Tuesday, 1st June 2021
Weather: 21⁰C, sunny
Distance: 27.6km
Time: 9h 4min (7h 1min walking time)
Distance: 27.6km
Time: 9h 4min (7h 1min walking time)
Average moving speed: 3.9km/h
Max elevation: 271m
Min elevation: 57m
Elevation gain: 324m
I woke up energised. Nothing like a good night's sleep!
We decided to do some sightseeing before breakfast. We walked back to the centre of Heddon-on-the-Wall and went to check out the old remains of the Hadrian's Wall. It's a good length of broad wall, but not very high.
A quick sightseeing trip added 3.5km to today's route. At the end of an almost 28km day I would regret this decision!
On our return to the accommodation, we stopped at the petrol station's Spar and bought supplies for lunch.
Warning: withdraw money / get cashback at the Spar because you won't see an ATM for days!
Breakfast at Houghton North Farm is not luxurious but it is filling. Nothing like a sausage or bacon bap to fill one's tummy! Paula took the breakfast time to tell us about peculiarities of the route ahead, places of interest and potential food stops.
Our accommodation buddies, the group of 5 ladies, plus Paula, kept telling me over and over again that I should use the baggage transfer service. I wonder how bad I look/sound with just 1 day of the route completed?!? Stubborn as I am, I flatly refused.
A fairly flat route today but much more rural.
The majority of the day is spent walking alongside the Military Road (B6318). It makes following the route very easy.
Passing through Whittle Dene Reservoirs. A good spot for bird lovers. It has a bird watching house and picnic tables.
Pit stop at the Robin Hood Inn. A cold drink was necessary as it is much hotter than we had anticipated. Time to rest feet. The Inn also has a stamp for the Hadrian's Wall Path Passport, outside on right-hand-side of porch's entrance.
The Vallum can clearly be seen running alongside the Military Road.
A beautiful sea of wild flowers.
Sometimes you go past sections of woodland and sometimes it's just a clump of trees.
A section of the wall can be seen at Planetrees.
Before arriving to Low Brunton, there is a stile on the right handside directing to Brunton Turret. It's a 100m detour to see one of the best preserved turrets on the Wall. Turrets such as this were simple structures and were supplied with just a single entrance to the south, with no gateway through the Wall to the land to the north.
On returning to the route one can immediately see Chollerford bridge over the river North Tyne. The bridge was built in 1775 and it's very pretty with it's five stone arches. My feet sigh with relief by this point.
I thought the pain in my feet was due mainly to the hard terrain (mainly tarmac yesterday). However, terrain today was softer and my feet hurt the same. Perhaps it's the length of the walk? Overall, we walked over 30km today!
I am extremely happy that our accommodation is just on the other side of the bridge: The George Hotel.
The hotel must have, at some point, been a grand hotel. It is exceptionally well situated by the bridge with a garden overlooking the river. At £143.10 for a room with dinner and breakfast for both, it's not cheap but it's not a bad deal either. Nevertheless, it needs a bit of TLC. The immediate garden is well cared for but as you explore the garden further away from the building (and from sight) it is overgrown and becomes a dump for old stuff.
The building needs revamping. The shower room window did not stay open by itself. I improvised with an empty bottle.
Dinner was ok. The sticky toffee pudding was disappointing.
We wanted some drinks after dinner and so we headed to the hotel bar. We were told that a waiter would come to take our orders. We waited quite a while until we quit waiting. The hotel needs revamping and it also needs more staff!
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