Advertisement
Published: September 30th 2017
The Centurion at Wallsend/Segedunum
Segedunum was a Roman fort at modern-day Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England, UK. The fort lay at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall near the banks of the River Tyne, forming the easternmost portion of the wall.Built on the orders of Hadrian after he became Roman emperor and visited by him in AD122, the Wall defined the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire, covering 73 miles from east to west. It boasted 80 milecastles with two turrets between each, 17 larger forts and a defensive earthwork, the Vallum, to the south. Abandoned briefly shortly after it was built, it was in active use for some 300 years and garrisoned by auxiliary soldiers from across the Empire . http://hadrianswallcountry.co.uk/history
Day One ... Route of Refuse Wallsend to Newburn … 20km... mostly asphalt ...some close to road and beside traffic... past Newcastle the Wall was defined by the quay ...thru parks, past housing projects, thru marinas, past the worst hotel ever (closed my eyes at that point) and beside the Tyne most of the time.
Met people with dogs, two men coming from the other direction, a man with three malamutes, a group of three on a short walking day and saw again the couple that boarded the Metro in WhitlyBay, was behind them but when i saw them again they weresitting in spiffy a restaurant on Newcaslt quay. I drank my noon break tea at
Dobson's just beside the Catpawcino.
Just kept on walking... scenery repeated itself. The river was always on my left side. Had to cross a six lane highway via a bridge... not pleasant,
The whole route was strewn with garbage of one kind or another. Along the river there was always a guardrail. Numerous info plaques describing points of interest have been obliterated with graphitti or so sun bleached that they were impossible to read. In places designed for picnicing those newcastle party animals had built fires using garbage and scrub bushes. The garbage did not end... just continued till I reached my destination which was the Boathouse.
Went to the Black Bull for pub food. John called the chef and I had a neutral meal of chicken and veg....plus a pint of beer... stomach not that delicate it cannot enjoy good beer. Have had to release my toes from the boots. Flipflops now doing double duty...relaxation and once in the room, slippers. Sent the Birkies back... only wore them once in sixteen days.
Day Two ... Desparately Seeking Acorns Had breakfast in the kitchen with the green AGA. John, who has been running
the B&B with his wife and now his son has been at it for thirty years. The stone house is big and old ...like from the 1850's and was once a butcher's. John brought me back to the Boathose and I started the walk to East Wallhouse...15km.
Of course I became lost. Since I had already done 9km ...walking away from the goal ....right off the map .... I took said map drew a straight line north, called a taxi and got out to resume walking the wall. HAve not seen any of it yet. Once back on track met two wall rangers and they told me that the walll was under the highway.Today also met two men who had walked from Carlisle and two women ..one with a mean blister ..who were not doing the whole wall walk.
While on my alternative route called Tyne Riverside Cuntry Park there were cows, bean fields I thought were soy, a farmer who owned it all with a barn full of loose wheat, a golf course that was holding the British Masters, a rider came cantering along on his horse, a couple was taking a short cut to the golf
course and asked me for directions.
Had not seen a white acorn for forever...that should have been the first clue...saw signs for Hadrian's Cycleway and continued on relentlessly .... until I came along to some constructions in the path and a man with an unruly dog. Who needed training here?
Turns out it is not his dog ...he is doing a favour for his neighbour whose wife has Alzheimer's. So this road side angel in disguise sets me straight, brings me to the proper bus stop and wishes me luck with the rest of the day, According to the bus drive because of the British Masters the bus will be delayed. The ride to Rudchester on the bus would come to three pounds. At the village shop the woman called me a taxi and the driver took me right to the spot where according to my estimation I should have been by 12.00.
I carried on.
... on my merry way. I was walking most of the time in a ditch lying to the right and lower than the wall. I continued on proper path literaly taking a photo of each white acorn and I made
it to The Robinhood Inn by 15.00. Goeff the taxi man came to pick me up in a black 2007 Camaro because his taxi was in the garage. Its his wifes Camaro and I had to apologize for leaving mud on the carpet ....sorry .... what to do ...I've been plodding thru fields and ditches... lucky I did not step into any cow patches ....there were enough of those.
At the RobinHood there is a wooden box which holds the second stamp to put into the Hadrian's Way Walk Passport. Seven stamps are needed to be able to apply and BUY a certificate and some kind of badge. OK .... two down ...five to go ....but in actual fact I will be walking seven more days!
