Although I had been in England for two days, I had still to pass Hadrian’s Wall. I previously had assumed the wall was on the Scottish-English border, but is actually much further south in most places.
Tuesday 23rd August 2016
Started day with huge breakfast and a gentleman in the hostel kitchen telling me his life story – the moral being that there are always opportunities, you just need to look out for them.
The walking was fairly easy to start off with, but got tougher (wetter) throughout the day. Near forestry I saw an enormous wasp, about 2 inches long. It later [when I looked it up] turned out to be a harmless Great Wood Wasp/Giant Horntail.
I forgot to write in my journal about crossing Hadrian’s Wall. The land to the north of the wall is wet and rough, and would have put off many barbarians in sandals but not me. Much of the roman wall was built on a ridge, so the impression when approaching from the north is far more imposing than it deserves to be, since what is left of the wall is four feet high at most! But the solid line this creates on the horizon makes it look like a huge unnatural barrier. Crossing the wall was fairly easy as there are gaps, which might once have been guarded and gated, but no longer.
Met parents at Housesteads Fort. We walked to Twice Brewed pub, had meal and local beer, then walked up to Gibbs Farm bunkhouse in the dark.
Distance: 20 miles [view on map]
Spending: £40
Once Brewed/Twice Brewed is a village with different names depending on which way you are driving down the road! There would usually have been a YHA hostel at Once Brewed, but during my walk they were building a new one, The Sill, which opened just recently. We stayed at a bunk house at a nearby farm instead.