Saturday continued

Lucy got me with the sticky buds as we went up Hare Hill so I ran after her to get her back and twisted my right knee really badly. It was agony, but it's no use crying about it, I had to go on we had already booked our beds at the bunk house at Sandy Sike. We walked (or limped in my case) past a really high section of roman fortification on the way up the hill. We were on the road still and nearly at the top when the trail took a left into a field over a stile. The cyclists were there heaving their bikes over the top. Why they were on the footpath rather than the cycle trail I never did find out. We left them behind and continued through along the trail. They soon shot past us and we caught them up at the next stile where they asked Lucy to take their picture. It was a good view; the Solway was in sight, we could see the grey sheen of the river in the distance. The trail started heading down hill again which was murder on my knee. I tried walking backwards which sometimes helps but it didn't make much difference. Then the cyclists flew past again. We didn't see them again, they must have turned off towards Lanercost Priory, as we crossed the road that leads there at the bottom of the hill. The trail contined down hill until we were walking along side a stream, alot of the path was very muddy and squelched under foot, not pleasant. we came off the trail on the wall just outside Walton, over a lovely stone bridge and up the hill to the village.

We were hoping to get a drink of tea there because we had run out of water, but there were no shops and the pub was shut. Time was passing too, it was nearly six o'clock so after a short sit down on a bench we pushed on for the last half mile. Through the village and out the other side we thought we had lost the path but it reappeared down the side of a house and we were back out into the fields again. Down a path that would have been very pleasant if I had been able to walk. That last half mile took me almost an hour and the last few hundred yards uphill were so bad I thought I wouldn't be able to make it. When you have no choice it's amazing just what is possible. A camper was watching me, he thought it was funny that I had taken so long, but when I explained about my knee he was sympathetic, he was stopping there because he couldn't walk any further too. In his case it was blisters, I knew what that felt like!

The camper directed us to the bunk barn, the people who owned the place had gone out, but had told us on the phone the door to the barn would be open. It was and it was really nice if a touch chilly, and there was tea and milk and cups and a kettle! Hurray! Put the elephant down (it had grown during the day), and took off my boots and bandages, and had a brew. Once again we were the only guests in the barn, so chose our beds and went and sat out with our tea. The owner turned up and asked if we wanted a meal? We didn't, and if we would like breakfast? We would, and did we want a bottle of wine? We most definitely did! A most civilised evening ensued, the camper had some wine as well, and joined us to chat and later some more campers arrived and also joined in although they had no booze. Sat out well into the night until the bugs got too big and fancied us for supper. And so to bed.

The first weekend walk Saturday 8th August

Picked up Lucy from outside Speaks at 7.45am this morning and set straight off to Crosby on Eden. Unfortunately we were not going to get there in time for a bus. Lucy had no shorts with her and we had no lunch so we had a change of plan and stopped at Tescos in Carlisle to shop for both. We decided we would leave the car in the Walltown Crags car park and walk from there. Arrived about 10.30am and got kitted up. It cost £8 for a parking ticket but it lasts for a week so we could leave the car without worrying about getting a fine. Set off at 11am. Planned to walk about 10 miles. First stop Thirlwall Castle, it was built from the stones taken from Hadrian's Wall in the 14th century. Took some pics and had a bit of a play in the ruins.

More of a fortified house than a castle but good fun. From there through a few houses over a footbridge next to a ford. We investigated but it was too deep to cross on foot. Soon left the road again and through a kissing gate on to a path through a field. Not in the field long either, on to the railway line, over the other side and walked along the roman ditch for a while. It was full of wild flowers and looked beautiful.

This photo really doesn't do it justice. Then we were on to a section we had walked before. Through someone's front garden and up a field and then walked actually in the ditch. It was deep and full of sheep.We were in Gilsland again and before long at Poltross Burn. Took a couple of good photos of the milecastle before crossing the railway. There was a good view of a longish stretch of wall down to the right but inaccessible. It runs through a private garden,

but just around the corner and across the road the paths picks it up and runs along side it towards Willowford Bridge. It was nice seeing it from a different direction. However we didn't stop long, walking a short way further to the banks of the river Irthing we stopped near the new bridge and ate our lunch. I explored the river a bit. There seems to be a lot of worked stone in it. I couldn't tell how deep the water is because it is the colour of strong tea.

