The middle third

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Wednesday 31st July

I had ordered a full English breakfast for 7:30 am and this time it certainly was one! Excellent food and again the accommodation all round was excellent value. I was only expecting to need to walk about 10 miles today so this would be my shortest day of the walk. As soon as you are back on the route again after Greencarts there is a short stretch of wall, and then within another mile or so you arrive at the Roman fort of Brocolitia. There is nothing to see now of this fort, except for the mound of earth under which it lies, but it has apparently been excavated. However, just to the side of it is the remains of a Mithraeum, a temple dedicated to the cult of Mithraeus which was quite popular amongst Roman soldiers.

For the next couple of miles the B6318 continues to run right alongside the wall though fortunately there is a good footpath away from the road. At milecastle 34 however the road veers off to the left and the wall veers to the right as the Romans took advantage of Whin Sill, the hard edge of an escarpment providing an extended series of crags running for the next 10 or so miles. The Romans built the wall along the tops of the crags as this gave them an added defence advantage. The vallum is now something like one hundred yards away and the wall, which is visible now nearly all the time, goes up and down a series of undulating hills. For someone who, like me, likes a more rugged walking environment away from other signs of civilisation, this is the best part of the whole route.

After a couple of miles an unusual break in the wall appears. Normally people could only have crossed the wall where there was a milecastle or a larger fort; turrets did not have gates. However, where the wall crosses a small stream called Knag Burn, there is an unusual Gateway. This was added in the fourth century AD to enable local people to pass through the wall. A couple of hundred yards further on and we come to Housesteads Roman Fort. This is probably the most iconic of the forts along Hadrian's Wall as it on the open fells and there is plenty of evidence on the ground to see exactly how the fort was organised in terms of buildings - the commander's residence, a hospital, barracks for the troops, grain storage barns etc. as today was a slightly shorter walk, I stopped to have a good look around Housesteads and also had my lunch there.

Leaving Housesteads the wall goes over Highshield Crags which shelter Crag Lough and from the top of this crag there is a good view of Once Brewed and Twice Brewed. Continuing along Whin Sill, an obvious car park appears which signals the turn off from the wall route for those staying at one of the 'Brewed' pair. Once Brewed is a youth hostel, the nearest one there is to the wall itself, and that's where I had booked to stay the night. Twice Brewed is a pub which also offers accommodation but a bit more expensive than your average B&B. I had an evening meal at the Youth Hostel but later walked the hundred or so yards along to Twice Brewed for a drink and also to meet up with the other group of 3 who had stayed at Greencarts and Houghton North Farm as I had the previous two nights. As a non-member of the YHA I paid £15 for a a bunk in a 6-bed dormitory.

Thursday 1st August

I had also ordered a cooked breakfast at the Youth Hostel which was served at 8am, and by 9:10am I was setting off for day 4 of the walk. 10 minutes walking took me back up to the wall footpath and another 15 minutes brought me to the highest point of the Hadrian's Wall Path route, the trig point on Winshield Crags at 345 metres, where I also met up again with the group of 3 who stayed at Twice Brewed last night. From Winshield Crags the wall continues meandering along the Whin Sill ridge for another four or so miles until you reach the large car park at Carvoran, about a mile away from the village of Greenhead. Most of the hilly walking is now behind you and you are walking across grassy meadows, often with cows in the field, and frequently a notice as you enter a field saying that if you have a dog with you, and the cows approach you, let go of the dog immediately! As I would never dream of walking with a dog, this was not that much concern to me but there were a number of occasions where cows were lying right on the footpath.

After passing Thirlwall Castle (nothing to do with the Romans this time) you cross the Carlisle-Newcastle railway line and walk through a few more fields until you get to the village of Gilsland. Up until now the route has been entirely in Northumberland but at Gilsland it crosses over into Cumbria for the remainder of its length. It was about 12:40 when I arrived in Gilsland and the thoughtful people who run the Samson pub in the village had stuck a copy of their menu on the post of a gate that wall-walkers had to pass through. The menu looked good and it was lunch time so I called in at the pub and had an excellent toasted cheese and tuna panini with loads of salad. The pub had apparently been closed for some time and the new owners had only been in for a couple of months; I would definitely recommend it as a stopping place for lunch.

Leaving Gilsland the route crosses the railway line again and some good milecastle remains before arriving at the River Irthing at Willowford. The remains of the start of the Roman bridge over the river are evident but they are now quite a distance from the actual river as its course has changed a number of times over the years. A new wooden footbridge has been installed and shortly after crossing the river there a sudden unexpected steep uphill path to get you back up to the level of the wall as you get to Birdoswald Roman Fort. I had thought that I might stop and have a look round Birdoswald Fort but the staff were quite unhelpful as regards leaving my backpack somewhere safe so I decided not to risk it (at Housesteads staff were much more helpful, offering to look after walkers' backpacks behind the counter).

After Birdoswald the wall is not much in evidence any more and another tarmac road runs along its route. The footpath, however, mainly follows the vallum again so you are walking some distance from the road through fields. This long straight section lasts as far as the village of Banks with the remains of a couple of turrets visible just before getting to Banks. I had booked a night at a B&B in Banks so this was the end of my walking for today (it was the only time my accommodation was directly on the footpath route). I was staying at Quarryside B&B, an excellent establishment which yet again I would thoroughly recommend. Also staying there this evening were an American couple that I had met in Twice Brewed the previous evening, and a couple from Leeds who were walking the Pennine Way - the Pennine Way shares the same footpath as Hadrian's Wall Path for a few miles over Whin Sill. After time to relax with a shower and many cups of tea, our hosts at Quarryside gave us a lift to the Belted Will pub at Hallbankgate where we had an excellent evening meal, and the staff at the pub gave us a lift back to Banks.

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Photos

Mithraeum
A Mithraic temple next to Brocolitia Roman Fort

Turret
The remains of a turret on a short stretch of wall

Whin Sill
Hadrian's Wall snakes over the tops of the crags on Whin Sill

Housesteads Roman Fort
Probably the best known fort on Hadrian's Wall

Knag Burn Gateway
Just to the east of Housesteads Roman Fort

Carvoran
Hadrian's Wall passes Walltown quarry just before Greenhead

Gilsland milecastle
The milecastle just to the west of the village of Gilsland