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Wednesday 14 May - Timidly we showed our faces at breakfast, after coming last in the quiz the previous evening. However, we were not overly worried because we were so delighted to be celebrating our third wedding anniversary and in quite a novel way, helping to raise money for charity. It was a very good breakfast and on seeing our Ectopic Pregnancy Trust 'Hiking 429km the Long Way Up' t-shirts, a few people showed an interest and asked us more about our fundraising hike. Two ladies who showed an interest as well, were on an archaeological dig - one of whom said she had recently read something about the Ectopic Pregnancy Trust in the Telegraph; and told us that Marilyn Monroe had suffered from an ectopic pregnancy.
Whilst paying our bill, the landlord of the Twice Brewed Inn showed an interest in our fundraising hike and said that he was very happy for us to place one of our leaflets up on their noticeboard. We were extremely grateful to him - because of the Inn's location to Hadrian's Wall, it's very popular; so hopefully visitors passing through will read about our hike for the Ectopic Pregnancy Trust - helping to
raise more awareness of ectopic pregnancy and the work of the charity.
On reaching the wall, we were again blessed with fantastic views and lovely warm weather - some of the rocky crags ahead were impressive. However the wall was even busier than the day before, because the 23rd regiment from Oxfordshire were out in force. Incredibly there were three hundred soldiers from their regiment walking along Hadrian's Wall. We spoke to some of them and learnt that they had experience in construction engineering and so they were trying to help repair some of the paths along the wall. With their full military outfits and rucksacks, let's say they looked a little warm.
As we continued along the wall, we noted in places that huge pieces of the wall were missing, meaning that there were sheer drops in a few places. Definitely not for anyone who has a fear of heights - the gaps add an element of danger, so care needs to be taken. We did a half a mile detour from the Pennine Way and continued onto to see the finely excavated fort of Housesteads. It is thought to be one of the best examples of
Roman remains in Britain. Our time was short, so after a quick exploration of the fort (and to stock up with some snacks) we headed back to the Pennine Way. There are several milecastles along this section of the wall, which served as barracks for soldiers on sentry duty in the turrets.
Back on the Pennine Way, we said farewell to Hadrian's Wall - we had hiked 'some' of the Great Wall of China, near to Beijing in 2006, which was absolutely magnificent at approx. 4,000 miles in length and wondered how it would compare. Hadrian's Wall is obviously not such a grand and imposing scale of the Great Wall of China, but it is still spectacular...at times you feel like you are following a dragon's backbone.
The next section of the walk was through coniferous plantations - lots of them! The forests were attractive though and all around could be heard and seen, the hustle and bustle of tiny birds swooping around the forests. When we were not in the forest we were surrounded by featureless and desolate moors. Eventually we were greeted again with open green pastures and the very welcome sight of Bellingham, where we
were spending the night.
At our B&B Crofters End, we were warmly welcomed and very pleased to sit down with tea and biscuits. After a chat with the very friendly owner at the B&B and some other guests, we freshened up and headed out for dinner. It was then early to bed. (Photos to follow soon)
Only 49 miles to go!
If you would like to support us in our fundraising effort, please go to www.ectopic.org.uk/fundraising/?p=46 Thank you very much for your support and messages. Lavinia and Steve
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