridge, from which could be glimpsed the absolutely wonderful Weardale Iron and Coal Company bridge of 1869

 

 

The highlight of the architectural treasures on the way was a Roman Catholic priory and adjacent Edwardian public baths, allowing for a convenient cleansing of both body and soul.

 

 

And so to central Newcastle with one major Roman site and an hour and a half knocked off the official first day's walk tomorrow.

 

For those interested, we dined on champagne and posh fish and chips in the hotel restaurant, where we managed briefly to set the table alight. We put it out, though there was a lot of water loose as a result, and the staff were terrific sports about the whole thing. 

 

Tomorrow we go dark as we are camping tomorrow night, so there will be two days of walking before I can report again.

 

Assuming we survive that long, that is...

 

 

[brumtb]

9 hours ago, Edwardian said:

And so to Newcastle by train (it's only half an hour up the ECML)....

 

 

Passing the castle, which in the context of our Roman wall walk, represents the site of the Roman fort here,

 

 

We had a hotel in the centre of the city. The walking was supposed to start tomorrow, but we thought we would cover the portion of the Wall east of the city centre today, heading out west tomorrow.

 

So we took the Metro out to...

 

 

Just down the hill from the station is....

 

 

This is a museum on the old Swan Hunter shipbuilders site where the Roman fort that marks the start of the Wall, Segendunum, has been uncovered.  The control tower like structure affords a view across the site.

 

 

At the bottom left of the fort, a wall leads left down to the river Tyne, closing off access past the fort on the river side.

 

 

This went some way into the river and ended in a shrine.

 

 

Now the 'Hadrian's Wall Trail' takes you down to the river and you are to follow it until you clear the western limits of the city. This is, thus, the official route, so the one my son, Lupin (when he's being Lupinesque) took when he walked the Wall in a mere five days in March.

 

If you want to know where the Wall actually went, look more to the top right of the arial photograph. Go a little way along the main road and you will stumble across it.

 

 

Hard by this is a mine of 1781, which was connected to the river staithes by a short waggonway.

 

The mine ...

 

 

 

 

By 1816, steam locomotives were in use to take the coal to the staithes.

 

When I announced my intention to follow, as closely as physically possible, the actual route of the Wall, Lupin scoffed "good luck walking through Byker". Even the staff at the Museum, who described this as a route only a "purist" would take, seemed a bit dubious.

 

However, it proved to be a perfectly pleasant walk and before long the streets allowed us to pass from very near the course of the Wall, to actually on the course of the Wall.

 

  

 

So we went along the main road and onto Shields Road and onto Byker Bridge, from which could be glimpsed the absolutely wonderful Weardale Iron and Coal Company bridge of 1869

 

 

The highlight of the architectural treasures on the way was a Roman Catholic priory and adjacent Edwardian public baths, allowing for a convenient cleansing of both body and soul.

 

 

And so to central Newcastle with one major Roman site and an hour and a half knocked off the official first day's walk tomorrow.

 

For those interested, we dined on champagne and posh fish and chips in the hotel restaurant, where we managed briefly to set the table alight. We put it out, though there was a lot of water loose as a result, and the staff were terrific sports about the whole thing. 

 

Tomorrow we go dark as we are camping tomorrow night, so there will be two days of walking before I can report again.

 

Assuming we survive that long, that is...

 

 

I'm loving the travelogue already!  We regularly have to take our daughter to Newcastle Royal Infirmary for treatment and this would be a good way to spend the day whilst we're waiting.  Keep up the good work (walk). 

Looking forward to further episodes.

Tony

[Edwardian]

The 28th was really Day 0, as we used the afternoon to do the wall east of the city centre. That left yesterday morning to look around Newcastle on our way the the castle keep, taking in the Mining Institute, the Lit & Phil and what remains of the castle (the Thirteenth Century Black Gate and the Norman Keep). All this was fascinating, but not on point and, as I am beyond tired, I must skip it for now.

