Castle Aching

[Donw]

There seems to be walls all over the place. The one I knew was between Shrewsbury and Telford just south of the A5.  My main memory is of a rather impressive bit of wall still standing most Roman ruins are all very low.

 

Don

[Edwardian]

Thank you again for all the support. I apologise for the delayed report, but Bowness on Solway has internet as a matter of theory, but not practice.

 

So, yes, we made it!

 

The Crown & Mitre, blessings be upon it, had a bath in the en suite. The recuperative benefits of a bath should not be underestimated.

 

 

So, Day 8 ...

 

Well, there was nothing of Rome to see, but some interesting sites nonetheless.  We noticed yesterday that both English Heritage and the National Trust had lost interest, so what little information you get is from various local sources. Thus, on the banks of the Eden in Carlisle...

 

 

St Mary's, Beaumont, is the only church that stands on the Wall. It stands on a little hill where the Roman's placed a watch tower. The Norman's were equally wary of incursions from the north, so they built a motte and baily castle on the site. Later, 1296 IIRC, a church was established in its place.

 

 

The walk itself was mainly fields, tracks and roads.

 

 

The walk yesterday was 15 miles, and. while mainly on the level, we were pretty tired and lost time by calling into the Greyhound at Burgh on Sands, where I had a cheeky pint to take the edge off. We did set off again, unlike Edward I, who had come to a dead end there in 1307.

 

About a mile on, the route takes you up on a dyke by the side of the road and a thin strip of salt marsh.

 

 

The dyke affords views to the right over the Solway Firth and Scotland....

 

 

and to the left, the English Lake District.....

 

 

The dyke seemed endless.....  

 

 

....but, eventually, we reached Drumburgh ('burgh' is thereabouts pronounced 'bruff'), which has a castle...

 

 

Bone weary by this point...

 

 

And so to Port Carlisle, with which many readers will doubtless be familiar...

 

 

 

Not a lot left of this enterprise now...

 

 

Finally, there was but a mile to go...

 

 

...so we put our best foot forward and marched in spite of our fatigue, blisters and bruises, or the rain that accompanied this last effort.

 

 

The building on the centre of the horizon is a house named 'the Grey Havens'. Beyond it, finally...

 

 

And that is it.  There was a fort, our B&B was one of the very many village buildings built over it. The end of the Wall is marked a little way inside the village by a little shelter....

 

 

Pub grub and a couple of pints in the village hostelry and then bed.

 

Today we journeyed back, more or less the way we had come, on the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway, which I had never travelled before. The scenery is, of course, beautiful, and many of the stations absolutely charming.  It was sobering to think what had taken 7 of our 8 days of walking, the train accomplished in one and a half hours. 

 

My thanks must go to Miss T, for her unflagging determination, the joy and privilege of her company, and for coming up with this mad scheme and insisting that we did it!

 

 

[Andy Hayter]

Well done the both of you.

[James Harrison]

What passes for The Alhambra in your neck of the woods?  I think you deserve a night there after that endeavour. 

[drduncan]

James, 

 

Well done on your successful walk!

 

Your perseverance reminded me of a walk around the toe of Cornwall my now wife and I did over a decade ago BC (Before Children) We took the train from Paddington  to Penzance. Naturally I raved about all thing GWR and the stretch from Dawlish to Teignmouth as well as the Royal Albert bridge. Naturally she thought I was mad and a bit sad.

 

We changed at St Erth for St Ives and arrived in beautiful weather. Refreshing ourselves with a lovely lunch at the Lifeboat Inn we set out along the coastal path. The view of Porthmeor beach and an almost colbalt blue sea was fantastic and we promised ourselves that we would come back to explore the town and to surf(well body board).

 

As we walked along the well made path to the south headland guarding Porthmeor beach we had the first indication that all might not be smooth walking ahead. We saw coming the other way a pair of extremely hot and disgruntled looking cyclists. On rounding the headland we found out why.

 

Confronting us was a c5 mile scramble across an extensive boulder field strewn across a 45 degree slope that led from the top of the 300 ft cliffs to the crest of the bluffs inland. The path, such that it was, meandered happy up and down this slope and only rarely made progress along the cliff top towards our accommodation at the Gunards Head pub. This was a surprise which the OS 1:25000 map had inexplicably glossed over. For variety the boulder field was occasionally pierced by steep ravines emptying streams down to the sea - which involved walking down a steep slope almost to sea level before climbing back up to the general line of the cliff tops.

