Day 1: The Hadrian's Wall Path

August 20, 2024: Another day, another trail! I woke up bright and early because I realized during my planning the night before, I could slackpack the first several miles of the Hadrian's Wall Path. The trail starts in Newcastle--or rather, for most people, it ends in Newcastle, but I was bucking the trend by hiking the trail in the opposite direction than most people do simply because I had to pass through Newcastle anyhow to get to the other side of the island where most people normally start. It just meant less time sitting on trains and more time hiking by starting on this end of the trail. I will point out, however, that the wall was built starting on this side and construction continued eastward, so my direction is more accurate in the historical sense and insures that the milecastle and turret numbers increase the further we progress.

They called this The Monument, which is where I caught the subway to go to Wellsend.

But I digress... The trail starts in Newcastle, so I had booked a hotel not far from the train station in central Newcastle. However the trail does not actually start in central Newcastle, but rather several miles east at the Segedunum Roman Fort & Museum at Wallsend. If you're wondering about the name Wallsend, you would be correct in assuming that the name came about because that was one end of Hadrian's Wall.

And I realized that the path then follows more-or-less along the River Tyne passing not far from the hotel I was in. And therefore, if I left early enough, I could slackpack the section between Wallsend and my hotel.

I even looked at options for slackpacking the entire day. What if I booked the hotel room for two nights, then took the bus back at the end of the day? Technically, it was an option, but I eventually threw out the idea as being impractical. The bus wasn't particularly fast or efficient from where I expected to finish the day, and then I'd have to take it back to start the next day.

But still, I would be happy to take a couple of hours of slackpacking. I didn't even need the hotel to store my bag while I was hiking--I'd just leave all my stuff in the room and make sure I got back to pack it all up before the checkout time at 11:00. Plenty of time, I figured! 

So I organized a light daypack with a some water, a few snacks and a bit of rain gear since rain looked imminent. Then I headed out to the subway station, which was about a 10-15 minute walk away. I took the subway to Wallsend and arrived at the official start of the Hadrian's Wall Path at Segedunum Roman Fort & Museum by around 7:30am.

This appeared to show the footprints of ancient Roman buildings near the wall, but a gate actually kept me out so I couldn't read the signs. Because the museum wasn't actually open yet. I took this from the parking lot in front of the museum.

Unfortunately, the museum wasn't scheduled to open until 10:00am, so I couldn't visit it. If I had booked the hotel room for two nights, I would have been inclined to show up then, slackpack back to the hotel and call it a day then start out with a full pack the next morning. It was actually tempting to do that, but I had originally planned to finish the Pennine Way a full four days earlier and was already a little behind schedule to catch my flight out of England. I had hoped by knocking out 20-mile days on Hadrian's Wall every day, I could make most of that time back up, but that meant I couldn't do a partial day of hiking today. 

I still took photos of the outside, however, around the areas that I could see. In the back of the museum was a box with a stamp for the Hadrian's Wall Passport, which I stamped.

Then I started hiking the trail. The trail was super flat and easy compared to anything I did on the Pennine Way, but it basically led me through the entire city of Newcastle along the River Tyne. The dark, menacing clouds early in the morning eventually cleared up a bit and rain never became an issue.

The Hadrian's Wall Path followed the shore of the River Tyne through Newcastle, which was a lovely walk. =)

 

There was a small section of Hadrian's Wall by the museum, and Roman baths that had been excavated nearby, but otherwise there is nothing left of the wall through the city. Today was more about enjoying the sights of Newcastle than about Hadrian's Wall. In fact, the trail did not even try to follow the historical route of Hadrian's Wall, instead sticking to the more scenic shore of the River Tyne.

I arrived back at the hotel by around 10:00am, which gave me plenty of time to pack up my full backpack and check out of the hotel. Rather than hit the trail immediately, I stopped for lunch, filling up for a quick meal at Taco Bell.

Throughout the day, I'd occasionally pass people who were clearly hiking the Hadrian's Wall Path in the other direction. They typically looked tired and defeated, which seemed odd to me since they were all on their last day. I thought that they would be more excited and happy about their accomplishments and happy to see their adventures drawing to a close. 

In all, I passed maybe a dozen or so people I marked as Hadrian's Wall hikers, and every one of them looked they they had just walked out of a dentist office after having all of their teeth pulled. In a word, miserable. And they were often limping with pain. 

