The last third

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Friday 2nd August

Another excellent full English breakfast at Quarryside B&B in Banks at 8am and I was back on the walk at 9am. The weather was quite dull to start with but after about an hour it brightened up considerably and required a stop to find my sun hat and apply sun cream. On every other morning so far I had creamed-up before setting off as most days started warm and sunny. There is a very short stretch of wall just as you leave Banks but that was the last I was to see of Hadrian's Wall for the rest of the walk. The vallum and the spoil mounds were still visible in places but the middle third of the walk really does contain all the wall remains. These last two days were also very flat as we approach the city of Carlisle and the Solway Firth.

About 5 miles from Banks I passed through the village of Walton where there are a few places to stay and I knew that some of the other walkers who I had encountered a number of times in the past few days had been staying there. The walking this morning is largely pleasant through lush meadows and yet more fields of cows. After Walton, a couple more miles takes you to Newtown where you cross the A6071, then there are long straight stretches until you make a left turn down to the A689 then follows a lot of walking on tarmac through the village of Low Crosby. In Low Crosby I met the walkers who had stayed at Walton, having lunch outside the Stag Inn, but it was still a bit too early for lunch for me so I carried on.

After Low Crosby the path briefly follows the north bank of the River Eden for a few hundred yards, then cuts across through the village of Linstock before crossing the M6 motorway where I stopped for lunch. More walking on tarmac and pavements follows until you arrive at Rickerby which is just on the outskirts of Carlisle. here the path turns south and cuts through Rickerby Park, crossing the River Eden by the Memorial Bridge. For the whole of its journey through Carlisle, the Hadrian's Wall Path now ignores the actual route of the wall, as it did in Newcastle, and instead follows the south bank of the River Eden. This definitely adds a few miles as the river winds quite a bit through the centre of Carlisle.

After passing under the main A7 where it crosses the river, I now left the path to head towards my accommodation for the night. The Old Brewery Residences is a former Theakstons brewery which has been converted into a student hall of residence. During the summer months when the students are away, the residences are made available to visitors. They are organised into groups of 6 or 7 individual single rooms sharing a common kitchen/dining room and bathroom and cost £24 per night. No food is provided as they are self-catering (the kitchen has cooker, fridge etc) and there is a large Sainsbury supermarket about 5 minutes walk away. I arrived there at about 3:30 pm and after collecting my keys at reception and dumping by backpack in my room, I went across to Sainsburys to get some food supplies then came back for a shower and numerous cups of tea. Later in the evening I went back to the supermarket to get a hot take-away pizza for my evening meal.

Saturday 3rd August

No full English breakfast this morning but I had a bought good selection of cereal, fruit and yogurt, along with bread and cheese to make myself a packed lunch. I knew that I needed to be back in Carlisle again tomorrow morning to catch a train home, and there was not much accommodation available in Bowness where the walk ends, so I had decided to book two nights in the Old Brewery Residences and rely on being able to catch a bus back later this afternoon/evening. This also meant that I could lighten my backpack considerably by leaving in my room all the spare clothing, shoes etc, so this morning I was looking forward not only finishing the walk but also having a much lighter load to carry.

I left the residences at about 8:50 am and walked back towards the river to re-join the footpath. The path continued its meandering way along the south bank of the Eden as far as the village of Grinsdale where it then rejoined the original route of Hadrian's wall. After passing through the village of Kirkandrews on Eden, the path briefly joins the river again before entering the village of Beaumont. In the centre of Beaumont the church of St. Mary is built on a prominent small hill. This hill was originally the site of a milecastle and the church was built from the stones of that.

A couple more miles takes you to the village of Burgh by Sands, another village with a church with a close connection to Hadrian's Wall. The village is more famously known as the place where King Edward 1 died in 1307 whilst on his way to fight the Scots. However there was also a large Roman Fort, called Aballava, here and the church of St. Michael is built on the site of that fort and stones from the Roman fort can still be seen in the church walls.

A railway line used to run to Port Carlisle and followed the line of Hadrian's Wall. That line is now disused (since 1932) and dismantled and the wall footpath follows the line of the railway on a slight raised levee with the tarmac road just to its right a few feet lower down. We are now very close to the Solway Firth and on very low-lying land and at high tide it is quite common for parts of the tarmac road to be under water. A very straight stretch of dismantled railway takes us to the village of Drumburgh where we turn North West through Glasson and on to Port Carlisle.

I had consulted the local bus timetable whilst in Carlisle and there was a bus due to leave Bowness for Carlisle at 14:10. It was a bit unclear when the next one would be (symbols on the timetable were not explained!), but there would be another at 19:20 (it being Saturday - slightly earlier Mondays to Fridays). Whilst passing through Beaumont and Burgh by Sands I had thought it quite unlikely that I would be at Bowness on Solway by 2pm, but on seeing the signpost at Drumburgh and looking at my watch I realised that I had been making quite good progress as the ground was flat and the walking quite easy, and that there was now a reasonable chance of being able to reach the end of the walk before 2pm, avoiding a possible wait of up to 5 hours for the next bus. I decided to put lunch on hold and press on and managed to reach the end of the walk at 13:45, giving me the opportunity of a celebratory pint in the Kings Arms which was almost opposite the bus stop.

I walked into the pub and there, already having their celebratory drink, were the father and son that I had first met at Greencarts Farm. Ten minutes later in came the Dutch lad who I had also met at Houghton North farm, Greencarts Farm and Once Brewed YHA. The bus arrived on time at 14:10; the fare back to Carlisle was £5.25 (senior citizens passes accepted!) and on the way back we passed the other group of 3 walkers who again we had met at Houghton North, Greencarts and Twice Brewed.

After another long well-deserved rest, cups of tea and shower back at the Old Brewery Residences, I went out later to look for an evening meal only to find that all the pubs that served food stopped serving it at 7pm on a Saturday; there was also a distinct lack of take-away establishments in the main city centre so I ended up having to go back to Sainsburys again to find some hot food!

Sunday 4th August

A final pleasure of this trip was the journey home as I had booked a seat on the 09:25 train from Carlisle to Leeds and this train takes the famous Settle-Carlisle route through Dent Dale, over the Ribblehead viaduct, and past the Yorkshire 3 Peaks - tremendous views all the way.

Overall I really enjoyed Hadrian's Wall Walk and would strongly recommend it.

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Photos

The M6
Hadrian's Wall Path crosses the M6 just to the east of Carlisle

The Old Brewery
YHA student hall of residence in Carlisle

Beaumont Church
Built on the site of a Roman milecastle

Burgh by Sands Church
Built using stones from the Roman fort

Burgh Marsh
The road is often flooded by the tide from the Solway Estuary

Entering Bowness on Solway
A sight for sore feet

The end of the walk
Much more exciting than the start!