There was a steep walk up up to Birdoswald- definitely a part of the walk I prefered when we did it the other way (downwards!) Then the path rejoins the wall and we were back at the fort. We walked past it and continued alongside the wall for a couple of hundred yards and past turret 49b, then the stone wall disappears and the path takes a turn up a field and on to the turf wall, site of (nothing to see). And for the next mile it stays the same, a bit lumpy off to one side and very flat and not much of a view. Saw some more wall and turrets on the way. The turf was replaced by stone at a later date, but there isn't much of it left.

The walk continues to be fairly flat all the way to Banks, when it suddenly goes down a steep hill. We must have been climbing gradually. Stopped on a handy bench on the green to have a snack and a drink and admire the view. Whilst we were there we saw two chaps coming up the hill, one on a bicycle and the other pushing his bike further down. The cycler stopped near us and got off his bike to wait for the other guy. When he had reached the top and had a breather, they both got on their bikes and went down again. Bit like the Grand Old Duke of York. We sat for about 10 minutes and then put the baby elephant back on my back and set off down the road. We turned off to the right to Hare Hill. Lucy took this photo of us on the junction.

Friday 10th July

Didn't sleep very well last night and neither did Lucy. Up at 7.30 and had fried egg butties for breakfast again. Packed up and set off about 8.45, the pack felt really heavy after walking without it yesterday. The feet felt really sore too, it was hard to get any pace going. We set out back up the road toward Steel Rigg again, we could have walked straight up the back of the farm to Winsheilds and up on to the wall but we didn't want to miss any out. So we had walked about a mile by the time we had got back on the trail and from there it was all uphill to the trig point. Still behind pace, my feet were very sore, I told Lucy to go on ahead and I would catch her up as I could. She waited for me at each stile. Dropped down off the crags for Caw Gap, then straight back up the other side to Cawfield Crag. Not steep but a long drag up. Went through Great Chesters but really struggling to keep going. Didn't stop to look at much, although once we had left the crags and were crossing farm land the view wasn't that exciting. Lucy was getting further and further in front, she stopped to wait for me at a stile that led into a wood. It was flat walking through the wood; what a relief! Then back up to Walltown Crags, except we got a bit lost and couldn't find the path. Back on track eventually over Walltown Crags, then lost the path again. Stopped for a picture- or rather Lucy did. This is a self portrait taken whilst waiting for me to catch up yet again, and this is a really good photo of Walltown Crags

The reason we had lost the path was the wall went straight over a cliff, just as well it wasn't foggy or we would have followed it. The path turned back on itself and went straight down a hill at about 45 degrees, murder on the toes, then took a right half way down the hill on to a gravel path and continued down along side a new lake that had been Walltown quarry.
The path led down to a car park where my brother Andrew was waiting for us. Originally the plan had been to meet us at Greenhead which was about a mile further along. I can't say I was particularly bothered the way I felt at this moment. We had covered about six and a half miles or 10 kms. Andy drove us to his house at Carlisle for tea. Mum was coming down from Dumfries as well, because Andy had made plans for us to stay there. Mother duly arrived but said she wasn't taking us to Dumfries, she was taking us home! So our holiday ended rather unexpectedly on Friday instead of Sunday!