 

Why the interest in the Norman Keep? Well, the castle was built over the Roman fort which marked the original east end of the Wall before it was extended further east to Wallsend.  The course of the fort structures are laid out beside the keep and under the adjacent railway arches.

 

 

 

The view south shows Robert Stephenson's High Level Bride, the road below and rail above. A structure from 1849, still going strong.

 

 

And then we crossed the city centre and, once again eschewing the Tyne bank walk in favour of the actual Wall, took to Westgate, which  runs straight along the course of the Wall for mile after down at heel mile.

 

 

The route affords few remains. We missed Benwell temple, somehow, but at Denton saw first this little stretch...

 

 

.... and then a longer section showing Denton turret. The turrets were placed between the Milecastles..

 

 

 Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity we hit fields....

 

 

As we tramped up and down hills on the road (the official trail had still not converged with the course of the Wall, we were amazed to see a building containing flats, rather nondescript and altered but of Victorian origin called the Royal French Arms. Adjacent were a nondescript row of cottages, on which a sundial stood out.

 

 

The explanation was on a plaque on the gatepost:

 

 

On we trudged.....

 

 

And, so, eventually, we came to Heddon on the Wall where there is a fine stretch of wall.

 

 

Thereafter we trudged wearily to our campsite where we spent a cheerless night with little sleep. It rained.

 

But I must to bed and leave the tale of today until tomorrow ....

Edited July 31, 2023 by Edwardian
spelling

[drmditch]

Back in the late 70s I did look at buying a house in Heddon-on-the-wall. As I remember it had the Wall close to the property boundary.

I was a bit worried about any complexities in the Search.

[Edwardian]

Yesterday, official Day 2, was pretty hard going due to tiredness and blisters, though at least my knees, which had been protesting fervently the previous night, had settled down to a mood of quiet resentment. We made a 6.30pm start because, once awake, a damp field has little attraction, but left the Wall earlier than we would in order to trudge a parallel course to our accommodation. We were there by noon and it is a measure of my misery that I had to pull myself up the stairs to the first floor, hand over hand on bannisters and newel posts. It was time for some blister plasters and a lie down.

 

Returning to the walk of yesterday morning, Rudchester I had heard of as the location of a fort, Roman Vindobala, which we reached at 7.05am.

 

 

It was excavated twice in the early i900s, but no one has touched it since 1924, so it presents as a field.

 

 

Most of the way is on paths created either side of a very fast road. Our only real obstacle, as it almost entirely blocked the path was a car that had evidently flipped off the road and speed, plough through the hedge and do the bank. All its contents were scattered about it. It was a pretty gruesome sight and one can only pray that the occupant(s) somehow walked, or at least crawled, away. 

 

 

After more painful hobbling, we reached Whitten Dene ponds or reservoir around 9.00am, having made no great speed. There, like the good little Hobbits we were, we made a second breakfast of our packed lunches, having realised that our early start meant we would be at out overnight accommodation by noon.

 

 

Thereafter we hobbled off there, the Duke of Wellington in Newton, a fair step away from the Wall.

 

As you will have seen, so far we have hardly seen the most interesting section of the Wall, which is why the popular stretch is the scenic mid-section. We are not there yet.  Thus, despite our fatigue and my rather degraded state, after 40 winks, we were up to go ahead to Corbridge. This is a site we have often visited before as a day trip from home. It is essentially a fortified town lying to the south of the Wall. It lies on the north bank of the Tyne guarding a bridge crossing and straddling the main road north to the wall. It, thus, seems to have functioned as a supply hub. It is an impressive site and has a fine museum and collection of Roman monuments and inscriptions.

 

 

 

 

As the kitchens were shut at the Duke of Boots, we supped early in Corbridge at the Angel. Here we indulged in cod froitters, followed by Sunday roasts - chicken for mademoiselle, leg of lamb for me - chocolate chhescake and brry crumble. I sent this down with a couple of pints of Wall Walker and have slept for almost 8 hours.

 

Today will see us resume the march at Whitten Dene ponds, so we are a bit behind where we should be with a very long march ahead of us.