Heddon-on-Wall to Chollerford: Hadrian's Wall

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13 miles (+.8 to the inn)

The sunrise and sunset times here are incredible! Sunrise is like 5am and sunset is close to 9pm already in May! CRAZY! So that meant I woke up in a complete panic of oversleeping at 6:15am because the sheep were bahhhhhhing like crazy. OK, whew...we were ok as breakfast wasn't served until 8am. The morning setting was idyllic as from the window all you could see for miles was countryside and farm animals. We had our English breakfast (us sans beans & tomato, Jen sans meat), bandaged my feet up, and set out for another long day. Our inn was right on the trail, and it only took a few steps to be instantly greeted by vast fields of beautiful yellow flowers! For most of the morning we walked along the trail near roadways and through fields, until making it to the Robin Hood Inn which was our 2nd passport stamping station. We treated our feet to a rest and our tastebuds to a pint before setting back out.

Soon the trail started to take us directly through several sheep farms which provided us with some entertainment as they are just so darn cute and communicative! The first farm we came to the farmer has obviously just stepped outside in their site and they were all bahhhhing like crazy and running for the farmer. It was adorable, you could almost hear them saying "there he is, chow time!"

As we moved on, the clouds began to look more and more foreboding and dark ahead of us. We felt a few big drops and decided to pull out the pack covers and ponchos. Literally as soon as we suited up, huge hail pellets began to fall from the sky which had us all both surprised and laughing out loud. It lasted a short bit, and we just had one other shower in the afternoon.

The more farmland we passed through the more stiles, gates, and rock wall steps we had to climb over and navigate through. There are SO many along the trail and it's never fun to have to climb over them with your poles and pack throwing you off balance. Jen is convinced they were built by giants as the distance between each of the steps is significant!

We had more mileage confusion today as it felt like the closer we got to Chollerford, our stop for the night, the farther it seemed to be. This always seems to happen of course when you're close, tired, and ready for the day to be over. We would see a sign on the path that would say "Chollerford 1.5mi" then walk for another 45 minutes to see another that read "Chollerford 1.5mi". What the???

About half way through the day, my left knee decided to remind me of my childhood woes and stab me in pain on every downhill step (BOO). So that adds another layer of fun onto my already wounded and angry feet.

As we approached Chollerford, we were greeted with two more sections of Hadrian's Wall. It is incredible to think of just how old and long this has stood here! The day took us around 6.5 hours of walking as we hobbled our way to our B&B for the night, Mingary Barn. Each of these towns are so incredibly small that there is just one pub to eat at nightly, but the food has been surprisingly very very good. Matt & I had Fish & Chips again as we spied an order that looked pretty tasty, and Jen had a vegetable tart topped with goat cheese. It was an early to bed night for us as we were all exhausted. I tried starting to blog, but found myself falling asleep as I wrote. It was time to rest up for the next day's journey.

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Photos

This is not Hadrian's Wall
Farmland divider

Comments

[Home and Away]

I've just started Following you as I'm interested in walkiing Hadrian's Wall in the near future...
I don't plan to walk sea to sea, as I want to avoid the cities. Are there accommodations at 10 mile intervals? I find that walking more than that per day results in blisters and other foot and leg problems just as you've experienced. Is there a guidebook that you would recommend? Last year I walked the Camino de Santiago and I leave in a month to walk the St. Olavsleden from the Swedish border to Trondheim.

[boogs61]

Hadrian wall path by Henry steadman seems to be the main book we have seen upon the trail. There are random inns Throughout the walk that I didn't see when booking. We looked at companies to book the trip and looked to see where they stayed to figure out what towns and an itinerary. I really do believe 10 miles a day is the way to go. Heddon on the wall to greenshead is the most beautiful stretch that also has the most wall. I would suggest looking for an England B and B registry to get all the inns. So many of them don't have an online presence. I walked by so many inns that online I never saw. Make sure you do stay at the lanercost b&b. Book them now! They fill up quick. The hike is more beautiful than we imagined but unfortunately harder than we though too. If we didn't have bad feet I'm sure we wouldn't think it was as difficult. Enjoy your trip as we have.