We decided we would come back and finish the rest of the walk soon, here is a picture from Friday showing the happy wanderers (or not in my case- just look at the wan smile)

More 9th July

We decided we would have a pub meal tonight as a treat and went to the Twice Brewed Inn again. We had another jug of Pimms, although it wasn't as good. The fruit in it was a bit lacking in variety. then we looked at the menu. I ordered a vegetable curry and Lucy ordered a vegetable fajita. The meal duly arrived and it was awful. The other choice on the menu was pan fried Mediterranean vegetables, and that was what we got, except mine came in a lumpy curry sauce mix (out of a packet) and Lucy's was wrapped in a tortilla. It was inedible. I complained and we didn't pay for it, but we were offered no apology or an alternative, and the meal was left congealing in front of us for 20 minutes before anyone came to clear it away. I wrote and complained to the owners of the pub when I got home and they didn't even have the courtesy to acknowledge my letter. So be warned you vegetarians out there! We are moving on tomorrow luckily, so we just finished the Pimms and left. Seven and a half miles today. Image of sky on way back to Winsheilds

Continuing Wednesday 9th July

The path drops steeply down to the river over a wonderful footbridge made from the same iron as "The Angel of the North", past the abutments for the roman bridge that once crossed the river. This is now in the middle of a field as the river has moved quite a bit in 2000 years. This a photo of the invisible man near Willowford Farm.

Up to Willowford Farm, past a turret and on to Poltross Burn Milecastle. What a setting. It was the best preserved milecastle we had seen since we started and we have seen a few.

From there the path just got better and better- these photos were taken walking up from the milecastle towards Gilsland. After we had walked across country to Chapel House Farm we rejoined the road in the hope of catching a bus, We sat on a bank outside someones house and waited.... and waited. Twenty minutes later we decided it must have knocked and started to walk again. We had only covered a few hundred yards when it arrived. Hurray! We rode back to Winshields and the driver dropped us at the bottom of the drive again. Staggered up the drive and took off the boots- bliss. Best of all a cup of tea and a piece of cake at the cafe, sat outside in the sun. Wonderful

9th July, Birdoswald and back.

Slept really well last night. Woke a couple of times with cold shoulders and had to get up once to go to the loo but that was pretty much it. Had an incident with a slug though. It was crawling about last night near the bottom of the bunk ladder and I teased Lucy it would be up there after her, but we went to bed and forgot it. This morning I put on my sandals to go to the bathroom and when I got back and took them off there was something stuck to my bandages. The slug had crawled in them during the night and I had squashed it when I put them on. Yuk! The alarm on my phone got us up at 7.30. Could have stayed in bed. Did get up though and had breakfast in the cafe- fried egg butty, brown sauce and oodles of tea. Set off for the days walk at 8.40am, up the road to Once Brewed and left at Youth Hostel toSteel Rigg. The days rest had made a huge difference, we were both off like teenagers up the cat steps towards Housesteads (Lucy of course is not long past being a teenager). We walked about 5 miles on the crags, but then we had a half mile before we started. Got to the road at 11.55 and the bus came just 2 minutes late. We thought we had missed it!

We travelled by bus to Birdoswald and went to the fort. There are very well preserved gateways but not an awful lot else excavated. Then we started back towards Gilsland and Greenhead. It was a very good section of wall to start, up to 10 courses high in places and past a well preserved mile castle before dropping down to the River Irthing.

more 8th July

This is the campsite at Winsheilds. The lady who was running the camping barn showed us the room. It's marvellous, a brand new conversion, big bunks, nice and clean and, because they don't provide bedding here, they have kindly lent us a couple of sleeping bags. The only draw back is there are no cooking facilities at all but there is an on site cafe. We asked if there was somewhere we could heat soup or make toast but there wasn't, we were expected to have brought our own stove. Luckily there was a kettle, but the powdered milk had gone off so we had a pot of tea in the cafe and then sloped off back to the barn. We cleaned a tray that was in the bunk barn and Lucy made sandwiches for tea instead, using the tray instead of plates. The weather was no warmer and we were getting very cold sat in the barn. We knew there was a pub just a half mile up the road so by 18.30 we had set off, still very uncomfortable walking on damaged feet, but the lure of the alcohol helped. I bought, after due consultation, a pitcher of Pimms to share, which went down very nicely indeed. It was reasonably priced at £10 for 6 glasses. The bonus was I actually feel warm for the first time since we had the short walk this morning. It hasn't rained much today and the barn tonight is only £8, so we should be cheerful to bed.

