Hadrian's Wall Path Day 3: Chollerford to Grindon

Wednesday, 2nd June 2021

Weather: 18⁰C, sunny intervals
Distance: 17km
Time: 6h 35min (4h 33min walking time)

Average moving speed: 3.8km/h

Max elevation: 265m

Min elevation: 55m

Elevation gain: 344m

Another glorious night of uninterrupted sleep in a very quiet location on a comfy bed.

We weren't on a hurry to leave early today. After 2 long days, we are now having 3 shorter days so we can rest our legs and feet.

Before breakfast we headed out for a bit of sightseeing. 

A short walk from Chollerford bridge, on the south bank of the river North Tyne, there are the remains of Chesters' bridge, through which the Hadrian's Wall would cross the river towards Chesters Roman Fort. What remains to see is: the base of the tower, a small section of the Wall and the abutments of the bridge (masonry support that connected the bridge to the riverbank and protected it from the force of the river). The remains are from the second stone bridge built in the AD 160s to replace the original stone bridge which was probably destroyed by flooding.

On the photo below you can clearly see the way the Wall was constructed. An outer and inner faces of dressed stone set with lime mortar and filed with rubble.

A section of the Wall.

Base of the tower and Chesters Roman Fort can be see on the other side of the river.

Abutments of the bridge.

Views of the river from the top of Chollerford bridge in a cloudy morning:

Westwards

Eastwards

After the sightseeing we headed to the only shop in Chollerford. To be more precise, Chollerford has no shops. Humshaugh, a village north of Chollerford, has a small village shop which only opens in the mornings. Variety wasn't abundant but we bagged some supplies for lunch.

With the short before-breakfast walk we managed to clock in 4 extra kilometres.

We may not have been on a hurry, but breakfast was slow. It was busy and it took staff a while to serve our hot food.

The highlight of the day was a visit to Chesters Roman Fort, which is next door to Chollerford and opens at 10am. We arrived 10 min before opening and were the first customers through the door.

Chesters or Walwick Chesters Roman Fort (Cilurnum)

Cilurnum was a cavalry fort and it housed about 500 cavalrymen.

The Bath House is the highlight of the fort, followed by the Commander's House.

The Bath House was by the river:

The Commander's House: the Commander of the fort and his family lived here; it would have a few luxuries like a private bath house, a private latrine and a hypocaust (underfloor heating) to keep the house comfortable in Winter. The underfloor heating system can still be seen.

There was supposed to be a stamp for the Hadrian's Wall Path passport in an outside box, on the wall, at the car park entrance. Unfortunately, the fort's staff told us that it had been stolen. Stolen?!? The staff stamped our passport with another stamp but any walker coming through here outside of the fort's opening hours will not be able to get a stamp. Such a inconsiderate thief!

It costs £9 the admission to the fort.

Out of Chesters and continuing the route, we start going up.

At Black Carts there is a small section of the Wall plus the remains of a turret (turret 29a).

The Wall makes an appearance here and there.

The Temple of Mithras

Temple to the Persian god Mithras erected around AD 200 and destroyed about 150 years later.

The temple would have been a gloomy place, lit by candles to create a very theatrically mysterious interior.

We sat by the temple, which was relatively free of sheep poo. We had lunch and I had a very lazy nap under the sunshine.

After turret 34a we headed off the route to today's accommodation: Old Repeater Station. But before we did, we crossed path with a mother, son and sausage dog walking on the opposite direction. They asked how long to get to Chollerford. Well, it was about 4pm and they had a good 15km ahead of them. They were going to be late and they were going to be very tired. They were also running out of food and there was nowhere to buy food on the way. They didn't seem fazed. What impressed me the most was the short legged sausage dog. Was he going to make it? For a short while, I did not complaint about my achy feet.

We crossed the fields on an almost straight line to get to the Military Road (B6318) and then walked to the Old Repeater Station.

Les is our host tonight. A very talkative old man who clearly enjoys having guests and company. Twin room with breakfast was £75 and dinner was £30 for both. Clean and comfortable. The tap water is not from mains, which is easy to tell as it tastes delicious. It's spring water!

Dinner was made by Les but he didn't really made it. He was proud to say it was marinated salmon from Aldi, which he served with cooked vegetables from Aldi. He made a point to say that it was the same quality as Waitrose. Perhaps, but the Waitrose salmon fillet would have been bigger! There was no dessert but there was bread and butter. It wasn't the most filing dinner but it was enough to sleep. There are no shops or restaurants nearby so eating in is the only option.

Staying at the same accommodation was a couple from West Sussex who were walking the Hadrian's Wall in 6 days. There was some chatting before bedtime.

Les shocked us all by informing us that some people go to the extreme of walking the route in 2 days using his house as a halfway point. That's 84 miles (135km) in 2 days. Insane!