I was actually a little surprised I didn't see more hikers based on the sheer numbers of people I saw when I was on the section of the Pennine Way that overlapped the Hadrian's Wall Path just a few days earlier. Theoretically, some of the people I was passing could have been some of the same people I met on the trail a few days earlier--but I can't say that I recognized any of them.

The trail also passed the location where the Battle of Newburn Ford took place in 1640. I must admit, it is not a battle I had ever heard of until I walked up to this monument and read about it. I'll let you Google it if you want more information about the battle. =)

Late in the afternoon, the trail finally veered away from the River Tyne, heading uphill and returning to the site of Hadrian's Wall where another small section of the wall had been preserved. I had to walk a few minutes off trail to see the actual wall segment, took a few photos, then returned to the walking path and walked another 10 minutes before stopping to pick up some food at a Spar market attached to a gas station. 

Looking through my guidebook the night before, that Spar market appeared to be the last decent place to resupply for the trail for the day, and there was no sense carrying a pack full of food the whole day when I didn't have to fill it up with food until later in the afternoon. As it turned out, it wasn't as nice of a place to resupply as the Spar-gas station combo I had experience on the Pennine Way, and I was a little disappointed I hadn't stopped at a Lidl that I passed an hour earlier in the day. But I made it work. I could resupply... I just couldn't resupply well. I grabbed a few items for dinner as well, which I ate on a bench in an adjacent garden.

At the bar and restaurant across the street, I ran into a woman who was also hiking the trail--and turned out to be hiking it in the same direction that I was! But she was exhausted and calling it quits for the day and had made a reservation for a room there. I pushed onward knowing that we'd probably never see each other again. I was trying to push an ambitious 20-mile per day schedule and few people would likely keep up with that.

Late in the afternoon, I passed a family of three Americans from Brooklyn who were taking a break and eating on the trail. I was able to step around them without any trouble, but they seemed embarrassed for blocking the trail saying that they hadn't seen anyone else for a few hours and thought it would be safe to so.

I joked about waiting for just that moment to pounce out and surprise them. =)

I wound up stopping and chatting with them for a half hour or so, but it was getting near sunset and eventually decided that I needed to keep moving and wished them well and headed off.

Maybe 10 minutes later, I reached a bird blind overlooking a nice little lake and was very tempted to stop and set up camp right there in the bird blind. It was relatively quiet, nobody was around, and I didn't even see any signs saying that camping was prohibited. The bird blind was a fully enclosed structure with four walls and a roof as well. The menacing clouds were returning and rain was forecast in the evening, so it seemed like a good place to escape the elements.

I was very tempted to stop and spend the night in this bird blind! I didn't, but it was very tempting....

So it was very tempting to stop right then and there, but ultimately, I pushed onward toward my original goal. I still needed to make up a lot of miles after finishing the Pennine Way four days behind schedule. Every little bit would help.

Less than a mile later, I arrived at the Robin Hood Inn and my destination for the night. I hadn't booked a room here, however, since they allowed camping in the field behind the inn for a small fee. I walked in, and the bartender took one look at me and asked, "Are you okay?"

What kind of question was that? Did I not look okay or something?! "Uhh, yeah, I'm fine. I was just hoping to set up camp here." Well, not inside the building, obviously, but outside.

The woman pointed me in the right direction, and I headed out to set up my tent except when I stepped outside, it was raining. Argh!!! I came back inside, not wanting to set up camp in the rain. Maybe it would stop a bit later, at least long enough for me to rush out and set it up without being rained on. I was a little annoyed at the rain for two reasons, though. First, it was not in the forecast when I checked this morning. I wasn't surprised by it--the clouds in the late afternoon looked like rain so I suspected it was coming regardless of the forecast, but it was annoying that the forecast couldn't have told me about it earlier. And second, I really would have preferred getting my tent up before the rain started. I just needed another 5 or 10 minutes and then it could have rained all it wanted.

I did end up camping in the field behind the Robin Hood Inn. =)

Back in the restaurant, I took a table for myself where it was warm and comfortable, I could charge my devices and had access to bathrooms. I also ordered a raspberry muffin and a Coke as a snack, and sat at the table writing my day's adventures in my journal. And, of course, hopefully wait for a break in the rain so I could rush out and set up my tent.

