East Wallhouses to Green Carts Farm

Waking up and looking out of the tent though it sounds a bit over the top filled me with joy. A vista of fields and sunshine put me in a good mood for the day. I am an early riser so everything was quiet and I couldn’t hear anyone else awake. I successfully used my Trangia cooking set to make a cup of tea and some porridge – this doesn’t sound significant but this was the first time it had been used in earnest. Everything sorted and packed away I was ready to set out on the trail just after 6.30am.

The first part of today’s walk was alongside the Ditch. I passed some rather pleasant bits even though I was always conscious of the traffic thundering past.

This was the second day of discovering how much I’d missed when driving along here. I have always been aware of the Military Road being built over Hadrian’s Wall but hadn’t realised that so much of the associated ditch and Vallum were still so visible and in my eyes at least so impressive.

It had it’s moments and gradually the views starting opening out.

I stopped at the top of this hill where there was a handy rock to sit on. The views from here were tremendous and as it happens there were some very impressive Vallum earthworks too. I don’t think I was missing the absence of wall. After that it was downhill (sorry) to my first fort of the day. This was Halton Chesters and were some more lumps an bumps and not much else. Uphill next – on reflection uphill and downhill was one of the themes of this trip. Then onwards to the Errington Café which wasn’t open but had a handy bench for me to sit in the sun and have a break. One of the penalties of starting out so soon in the morning is that I miss out on early morning refreshments apart from the water I carry. On reflection I could have made myself a cup of tea but the trail was calling.

Some pleasant walking followed in the sunshine through pasture, fields and some lovely woodland stretches. At one pint in the woods I came across an abundance of bilberries – if only I wasn’t so focused I could have been foraging.

As I approached the North Tyne Valley – it was time for a short diversion away from the Romans to the Anglo Saxons. Just off the trail is St Oswald’s Church at Heavenfield. It was a lovely quiet place commemorating the victory of King Oswald over the pagans in 633 or 634. I had a few moments of reflection and reminded myself of my pilgrim calling. (A blog post to come!)

From here on bits of wall start suddenly appearing firstly here at Planetrees halfway down the hill into the valley

The next bit of wall would have been a lot closer if it hadn’t been for the substantial detour around someone’s property. It was a case of walking along a country lane almost to the village of Wall then back towards Chollerford. Another short detour to see a bit of wall with the remains of a turret.

It was a day of detours. No sooner had I finished one then I was on to the next. Trying to be a wall completist as far as this project goes I wanted to follow the line of the wall as much as possible. This meant a walk from Chollerford Bridge back along the river in the direction I has just walked to visit the Roman bridge abutment. Whilst tempted to sit in the shade beside the riverbank my second Fort of the day was beckoning from the opposite bank.

So after retracing my steps to the bridge and then crossing it – I ended up at one of my goals for today. Last year I had on impulse joined English Heritage and decided now was a good time to start getting some benefit.

I really enjoyed my visit to Chesters Fort helped I’m sure by the kind staff who offered a space to park my backpack whilst I wandered around and the discounted refreshments at the café. I had been here before many years ago but never had the time to take it in. I was glad I had visited Segundunum at Wallsend as this gave me more of an understanding of the scale and plan of a Roman Cavalry Fort.

The trail was calling again. I was becoming more and more conscious of my feet. I had a couple of blisters which were manageable but after walking for 6 hours by now they were getting sore. Sadly after descending into the beautiful river valley it follows that there is an uphill climb. I was really feeling my age as I walked up the road from Chesters. I know I didn’t have far to go to the campsite but it felt further and further away the more I struggled up the hill.

There was one more bit of wall to see before heading towards my stop for the night.

I don’t think I quite appreciated the impressiveness of this bit of wall and turret as I think I was feeling rather overwhelmed by the climb out of the valley, my sore feet and general weariness. It was only a short walk from here to my camping spot for the night at Green Carts Farm

I was so glad when I could sit down, before pitching my tent beside a handy picnic bench. There weren’t many people camping here so it was nice and quiet. I was seriously considering whether I had done enough and whether I should cut my trip short and go home the following day. Once I’d had a lovely hot shower and cooked myself some tea I did feel a bit better. I would make a decision in the morning.