Hadrian's Wall Path Day 4: Grindon to Once Brewed

Thursday, 3rd June 2021

Weather: 17⁰C, cloudy and windy
Distance: 11.18km 
Time: 4h 43min (3h 13min walking time)

Average moving speed: 3.5km/h

Max elevation: 311m

Min elevation: 217m

Elevation gain: 224m

Again, we slept very well. Quiet location, comfy bed, tiredness. All contributing factours to a deep sleep.

Breakfast was really filling and we filled our tummies thinking of the day ahead. We said goodbye to our lovely host and to the couple who was going on the opposite direction.

Les tells us the quicker way, and easy to miss pedestrian route, through the fields so we can join the route again.

It was cloudy today and a bit windy. We could feel the wind more as we were walking on the exposed Sewingshields Crags (a crag is the northerners term for 'rugged cliff'). A section of the wall can be seen.

Milecastles are fortified gateways through the Wall manned by a small garrison of 10-30 men. Milecastle 35 on Sewingshields Crags, unlike the usual milecastles, doesn't have a gateway through the frontier due to the 30m high rocky crag. The outlines of the milecastle are clear and the rooms are still well delineated.

From now onwards the route will become hillier. We walk on crags and there will be a lot of going up and down. The days will be shorter so we can cope with this change in the terrain. The upper side is that the views will be getting wider and much more scenic. There is also more remains of the wall in the middle section of the route which, effectively, is in the middle of nowhere.

Broomlee Lough (a lough is the northerners term for 'lake', similar to the Scottish term loch) can be seen from the wall and provides some spectacular views.

The Knag Burn Gate sits 100m down from the next fort. It is one of a very few gateways in the Hadrian's Wall, outside of forts and milecastles. When it was built is not known, but it may haven taken over from the fort's north gate, which was closed because the road leading up to it was steep and dangerous. Remarkably, it is still used as a gate!

There was a quick shower on our arrival to Housesteads Roman Fort and we were glad that the fort was to be our next stop.

Housesteads Roman Fort (Vercovicium)

The Roman name of the fort, Vercovicium, means 'the settlement of the slop', which indeed it is and provides a very good view of the far reaching lands.

South Gate

This fort is one of the best preserved forts on the Hadrian's Wall.

The highlight of the fort are the communal latrines. Benches with holes to form multiple toilet seats over a channel of running water and arranged around a central platform. This platform has a channel along which water flowed for washing. Two stone basins (seen in the middle of the platform) where used instead when water supply was restricted.

Granaries, to house the grain that fed the men, were long and narrow buildings with strong buttressed stone walls with air vents, an overhanging roof to keep rain away from the walls and raised floor supported on posts to keep the grain dry and prevent rodents getting in. The posts of the raised floor can still be seen.

Again, the Commander's House has underfloor heating.

There is another stamp for the passport at Housesteads, located outside next to the museum entrance.

We bought some food for lunch at the fort's museum as there would be no shops during the day but I must warn you that variety isn't much. We bought some oat bars and apart from that there were only chocolates, cookies and crisps. Luckily we had bananas leftover from breakfast, which Les had insisted we take. Smart man!

Admission to the fort costs £9 but it is free for National Trust members, which we are.

The 150m section of the wall beyong Housesteads is the only place where walking on top of the Wall is legal and officially accepted. Get on it! I obviously had to forget to take a selfie...

Shortly after the fort, on Housesteads Crags, you get to Milecastle 37. This is a famously scenic section of the Wall. The north gate of the milecastle still has the piers in place, as well as the beginning of the arch and, like Knag Burn Gate, it is still in use. The main question however is, why is there a gate above a steep drop? Surely there was no point in having one?

The route continues, up and down. 

A view from the Wall from Hotbank Crags towards Crag Lough, with Highshield Crags to the left of the lake.

As you descend towards the lake, a farm at the bottom has marvelous views of the lake and cliff.

Woods on top of Highshield Crags and we sat on the cliff to have lunch and breath in some of the beauty of the views. We didn't stay long though as mosquitoes were too many.

As you descend Highshield Crags you come face-to-face with one of Hadrian's Wall's most iconic and photographed sights: the Sycamore Gap.

The Sycamore Gap tree or Robin Hood tree stands in a gap between Highshield Crags and Peel Crags. It derives its alternative name from featuring in the 1991 film 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves', staring Kevin Costner, which I have seen one too many times... I note that, 30 years later, the tree is massively bigger and completely ruined my plan to climb up and pretend to be the boy being chased by the Sheriff of Nottingham's men... no photo then!

A view of the Sycamore Gap going up Peel Crags.

On top of Peel Crags stands Milecastle 39, known as 'Castle Nick', from the fact that it has been built into a natural nick in the hillside. 

A view of the wall at the end of Peel Crags towards Highshield Crags and Crag Lough.

At the end of Peel Crags expect a steep stepped descent.

When you read about this section of the Hadrian's Wall, there is always mention of Steel Rigg. This name also appears on the Ordnance Survey maps. However, after much looking and browsing, I come to the conclusion that this is not an actual site, it's the area where Highshield and Peel Crags are. Google maps uses this name just to mention the car park nearby that the day tourists use to visit the Sycamore Gap. Someone correct me if I am wrong!

Here we move away from the route and head south towards today's accommodation: Twice Brewed Inn in Once Brewed. Isn't it funny?

It's not just the name, there are also funny wall plaques at the entrance of the Inn.

A double room en-suite cost £110.

I crash on the bed and rest my aching feet. This is becoming a regular occurrence...

I have come to conclude that the pain on my feet is neither to do with terrain or length of the route or weight of the bag or heat inside the boots. It has to do with it all and I am screwed because I have another 4 days to go...

There wasn't much rest for the wicked as we had Vindolanda Roman Fort to visit.

We headed out on foot from the Inn, now without or heavy bags, and walked to the fort. It's a 7km return walk from the Inn.

Little Chesters or Chesterholm (Vindolanda)

Admission to the fort costs £12.15 but includes the admission for the Roman Army Museum which we will be visiting tomorrow.

Vindolanda has a fairly big museum with interesting artefacts.

Adult shoes versus children shoes. Children wore smaller versions of adult shoes which also had studded soles to prolong wear.

Boxing gloves (caestus) were meant to fit over the knuckles. Each glove is constructed from a single piece of leather that was then folded into a pouch, with the two ends joined together to form a circle for the hand to slide through, and then stuffed. Boxing is a very old sport but Romans took the sport to a more lethal level by incorporating metal blades and inserts into the cutting edge of the gloves. Ouch!

A lady's wig made from locally grown hair moss. The moss possessed properties which deterred insects, including the local midges.

Iron ink writing pen nibs and a complete pen with wooden shaft.

An impressive amount of drainage systems can be seen.

As we walked back to the accommodation, bus AD122 passed by us. This is THE Hadrian's Wall bus and a good Plan B if you get too tired. It runs hourly from mid-April to the end of October, on weekends from November to mid-December and there is no service from mid-December to mid-April. It doesn't run the length of the Path, only between Hexham and Greenhead, but it is better than nothing!

Credits: transportdesigned.com

Dinner was at the Inn and it was delicious! The pizzas are made in a brick oven and the sticky toffee pudding was to die for. It was worth the £52.70 we paid for.