A half hour later, I went outside to grab the stamp for my Hadrian's Wall Path Passport. The second stamp  was kept at the Robin Hood Inn, and when I went outside to grab it, I could see that a break in the rain had occurred. I went back inside, grabbed my tent, and rushed back out to get it set up before the rain started again. Success!

Then I headed back into the bar just because it was warmer and more comfortable there, where I piddled around online until 10:00pm when the bar closed and they kicked everyone out. The end of my first day on the Hadrian's Wall Path.

It had been a long and tiring day, but I had knocked out 24 miles according to my GPS so definitely a solid day of walking and on track to finish this trail in a mere four days! =)

I loved this little yarnbombed Roman soldier at the start of the trail! =)

 

This statue at the Segedunum Roman Fort & Museum marks the beginning of the Hadrian's Wall Path. The observation platform behind it (but part of the museum) overlooks the old Roman site, but since it was closed and I didn't want to wait 2.5 hours for it to open, I couldn't go in.

I found the stamp to stamp my Hadrian's Wall Path Passport in this box behind the museum.

A bit of the wall....

Site of the Roman baths

That looks like a decayed ship in the shore of the River Tyne!

The trail crosses over this elaborate footbridge.

Lots of pretty bridges in the central section of Newcastle! The big one at the top reminds me a lot of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. You can actually see four different bridges in this photo, but some are behind others making it hard to see them all clearly, but there are three separate bridges under that big one.

In this photo, the other three bridges are more clear. Well, two of them are. That blue one that's farthest away is still a bit hard to see.

Newcastle Castle

Newcastle Keep

Okay, that is funny.... I'll admit it! =D

This is the small section of wall still preserved on the west side of Newcastle.

Day 24: The End of a Trail

August 19, 2024: I took my time getting up in the morning since I figured that I only had 6 or 7 miles to the end of the trail. No reason to rush! The wind had died down a bit during the night, but picked up once again when the sun started to rise. The air was quite hazy, and I'm not sure why. It almost seemed like there must have been a forest fire burning nearby, but that seemed unlikely given the few forests there were out here.

It looked very hazy today!

In any case, I headed down the trail where, after a mile or two, it diverged into two options: The easier low route or a longer, more difficult high route. Even though the high route was harder and a half-mile longer, I decided to go that way. I had time! I wanted views! Hurrah!

And it was a rather pleasant walk except for the brutal wind. The trail followed near the English-Scottish border, and I think I spent most of the day on the Scottish side of the border, but I could be wrong about that. It wasn't well defined in real life with lots of signage.

The last section headed down to a trailhead where I passed a dozen or day hikers heading in the opposite direction. At first I thought that they were just out for a nice stroll, checking out the end of the Pennine Way, but one of them asked if I was hiking the trail. I said yes, of course, but it turned out that they weren't talking about the Pennine Way at all, but rather some sort of pilgrimage trail that happened to overlap the Pennine Way at this location.

Oh.... no, I didn't know anything about that trail. Never even heard of it before. I had no idea what they were talking about, but it seems that the people were part of a group that were slackpacking the pilgrimage trail. 

The last 15 to 20 minutes of the trail was a road walk into the town of Kirk Yetholm along an ugly, paved road. The only good thing I could say about that was at least it wasn't busy, and I think only one vehicle passed me during the walk into town.

 

The road walk into town was horrible, but there were a few nice benches along the way. I never used them--too anxious to reach the end of the trail!--but they were available. =)

The end of the trail is marked by a sign on the Borders Inn and tavern, so I had my photo taken with it and inside the tavern they offered me a free half-pint of Tyneside Blonde beer--a tradition for finishing thru-hikers going back decades. Actually, they used to give a full pint of beer to finishers, but eventually that became too expensive, I guess, and they cut it back to a half-pint.

Of course, I absolutely loathe the taste of beer and didn't want it. Actually, I did want a photo of me with the beer, and I asked if they had something "smaller than a half-pint". Just a "taste" that I could get, and the bartender filled up a shot glass for me. Perfect!

He also filled out a completion form for me, a certificate to hang proudly on my wall that I, Brian Carpenter, successfully completed hiking the Pennine Way from end-to-end.

He had asked me my name, and I did tell him Ryan, but as often happens, he heard Brian and wrote that instead. I didn't have the heart to correct him, though, and honestly, the certificate didn't mean that much to me. I wasn't going to hang it up anywhere. After thru-hiking trails like the Pacific Crest Trail or the Appalachian Trail, the Pennine Way felt more like scratching an itch than a huge accomplishment for me--but I do understand that a lot of people who complete it can (and should be!) quite proud of the achievement.