 

After several hours of this is was becoming painfully-very painfully clear- that out chances of making our table reservation was poor, despite ringing them to say we were still on the way. We decided to strike inland and follow a path that had not been laid out by a frustrated rollercoaster designer, Even so we arrived, hot and probably very smelly a couple of hours past our planned arrival and dinner time. The staff were fantastic. They shrugged off our offer to go straight through to the restaurant- in fact they were most insistent we took a few moments to clean ourselves up. 
 

So our dinner (delicious local seafood) was a far more pleasant affair than if we had dinner forthwith and we collapsed into bed ready for what could only be an easier day to follow.

 

We were wrong. 
 

Whereas day 1 had been hot and brilliant sunshine, day 2 was at breakfast (a full Cornish to die for) best described as misty. On the plus side, the chef refused to countenance any suggestions as to what you might like for the Cornish breakfast - you ordered the breakfast and were extremely grateful and in fact just very full. This confused the American couple further along the table (there was only one table  for breakfast) as they thought they, not chef, knew best.

 

Going outside, however showed that the assessment of misty was a touch optimistic. It was thick fog - or more likely low cloud - along the cliff top path with strong wind and a great deal of moisture being thrown around. 
 

Progress was slow in the cloud as we tried to keep to the path. After the second time good fortune stopped us from stepping out onto a path that wasn’t there (but a fall of several hundred feet into the sea very definitely was) we again stuck inland past Pendeen Watch until we stumbled into the Queens Head pub at Bottalack for another very late but unbelievably good meal, although this lunch break was well behind where we hoped to be. Pushing on in better weather towards St Just until it was obvious that Sennen Cove was not getting much closer, we hopped on a bus though St Just and down into Sennen Cove, arriving at the Old Success Inn towards vespers.

 

It was another beautiful meal (a theme of this walk I know) it was a painful crawl upstairs to bed. I don’t think I even had more than a couple of pints of bitter things were so sore.

 

Day 3 was sunny, hot and perfect in all respects as we passed Lands End and I can’t reminder where we lunched - a tiny cove where we had sandwiches; a bit of a let down after the previous days. It was a relatively easy 8-10 miles into Mousehole - where another excellent dinner and bed awaited us. Our stay was somewhat spoilt by finding in our room a leaflet offering a service to take luggage or rucksacks on to a walker’s next accommodation point.

 

Day 4 was again delightful and a very easy 3 miles or so into Penzance. We paused to pay our respects at the old Penlee lifeboat station.And then it was time for the London train where I again enthused about all things godly, western,  and railway- however we took pains to ensure we sat at the opposite end of the coach to the luggage rack holding our rucksacks and some very smelly gear….

 

Duncan

Edited August 6, 2023 by drduncan

[Northroader]

Congratulations and well done, to you and Miss T, it’s a tribute to both of you having the spirit and determination to achieve it, and it is a real achievement. Next time, and I hope there is a next time, try and get your feet better prepared, and just plan around a walk involving stretches with day sacks only, not those bloody great rucksacks.

Thanks for sharing the trip with us, with such a full account, and with all the illustrations of what you saw, really enjoyed it.

[Caley Jim]

34 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

Well done both of you!, however, I must take issue with the last paragraph on this notice.  There was another Roman Wall further north, built 20 years later, but abandoned after only 8 years, the Antonine wall, between the Clyde and the Forth.  It was an earth rampart, but with the usual forts etc.  Quite substantial parts of it can still be seen and there are artifacts from it in the Huntarian Museum at my Alma Mater, Glasgow University, and also in a museum in, IIRC, Bearsden.

 

Jim

[brumtb]

Very well done, a real achievement and thank you for sharing your adventure.

I do hope it has the desired effect as far as your health issues are concerned. Although i imagine you fee pretty worn out at the moment!

Tony

[St Enodoc]

4 hours ago, Edwardian said:

The Crown & Mitre, blessings be upon it, had a bath in the en suite. The recuperative benefits of a bath should not be underestimated.

 

 

A bath in the room, a toy shop and an ale shop. Who could ask for more?

 

4 hours ago, Edwardian said:

The building on the centre of the horizon is a house named 'the Grey Havens'.

Very Tolkienesque.

[St Enodoc]

4 hours ago, Caley Jim said:

Well done both of you!, however, I must take issue with the last paragraph on this notice.  There was another Roman Wall further north, built 20 years later, but abandoned after only 8 years, the Antonine wall, between the Clyde and the Forth.  It was an earth rampart, but with the usual forts etc.  Quite substantial parts of it can still be seen and there are artifacts from it in the Huntarian Museum at my Alma Mater, Glasgow University, and also in a museum in, IIRC, Bearsden.

 

Jim

Quite so. Our home in Edinburgh was within a few hundred yards of Cramond Roman Fort.

[Donw]

I think you are rather blessed in your daughter and she in you agreeing to it. Well done both.