8th July continued

Luckily the co-op was open, we bought canned soup, bread, cheese, an onion and a couple of carrots, then walked back to the town square to wait for the bus. We were early by about 20 minutes but there were benches near the bus stop, it wasn't raining, so we were happy to sit and wait a while. Unfortunately the bus knockes and we were there an hour before one turned up. The locals kept stopping and commiserating with us. Eventually a bus turned up with a very friendly driver who we had not previously met and he dropped us off on the step.

Wednesday 8th July- Vindolanda

Frozen most of the night. Could see the sky when I looked up, peeping in through the spiders webs. Lucy has woken up covered in bites. I woke up every time I turned over so I could pull the covers around myself again. However apart from the cold and dirt it was pretty good. All the other people staying in the camping barn were female, so no problems with getting changed, it was only £10, the sleeping bags, clean pillow slips and towels were provided, there was a microwave and a toaster and tea, coffee and milk. And this morning breakfast was great. We had said we just wanted toast, but for four people there was individual packets of cereal, a good choice, 1 litre of milk, 4 yoghurts, 4 bananas, a loaf of bread, butter, grapes, plums, and pears and we didn't have to wash up either.

I had got up at 6.30am and got washed and dressed, (there was cleaning stuff in the washrooms, so you didn't have to get washed in a dirty sink!) and led on the bed to read but it was so cold I got back under the covers and fell asleep until 7.15. Breakfast came on a tray delivered by our hostess. I thought we would have to pay extra for the breakfast, but no, it was included. If we had taken sleeping bags I would have been tempted to stay here and take the bus, but we hadn't and the ones provided were too thin for the cold weather we were having.

We were out and walking by 8.30, back down the lane we came up yesterday, we had 25 minutes to wait for the bus, so, just so my feet didn't get used to a life of Riley, we set off to walk a little way. At the bottom of the lane before we hit the road we went over a ladder stile into the field on the right and followed a sustantial bit of wall around 'limestone corner'. This is the most northerly point of the wall and there are huge peices of cut limestone there that the romans never used for some reason. It has caused speculation for years but no-one will ever know why these bits were rejected.

We rejoined the road in time for the bus. Some of the women we had camped with last night had told us of another camping barn at Winshields Farm near Twice Brewed, we thought we would phone them and stay there for a couple of nights. In the meantime we were off to Vindolanda. The bus dropped us off in the car park at about 9.40am. There were 2 other people waiting there, it opened at 10am. We spent some time wandering around the place and I found half a rabbit with the organs carefully removed and left tidily beside the corpse. It looked like some kind of satanic ritual. I mentioned it to the receptionist when I bought the tickets and they blamed the cat at the farm next door. I'm not so sure myself.

It was slightly more expensive at Vindolana as it is the first property we have been to not owned by English Heritage, although they do manage the fort on site. It was £10.45, which included a donation and gift aid. We didn't buy a guide book because we have been here a few times before. Lucy doesn't remember so it must be some time ago. The ticket office was in a reconstructed roman villa. It was very nice, I'd have lived there if I could afford a house like that!

The visit was pretty good, lots of chaps picking away at the ground in an un- enthusiastic manner, mainly due I'm sure to the frigid temperatures and the biting wind. Me and Lucy ran around a bit with sticky plants to get warm and all the diggers went for a tea break after being grilled by a teacher showing off to a group of mainly bored teenagers. We spent 10 minutes observing the new excavations and pretending to be Tony Robinson. We then pottered off to look at the older stuff and admired lots of drains and hypercausts. Finally we toddled off down the hill to the museum and shop and had lunch. It was £14 for lunch and it was good. Recommended. I also spent £25 in the shop on books I would have to carry. Madness! I already struggle with the elephant , sorry rucksack, I carry around now never mind another ton of books! The museum was very good too. It had grown from the last time we had visited, mainly due to the extraordinary amount of finds that had been turned up on the site.

Later we went into the fort and saw the recent excavations there and watched a mason making good the remains for permenant display. Very interesting.

By now we were both feeling pretty roman-ed out so we went and played on the reconstructed wall sections. They are very high. The turf section is starting to deteriorate now, but we had to move because the children on school trips wanted to play too. Lucy remembered playing on them before, so she had been previously. She had thought she had no memory of the place.

