Margie and Joey's Hadrian's Wall Walk Photo Journal!
1) Sunday 28th May -- Our start, ready for the 'big' adventure outside Hadrian's Lodge at 8:00 a.m.
2) Newcastle; between the metro, the train and the motorway lies this quiet valley, with a children's farm and some very old house.
3) In the outskirts of Newcastle we find a small Roman temple (in someone's garden).
4) Our first encounter with the real Wall, a lonely stretch of about 120 yards.
5) Monday 29th May -- Now known as our 'field day'. Public footpaths are indeed public but hardly ever 'footpaths'. We had a world of mud on our boots.
6) This sort of weather passed us many times. Luckily we managed to stay dry most of the time.
7) Margie listening to information about Corstopitum Roman fort near Corbridge town.
8) Tuesday 30th May -- The ditch between the trees is called 'north ditch', a sort of trench that used to run in front of the wall.
9) Sometimes the Romans encountered too many rocks and at these points the digging of the north ditch stopped, they went round the obstruction and started again on the other side!
10) 6 miles of straight road ahead of us. The wall lies beneath our feet....under the road.
11) Wednesday 31st May -- Crags, gaps and nooks; you name it, we walked it. This gap (Sycamore gap) is famous from its use in Kevin Costner's "Robin Hood". The scene was taken the wrong way round, but who cares?
12) Those crags, gaps and nooks look lovely and romantic from a distance, it's a bit different when you get closer.
13) The remains of Milecastle nr. 39. One of the border gates the Romans controlled.
14) Looking at these hills made us feel real mountain goats.
15) On top of Winshields crag, the highest point of Hadrian's Wall. Just a detail: there is no real wall left here except for some stones that once formed the foundations.
16) The country is rough and wild but very beautiful.
17) We came walking over that top.
18) And those are the tops we are heading for (the wall has not (yet) been excavated in many parts). This also helps the wall from being damaged too much as well.
19) At Cawfields is a very large and high section of wall visible. Glad it is not a close up, Margie looks and felt cream crackered!
20) We left the crags, gaps and nooks behind us.
21) High Nook farm, where we enjoyed a beautiful country meal and a well earned, very hot bath.
22) Thursday, 1st June -- At Low Nook farm Margie was bitten by a rather cantankerous gander. He won the first round...Wait until we meet again, pal! Today we see the last remains of the wall. When we arrive in Carlisle we find the birthday presents in our bedroom. The flowers have Margie close to tears and so do the beers and 2x daffodils!
23) Friday, 2nd June -- Margie, wind and weather beaten, but the sign says that the end of our walk is very near.
24) The Solway at low tide. The Romans built the fort Maya here to keep the Scots on their side of the river.
25) We made it! Our landlady had to take a photo of the two green Quasimodos. She spoiled us rotten, and we deserved it (we think).
26) As a momento we bought ourselves some real hill-walkers t-shirts.
27) And Margie's colleagues, who could also enjoy the daily walking updates which were e-mailed to one of them, made going back to work almost a feast...?!