My "half pint" of beer and completion certificate! (I had already drunk the beer before I took this photo.) The black book was the hiker register which I also signed.

While I was there, I also ordered lunch. Being in Scotland, I went for the Scottish beefburger... with haggis! A hamburger with haggis on it seemed like something everyone should try once in their life. =) It also included "hand-cut chips", a salad and I also ordered 2 pints of Coca-Cola. Yum!

Usually, I had to guess whether "chips" were french fries or potato chips, but since nobody "hand-cuts" potato chips, I knew it must be french fries this time, and I was right. =)

The meal was awesome. I don't know why people like to complain about how horrible haggis is. Tasted fine to me! But eventually the bus out of town was scheduled to arrive soon so I paid my bill and left. I only finished about half of the french fries, which I felt bad about, but the next bus out of town didn't leave for something like 4 hours so I definitely didn't want to miss this one. But I was pretty stuffed and was struggling to get more into my mouth anyhow, so in that sense, I didn't feel too bad about not finishing. 

My Scottish beefburger with haggis, hand-cut chips and a salad. =)

 

Loaded down with a full belly, I waddled over to the bus stop where I caught the bus heading to Kelso, where I changed buses and caught another one maybe 10 minutes later heading to Berwick-upon-Tweed, where I changed to a train that took me into Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and from there, it was a seven-minute walk to the hotel according to Google Maps.

And thus ended my hike of the Pennine Way. But! Fear not, this blog is not yet over because that was not the last trail I'd be thru-hiking before quitting this country. As it so happens, Newcastle is also the eastern terminus of the Hadrian's Wall Path, and it was my plan to start hiking that first thing the next morning. I spent the evening pouring over my guidebook for the Hadrian's Wall Path, figuring out the next place I could resupply and where I might spend the next few nights. The Pennine Way might be over, but my adventures will continue!

And... for those of you who'd like to virtually walk in my footsteps, the Pennine Way virtual walk is now available on Walking 4 Fun! Virtual walkers will see vastly more photos, more detailed maps about the route and premium members will also see some of the videos taken along the trail. Lots of good stuff there. =)

But in the meantime, check back on the usual Monday, Wednesday and Friday schedule for the more blog posts of my hiking through northern England.

The Border Hotel marks the end of the Pennine Way. (As well as the giant pile of used, discarded hiking boots under the sign.)

Looking back on the trail, I could barely see the shelter where I spent the night. It's that tiny little dot at the top of the hill near the center of the photo.

Lots of nice views along the trail!

The lower, easier route is somewhere down there.....

I do believe that this fence was marking the Scottish-English border. (I'm on the Scottish side of the border now.)

This is the trailhead where I saw all the day hikers coming from who appeared to be following a pilgrimage route.

I did get this one photo of the "half pint" before I drank it. =)

The bus stop where the bus would whisk me away from Kirk Yetholm.

I had no idea that I'd be visiting Times Square until I literally just walked into it on my way to the hotel in Newcastle!

Why is this statue set up sideways? I really have no idea.... It's located just outside of the train station in Newcastle.

Day 23: To Scotland and Beyond!

August 18, 2024: It rained a bit during the night but, fortunately for me, it stopped by morning so I didn't have to hike it in. I did, however, put on my waterproof socks knowing that my feet would likely get very wet, and boy did that turn out to be a wise decision!

A couple of miles after leaving camp, I arrived at the edge of Byrness, the last trail town before the end of the Pennine Way. The town had some lodging, but otherwise nothing was really available for hikers so I simply passed through. Well, I did miss a turn which caused me to wander in town a little longer than necessary, but I didn't stop at any businesses or otherwise do anything in town. I only stopped long enough to filter a liter of water from a creek running through the town.

Out of town, the trail became ridiculously steep eventually breaking out into the moorlands and, I'm not exactly sure when, but I reached the English-Scottish border. Scotland, long time no see! It had been a decade since I was last in Scotland.

I believe this fence marked the English-Scottish border

 
Above the trees, the sun was shining, but the wind was fierce! A strong wind continually tried to blow me over during the entire day, an exhausting beast that seemed never to be tamed.