Goeff dropped me at the B&B... and I tell no lie... the woman showed me the room ... and disappeared. She locked herself in behind the door that reads "Private" ... I heard the key turn!. I sat in the breakfast room working on my blogs and emails.... did not see her again. Only when the next set of people arrived did she come out from behind "Private". Beyond the question is
THe White Acorn
Thank goodness for the WHITE acorn... it can be spotted from far away. It is now my third best friend! everything ok she did not engage in conversation. I wanted to ask about her beautiful garden, hear fine collection of African sculptures, how long had she been doing the B&B. Did find out it has been five years that she has had the B&B. Her breakfast was delish ... feta cheese and mushroom omelette with grilled tomatoes. And only one slice of that softy toast bread. OK.. so its brown ...its still toast bread!
And it was off to slumber land after a german movie on line....TV sucks....too many ads.
Day Three ... The True English Countryside Woke up to the news that Hugh Heffner died... they did not show his 91 year old face.
Goeff picked me up at 09.30 but could not take me to Hexam to get my gaiters and walking stick and extra sunblock. Also needed another bottle of cough medicine.
He had other fares to pick up ... to bad for me. Once he dropped me at The Robinhood, the walk for day three began. He did suggest taking the bus to Hexam which I did before I went to the next B&B. EAch night the B&B is
arranged and my big pack has been taken there during the day. This is apparently a common way of doing things with walkers.
Lots of fields, many cows, miriade of sheep and mud to the eyeballs. Spoke to the sheep. Avoided the BIG Angus cows and treked across open fields most of the day. When going thru a small copse ...cannot call it a forest... I could almost count how many trees ... I felt much more comfortable and I seemed to walk more quickly. In the trees one cannot see the far distance a head and it seems that progress is made more quickly. O course it is an illusion... there are so many slippery roots underfoot one cannot look up and see much ... its a constant struggle not to trip and fall down.
Day Four ... It Rained
Because of the rain it was hard going. The muck was everywhare where there was a slight depression on the path. The cows had tramped thru gates near farms and the quagmire was frightful.Sank in over the top of my boots. Good thing I had bought the gaiters. And ten there was the field filled with
Mr. Angus
..by day three I was talking to cows and sheep and sining the 12 days of christmas. a Herd/collection of cows. There was no getting near the acorn gate. I tried and was beyond fearful of falling into the shit. ..there was a lot of that! Eventually got away from the worst of it and went thru the farmer's gate ... forget the acorn gate ...it was not reachable. The whole day ... even after the sun came out was like walking in scattered and broken eggs. Don't Fall was the mantra....one misstep could send you flying ....
Finally reached the section where over a kilometer of the original wall stood exposed ... all three meters wide and who knows how deep. At one side of the wall was the sheer drop of the Crag. Gave me a case of the virtigo just thinking about it. One decent was so steep I was forced to go down backwards and on all fours. When I got to the bottom I looked back and saw rhat others had made a circular path down ... oh well...
The scenery was great. The walking was hard. Many spots were waterlogged. Most stiles and gates had quagmires of mud in front. Everything was wet. Sheep shit and cow patches were
EVERYWHERE. By the end of the day I just put my foot down where it looked safe...never mind the added ingredients.
Had to take a bus to the B&B. Forgot to get off so took a ride into Hexam and then back to the Old Repeater B&B. Its OK. An older guy runs it. He cooked me some dinner. Charged me 10.95 for steamed frozen veg, instant mashed potato and a heated up frozen chicken breast with some herbs on it. The other people staying here have cars and are out at some pub.
Tomorrow looks worse... nineteen rugged to steep to be careful spots to manouver. I was born in 1943. An alternative will be found ... will definitely do the milage just not up and down crags = cliffs.... Hadrian's Wall or not.
I put my hand on the stones again today. Still no message from the past. Not one of those slave labour men who built this massive thing communicated with me. Not one of the prostituting women that came along with the troops bothered to send a message either.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.105s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 13; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0656s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Anna
non-member comment
Your Mail
Hi Barbara ... hope you are having time of your life. I am receiving packages for you and from you lol ... Running out of room in my office. Can you sister pick this up and put into your apartment? or take with her? Let me know an option for all this stuff. Thanks.