Castle Aching

[Nearholmer]

Great stuff (well, not blisters and exhaustion, obviously), many thanks for allowing us to accompany you.

 

I always reckon on having a truly terrible first night when camping, then feeling awful the next day. After that is all seems to sort itself out, because I’m so tired I could sleep on a bed of broken bricks, and get a good long kip each night thereafter.

[Tom Burnham]

We had a holiday cottage in Heddon on the Wall in 2001 which actually had the Wall (or the foundations at least) running through the back garden. It was an interesting week or so as the foot and mouth outbreak was still going on, and we frequently had the wheels of our car sprayed with disinfectant.

[Edwardian]

14 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Great stuff (well, not blisters and exhaustion, obviously), many thanks for allowing us to accompany you.

 

I always reckon on having a truly terrible first night when camping, then feeling awful the next day. After that is all seems to sort itself out, because I’m so tired I could sleep on a bed of broken bricks, and get a good long kip each night thereafter.

 

Yesterday was some sort of pain barrier. I'm not saying it was necessarily the last such, but today was a lot easier.

 

Today was the last of the 'not much to see' phase of the wall. Tomorrow is where it should get all pretty, though Kant would probably remind me that it is sublime rather than beautiful. 

 

We retraced our steps to the reservoir where we ended yesterday and set forth along the Wall at 10am. 

 

 

 

Walking along the Wall's outer ditch...

 

 

 

 

 

We think these bumps were a milecastle, probably No,23 but to be frank, I'd need to check:

 

 

Today makes it worth mentioning two facets of the Wall. The first is the Vallum. The Wall had, beyond it, an area of spikey bushes and then a ditch. A little bit later they added, a little distance behind the Wall, the vallum, which was a twin ditch. I've never quite been able to work out why they did this, but they did it the whole length of the Wall. Today we saw our first good view of the vallum:

 

 

Vorwärts!

 

 

 

 

 

I did a mudslide. Miss T did laugh heartily.

 

 

Then, at Planetrees, we come across the second feature of the Wall to be aware of. We end the part known as the broad wall. There was evidently a change of plan, whereby the Romans decided to build the Wall narrower, and for a way this can be seen in conjunction with the foundations for the broad wall. Now, due to various past visits to the Wall and reading around the subject, I was familiar with that. What I had not realised is that the precise place where this happened is very well preserved. I was thrilled to see this.

 

The broad wall:

 

 

  

And the transition:

 

 

 

And so to Chollerford, just beyond the Wall on the north bank of the River North Tyne, where we have put up at the George Hotel.

 

We dined on chicken goujons followed by sausage and mash and I took a bottle of cab sav. so am now slightly fuzzy.

 

 

 And so to bed...

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by Edwardian

[nick_bastable]

what a excellent travelogue I await further installments

 

Nick B

[uax6]

Having visited the wall at an age slightly younger than Miss T, I can remember being impressed with it. We had a cycling holiday staying in various youth hostels along the mid to west end of the wall (although I can recall Hexham as well, I think the main hostel we used was Greenhead?). 

I wasn't aware that you could walk the length of the wall, and actually fancy doing it myself. The going doesn't look too hard so far, so I might be able to persuade SWMBO to try it. How many miles are you doing each day?

 

Theres a place that LTC Rolt stayed while he was writing IKB's biography that sat astride the wall, and he described that a trap door was lifted and you could descend onto the wall... He also stated that the place was still in full Edwardianess, with tails required for dinner, and a food ration to keep you eating all day...

 

Andy G

[Compound2632]

8 hours ago, Edwardian said:

A little bit later they added, a little distance behind the Wall, the vallum, which was a twin ditch. I've never quite been able to work out why they did this, but they did it the whole length of the Wall. 

 

So, imagine you're in command of a legion of men complaining about the cold and the damp and the lack of things to do...

[Northroader]

Quote from a ruling by Lord Justice Underhill yesterday at the Court of Appeal:

”Many people take pleasure in the experience of sleeping in a tent in open country, typically, though not invariably, as part of a wider experience of walking across country, and perhaps engaging in other open air recreations such as birdwatching, during the day.”

Edited August 1, 2023 by Northroader

[Schooner]

6 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

So, imagine you're in command of a legion of men complaining about the cold and the damp and the lack of things to do...

...and without the old standby of 'Invade France'.

 

Romans eh, bloody overachievers...

[Compound2632]

25 minutes ago, Northroader said:

Quote from a ruling by Lord Justice Underhill yesterday at the Court of Appeal:

”Many people take pleasure in the experience of sleeping in a tent in open country,

 

He didn't, though, add "in retrospect"...

[woodenhead]

On 27/07/2023 at 08:27, Edwardian said:

 

In the meantime ...

 

 

I see where Nige gets his singing face from for Rule Britannia

[figworthy]

13 hours ago, uax6 said:

Theres a place that LTC Rolt stayed while he was writing IKB's biography that sat astride the wall, and he described that a trap door was lifted and you could descend onto the wall... He also stated that the place was still in full Edwardianess, with tails required for dinner, and a food ration to keep you eating all day...

 

 

If I've got the generations right, at the time, the house in question belonged to IKB's Granddaughter and her husband.

 

Adrian

[Adam88]

I heard it explained that the vallum was dug in order for Geordies to grow their giant leeks.

[monkeysarefun]

On 01/08/2023 at 15:32, uax6 said:

I wasn't aware that you could walk the length of the wall, and actually fancy doing it myself.

 

 

This has certainly inspired me to attempt to walk our  version - the Dingo Fence.

 

 

 

[Edwardian]

17 hours ago, Northroader said:

Quote from a ruling by Lord Justice Underhill yesterday at the Court of Appeal:

”Many people take pleasure in the experience of sleeping in a tent in open country, typically, though not invariably, as part of a wider experience of walking across country, and perhaps engaging in other open air recreations such as birdwatching, during the day.”

