Final Days at the Wall.

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The Last day at Hadrians Wall was spent on a couple of walks, then off to drive down the coast from Newcastle, taking a couple of days on our travels back to Wiltshire. On the drive south we dropped into some magic little coastal villages, like Staithe and Saltburn-By-The- Sea. Also some larger towns such as Whitby and Scarborough. The coast is made up of cliffs and beaches with some nice inlets with small harbours. Whitby of course is were we live in NZ, but this is the original Whitby and we took the opportunity to look around. Very nice beaches and interesting harbour, very much a holiday destination for the English. Like our home Whitby, Whitby UK is situated on the sea, but ours is on an inlet not the open sea. Although quite crowded we enjoyed it and thought that it would be a great place for a few days stay. Lots to do and lots to see. Also the home town for Capt James Cook, of New Zealand fame, for much of his adult life when not at sea on his voyages of discovery. Down the coast a little was the town of Scarborough, another of the holiday coastal towns. This was much more crowded than Whitby and the foreshore was full of entertainment stores, much to the delight of Di when she found a couple of Penny Arcades. Drop the penny in and see if it will push the heap of other penny's into the collection box. Great entertainment just watching people trying.

So back to Bath and a few days walking, driving to differant places to see the sights, and {one of the best things about England} popping into the many country pubs for refreshments. I do really enjoy the country side and the country lanes were you come around a corner and there is a quaint village with a nice pub in a delightful situation. I had a nice 5.5 hour walk one day from Castle Combe back to Corsham. This was along a route that is known as the McMillan Way, a network of walkways from Boston,on the Lincolnshire coast to the Dorset Coast at Abbotsbury. This is 290 miles in length and any funds raised are donated to McMillan Cancer Support, a charitable organisation. I would like to do some of the areas on this route at some time. I love wondering the pathways and stopping at small pubs for a bite to eat and a nice cool ale. Love these places were you can sit and end up talking to people about NZ and all manner of other things. Learn a lot of good things and some things that you don't really want to know.

So our time away from NZ is coming to an end, so it's back home to the winter in NZ. I'm not looking forward to it . I don't like the cold these days. Even so, it will be nice to be home. Pip/ Rod.

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Photos

Just follow the Signs.
Typical of the signs for the track. The figures are for miles.

Late Heather.
In some places the beautiful heather was still out.

A Milecastle.
Lots to see along the way. Pete and Helen walk around one of the small forts/castles set a mile apart along the wall.

And Then The Rain Came.
Not to panic. Least it's not cold.

Yippee!!! Sunshine.
Sunshine gives every thing a different look. Then the rain gives it another look. Forever changing.

Oh Oh!!!! Looks Like Rain.
Lots of maize fields and other crops along the way. The contrast of colours looks amazing sometimes.

Di and I.
I'm off walking and Di is going to look around Lanecost Priory before driving to Birdoswald to pick us up in a few hours.

Information.
As I said, there are signs with info.

Why and Angel.
Near Gateshead in the North East of England.

The Angel of the North.
A huge sculpture.

Whitby, England.
A very nice beach with a small surf working.It was almost as windy as Whitby, NZ.

Surf at Whitby.
There were some good long rides out there.

A Bit of History.
He has a lot to do with the history of NZ.

I Think I'll Sail Over There.
Capt James Cook, a big part of NZ history.

Whitby Marina.
We enjoyed visiting Whitby and thought it wouldn't be a bad place to spend a few days.

This Is a Hobby.
Helen loves bees and keeps a couple of hives. The honey is wonderful.

I'll Stand Way Over Here.
Helen offers some honey but I'll wait until its in a jar.

Lovely Surroundings.
We do love being here with the park like surroundings and the peace and quite.

Love These Pubs.
Dropping into a pub hidden down a country lane for refreshments. Magic!!!

Comments

[Home and Away]

We seem to like the same things...
walking from pub to pub and small quaint English towns. Some day you will have to visit where Capt. Cook was killed on the Big Island of Hawaii...we were there last October.

[Pips Travels]

I love the English Pubs.
Back home now and missing the English country side. I think you must be nearly off to Spain to walk the Camino.

[Home and Away]

I love English pubs...
yes, I depart for Barcelona, Spain on 4 Sep...13 days! I asked Linda where she wanted to travel next. She said Scotland and Ireland. This fits with my plan to walk Hadrian's wall just like you did. We will likely have one or two bases from which I will take the bus to where I ended the previous day so that she can have the rental car. I understand that there are bus routes services the length of the Wall several times per day. Perhaps you can confirm. Did you use any particular guide book to plan your walk?

[Pips Travels]

Good Luck With The Walk.
I will follow your progress as it is something that I would love to try. Planning for Hadrians Wall on my part was rather hap hazard I'm afraid to say and my plans, as always, changed quite a bit as we went along. We had 2 cars with us and we stayed in a cottage near the middle just out of Haltwhistle for 5 nights. We drove to the section that we wanted to walk and Di would pick us up at the end of that section and we would retrieve the other car. We then would start on the next section the next day. We did see the buses and there appeared to be plenty of bus stops. Talking to people they seemed pretty happy with the way this worked. I read most of my info by looking at the guided tours available on the internet. I can tell your a planner and I envy you this as it does take the stress out of where your going to lay your head in the evening.