 

Don

[Edwardian]

9 minutes ago, Donw said:

I think you are rather blessed in your daughter and she in you agreeing to it. Well done both.

 

Don

 

Thanks, Don. Indeed, I am blessed, more than I can express (don't tell her I said that, though!). 

[monkeysarefun]

11 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

Thanks, Don. Indeed, I am blessed, more than I can express (don't tell her I said that, though!). 

Took my son on a driving trip around Tasmania when he was about 15. He spent most of the time waving his phone around hoping to get mobile coverage. 

Edited August 7, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Nearholmer]

Yes, this is part of why I’m keen on a bike trip, because try as you might, you really can’t play on-line virtual football with your mates while riding a bike (the other part is that I hate walking!).
 

To be fair to my son, he signed-up on the next stage of DoE without the slightest prompting, and has signed-up to the FA course to train as a football referee. The latter is, IMO, a very mature/brave thing to do, because even at junior football level referees have to know a thing or two about conflict resolution, not so much with/between the children, but the adults (coaches and a tiny % of parents).

[Edwardian]

8 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Took my son on a driving trip around Tasmania when he was about 15. He spent most of the time waving his phone around hoping to get mobile coverage. 

 

21 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Yes, this is part of why I’m keen on a bike trip, because try as you might, you really can’t play on-line virtual football with your mates while riding a bike (the other part is that I hate walking!).
 

To be fair to my son, he signed-up on the next stage of DoE without the slightest prompting, and has signed-up to the FA course to train as a football referee. The latter is, IMO, a very mature/brave thing to do, because even at junior football level referees have to know a thing or two about conflict resolution, not so much with/between the children, but the adults (coaches and a tiny % of parents).

 

Other options are available. Miss T and I took it in turns to read Milton's Paradise Lost aloud to each other along the way, until the drizzle set it, that is. 

 

Wouldn't want to try that on a bicycle. 

[Compound2632]

On 08/08/2023 at 08:19, Nearholmer said:

Yes, this is part of why I’m keen on a bike trip, because try as you might, you really can’t play on-line virtual football with your mates while riding a bike (the other part is that I hate walking!).
 

To be fair to my son, he signed-up on the next stage of DoE without the slightest prompting, and has signed-up to the FA course to train as a football referee. The latter is, IMO, a very mature/brave thing to do, because even at junior football level referees have to know a thing or two about conflict resolution, not so much with/between the children, but the adults (coaches and a tiny % of parents).

Get him to look up Col. Francis Marindin RE as a paragon of scrupulous fair -mindedness!

[Nearholmer]

Wasn’t he the chap that fell in a river while inspecting a bridge?

 

Looking him up leads also to Col van Donop who went up the Nile, also played in two FA cup finals, and appeared for England. They must have spent all their tea-breaks at HMRI discussing the off-side rule (which possibly didn’t exist then - they probably invented it). 
 

PS: in its first form it came in in 1863, so no, they didn’t invent it, but Marindin is credited with inventing “the passing game”.

 

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by Nearholmer

[Edwardian]

No early resumption of modelling, I'm afraid ...

 

For we have now no thought in us but France

 

 

[Edwardian]

A rail journey to the Continet evokes ....

 

 

[papagolfjuliet]

Re: the Hornby MGNJR 0-4-0T alluded to some way upthread, it's out now and it is... words fail me... it is orange. Very.

 

https://www.hattons.co.uk/1136735/hornby_r30317_freelance_0_4_0t_100_in_midland_great_northern_railway_brown_railroad_range/stockdetail

[Caley Jim]

6 hours ago, Edwardian said:

A rail journey to the Continet evokes ....

 

 

I've always felt that the scene of the departure of the train is one of the most atmospheric railway scenes in any film.

 

Jim

[Annie]

4 hours ago, papagolfjuliet said:

Re: the Hornby MGNJR 0-4-0T alluded to some way upthread, it's out now and it is... words fail me... it is orange. Very.

 

https://www.hattons.co.uk/1136735/hornby_r30317_freelance_0_4_0t_100_in_midland_great_northern_railway_brown_railroad_range/stockdetail

What the heck!!! 😬 😲

[Nearholmer]

The M&GN is only one in a long line of railways to be traduced by Renamed-Triang, so I wouldn’t take it too much to heart.

[Annie]

6 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

The M&GN is only one in a long line of railways to be traduced by Renamed-Triang, so I wouldn’t take it too much to heart.

(sigh) I still haven't forgiven them for what their marketing goblins did to the Bassett Lowke name.

[WFPettigrew]

45 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

long line of railways to be traduced by Renamed-Triang

 

Anyone fancy a Caley pug pretending to be a Furness loco 🙄?!

 

Etc etc