 

Hmm, but what is an incognito Hobbit doing in the Court of Appeal?

 

So, too done in to post yesterday, but we are half way through. The odds are not looking great; the terrain is becoming ever more challenging and we are taking ever longer to cover the required distances. Yesterday we could not have made it to the usual inn for this section, so left the Wall a little earlier to go to the hotel in Haltwhistle. More on that later. 

 

Miss T is exhausted, her feet very painful and she has other crippling pain to contend with. My blisters are more or less behaving but my knees and legs were pretty shot to begin with, no doubt in large part due to the weight I have forced them to carry for some years now, and my recurring 'virus' of the 6-7 weeks prior seems to have , well, recurred. 

 

I think that anyone moderately fit of my age, the Wall is not particularly difficult, But for me, with crumbling limbs and respiratory problems it was probably unwise, but, then, I cannot continue to decay, so this trip was intended, for me, as a full-stop to my declining health. One way or another. Miss T faces at least comparable, if not greater, problems and has been in pain most of the time. She is determined, however, and was nothing short of heroic yesterday.   

 

So, yes, yesterday. We started at Chesters, a short walk from The George. Chesters was the, rather grand, house of a chap called Clayton, who, in the Nineteenth Century, more or less single-handedly saved most of what remains of the Wall by buying it. He built a museum in the grounds to house his collection of finds, which remains and is a place of infinite charm. I love this little museum.

 

 

The Roman site, also once in Clayton's demesne, is  a cavalry fort on the Wall. One can see the abutments of the river bridge that carried the Wall from the side of the fort and see its course on the further bank. 

 

Here is an aerial view pictured on the sign at the entrance. To orientate, bottom right is the north gate. Above it and to the left the large block are the cavalry barracks were the men lived side by side with their mounts. adjacent is the east gate beyond that the Wall leads from the east wall to the river. The building in the trees beyond is the baths.

 

 

The course of the Wall beyond the rive, looking east:

 

 

Then onward:

 

 

 

 

 

Just outside Carrawburgh Fort (once garrison 500) , now reduced to its grassy outline, is the temple of Mithras, where we stopped for lunch.

 

 

Mithras was an eastern cult, associated with the army.  It's subterranean temples are said to emulate the cave where Mithra used to hang out. There is a picture of an initiate undertaking his, well, initiation rites. Sounds like the masons for the Roman army.

 

And then on again.

 

 

Warning, hills ahead!

 

 

 

 

Grindon turret:

 

 

 

 

We arrive at the crags. It's all going to be much worse from here!

 

 

Sewingshields Milecastle

 

 

 

 

The route ahead along the crags

 

 

 

 

 

Looking back the way we'd come:

 

 

Housesteads Fort at last!

 

 

King Burn Gate:

 

 

 

As I type, the rain is hammering down above us. But we really must dash for breakfast.

[Northroader]

If you regard it as a shared experience which will help form a closer bond with your daughter, I would say it’s been very worth while so far. What now? The area you’ve reached is regarded as the most spectacular, and Housesteads the main centre for artefacts and so on. From what bit I can see, as you progress from here the wall gradually fizzles out as you progress westwards. 
my view is you spend the rest of the week at somewhere interesting with a B&B on the Northumberland coast, having some paddles in the sea to help your feet mend, and forget about lugging those rucksacks any further. Best wishes, Bob.

[Compound2632]

If you're in Haltwhistle, it sounds to me that you are covering the ground at an heroic rate. Time for a rest day?

 

Glad to see you found the Temple of Mithras.

 

 

[Compound2632]

46 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

Hmm, but what is an incognito Hobbit doing in the Court of Appeal?

 

That's all part of Tolkien's linguistic brilliance - making his hobbits sound so ordinary and down-to-earth (more or less literally). My father, growing up in Birmingham, was best friends with one Terry Underhill, who, though not in fact a hobbit, had a long career as a professional gardener. 

 

One I particularly like and is pertinent to you current ramble, is Fornost Erain, the once capital of the Numenorean kingdom of Arnor, long ruinous and known to the hobbits of the Shire as Deadman's Dyke, or more properly, Kings Norbury - which really does sound as if it could be a Birmingham suburb, somewhere around Northfield and Kings Norton.

Edited August 2, 2023 by Compound2632

[Schooner]

"-bury" being a (non-Roman) fort provides further useful information. Logical brilliance as much as linguistic...he gets so much right about his world, it's utterly compelling.

 

Bravo James and Tribe! I hope you're all finding elements of pleasure and satisfaction among the discomfort and struggles. Enjoy the luxury of engaging with them on your terms, to the extent you want and measured against only your own personal metrics. And if that means going to a good book, the beach, or even home, for a day or few of your holiday then enjoy that too :)

Edited August 2, 2023 by Schooner

[Nearholmer]

I just looked at the weather forecast for the district for today, and can only hope that the wanderers have put up in a cosy wayside inn, with a good fire, for the duration: its bl@@dy awful!

Edited August 2, 2023 by Nearholmer

[jwealleans]

I live not too far away and can vouch for its accuracy.

[Compound2632]

26 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

its bl@@dy awful!

 

Authentic wall weather.

[drmditch]

Well done, both of you.

Weather today (in Durham) is horrible.

Might (according to the Met Office) might be a bit better tomorrow.

 

Thank you for all the photographs.

[Nearholmer]

Roman wall for wimps:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66365542

[Compound2632]

Then there's Wall:

 

 

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/wall-roman-site/

[ChrisN]

WE went to both the Mithras Temple and the fort when we went to Hexham a couple of years ago, but we drove.  Well done for getting that far.  Stop, when you stop enjoying it and find something nice and relaxing to do.