Along the way, my GPS tracks stopped. I couldn't figure out what had happened, but it's like I had reached the end of the trail and then there was no more tracks to follow--except that I hadn't reached the end of the trail. My GPS wasn't completely useless since I had also loaded waypoints along the route which gave a point on the trail every mile or so on average, but if I was between points and reached an intersection and wasn't sure which way was the correct route, I had to pull out my guidebook and sometimes take a guess since the trail wasn't always well-marked.

Once, I guessed incorrectly and wound up bushwhacking unnecessarily through some heather to get back to the actual trail. Definitely an annoyance--especially when I took a step thinking it was solid ground and I plunged up to my knee in mud. I scrambled out quickly, none-the-worse for wear, cursed the lack of GPS tracks and continued onward.

The trail passed by another unexcavated Roman fort--those Romans really got around! But except for some lumpy mounds near the trail, there wasn't really anything interesting to see.

A few hours into the hike, I reached the first of two refuges. I preferred to call them shelters since I think of a refuge as something a refugee would use, and while I might have looked like a refugee, I didn't consider myself one! It was a small one-room structure with four walls and a roof that allowed hikers to get out of the elements. A few hikers could even sleep in them if they wanted to.

The first of two shelters on this section of the trail

It was much too early in the day for me to stop, however--about 2:00pm by then--so I pushed onward. The next shelter was, I estimated, about a 5-hour walk away and I figured I'd probably wild camp somewhere between the two shelters.

The trail passed over the top of Windy Gyle--aptly named since the winds could easily have been hurricane force. I took refuge behind some stone windbreaks--and in this case, I really did feel like a refugee taking refuge against the onslaught of the wind. It was absolutely brutal!

It was not, however, enough space to set up camp, so after a few snacks, I pushed onward on the hunt for the next campsite. Everywhere was just so exposed, however, and the wind so utterly brutal. And if the wind wasn't bad enough, the ground everywhere was just a giant bog. There was very little dry, flat ground anywhere. 

Not great terrain for wild camping!

In the end, I wound up pushing on to the next shelter, arriving a little after 7:00pm completely and utterly exhausted and defeated. I had no intention of walking this far today, and in hindsight, wished I had stopped at the first shelter of the day. This was a scenic location, on a hill with amazing views, so there was that. I had also hiked 21.4 miles according to my GPS--several miles further than anything I'd done on the trail thus far and over much rougher, more difficult terrain. Yeah, that definitely had not been my plan for the day! But the shelter turned out to be the only decent place to escape from the bogs and wind.

I arrived just at the same time another hiker did. He was out for the weekend and we wound up sharing the shelter for the night. I was a little disappointed that he hadn't decided to camp in the grass outside using the shelter as a windbreak. I could have done it myself, but I was just too tired to set up my tent. He had only hiked a few hours to this location, though, and had a lot more energy than I did.

Shelter #2, which I'd share with the other hiker who was standing in the doorway.

In the register at the shelter, I saw that Aiden had signed into it a couple of hours earlier, leaving me a note thanking me for the iodine tablets and leaving the extras in the shelter in case I wanted them back. I didn't, but I added the tablets that would remove the iodine taste to the ones he left behind so maybe someone else could make use of them. There were quite a few pieces of gear that hikers had left behind for other hikers to use, a sort of of hiker box without the box.

Looking at the time Aiden had signed the entry, I wondered if he was even at the end of the trail yet. I suspected he wouldn't finish the trail until somewhere near sunset--maybe even a little after sunset--and wasn't sure there would be any public transit available for him to get out of town to reach his dentist appointment tomorrow. Maybe he'd wind up calling a taxi to get to the nearest train station, though? 

In any case, it wasn't my problem and there wasn't anything I could do about it even if it were. I liked the idea of donating the iodine tablets for another hiker passing through that might otherwise be lacking water.

Getting into camp so late, it wasn't long before the sun set and I soon hit the sack. I was exhausted, but I also knew.... this would be my last night on the Pennine Way. The end was near!

 

 

 

 

 

It's always something!

 

Just as well that digging is prohibited anyhow--you might find unexploded ordinance that could blow you up. =)

The view inside of the first shelter

I did NOT make the happy face in the mud. I have no idea who did--just some hiker ahead of me somewhere.

The end of the day really had this amazing and dramatic canyon. The photo can't do it justice, but it was tempting to go down into it and explore it a bit!