We went and waited for the 14.30 bus at the car park, we were off to Haltwistle. We had booked in at the camping barn at Winshields Farm. They do not supply sleeping bags but had kindly said they would lend us some, we were going to Haltwistle to buy in some food. It was a very nice bus ride in to town but when we got there it was half day closing.

Housesteads Fort

Housesteads is a nightmare for sore feet. It looks a little daunting from the road as it is obviously some distance away. When we got off the bus in a huge car park (they are expecting a LOT of people), there is a nice little cluster of buildings- a loo, a take away cafe and a shop. Then there is an archway through the buildings with a wood just in front of you, so you can't see what's coming until you've walked about 10 yards around the end of the wood and then the full horror of what the feet are about to experience was unfolded. It was a deep valley with a steep not very winding road down and an equally steep road going up the other side to the ticket office perched 2/3rds of the way up the hill, and the fort on the top.

I can understand why the ticket office is there and not with the other buildings. Can you imagine how many people would want their money back?

It was interesting when we got there, took seven minutes brisk walking but at the back of your mind as you are admiring the granaries and the laterines is the fact you will have to walk back. But walk back we did. You can see the path back in the photo above to the left of Lucy's head and the carefully placed wood. We waited for the bus in the very spacious car park and when it came asked the driver to put us off at the bottom of the lane for Green Carts. He forgot to stop. Luckily Lucy had seen the sign and rang the bell, but we had overshot by a couple of hundred yards. He dropped us off at Black Carts instead which was handy as we walked back along a fairly well preserved section of wall to get to the lane to Green Carts. It was a good walk, some of it on a farm track that if you hadn't already been covered in mud before was guaranteed to give you a liberal coating by the time you reached the farm. Overall we had only walked 3 miles today and now we are sat in a freezing in a barn where you can see daylight through the walls. It is only 8pm and tonight we aren't tired, but there is NOTHING to do and NOWHERE to go for miles. It's cold and we are both a bit FED UP. But tomorrow we aim to hit Vindolanda.

Chesters Fort

Chesters Fort is just a half mile from the roundabout at Chollerford so we strolled along to it. It cost the same as Segedunum as it is also an English Heritage site. There is a really good museum with finds from all along the wall. Chesters Fort had been saved by a chap called Clayton, a gifted Victorian. When bits of the wall were being sold off for building materials he kept buying the lots up and saving them.

Curiously the wall goes through the middle of Chesters and from the fort the line of the wall going across the river (see previous photo- bridge abutment from fort), and up towards Brunton turret and Planetrees could be seen. The bridge no longer survives although masonry can be seen in the river and on the opposite bank.
Whilst we were in Hexham we had learned from experience and booked accommodation for the night in a bunk barn at Green Carts Farm. It would be £10 each. Green Carts is about 1.5 miles from Chollerford.
After leaving Chesters we were going to walk to Green Carts, leave our bags and bus it on to Housesteads Fort. We walked about a mile to the other side of Walwick, then changed our plan to go to Housesteads first because the bus was due.

Tuesday 7th July.

Up at 7am, had hotel breakfast, paid £87 bill, (not too bad- includes 2 bar meals and a couple of drinks), and went for the bus. It started to rain as we stood at the bus stop and, of course, the bus was late (it had been early when we missed it!). Came about 8.50am. Cost £1.90 each into Hexham, about 5 miles.

1st stop tourist information to find a chiropodist. It was raining really hard by then (again) and we went in the wrong direction looking for the clinic. Lucy eventually phoned for directions and we turned round back the way we had come and soon got there. The chiropodist kindly agreed to look at my feet after the lady who was being seen to when we got there. We dripped rainwater over the waiting room and sat to wait. We weren't there very long when it was my turn. The chiropodist helped her previous elderly customer down the steps whilst I got in the chair. She couldn't believe the state of my feet or that I wanted patching up so I could continue. Mary Anderson was so very kind, she taped me up with loads of padding so I could walk and gave me a first aid kit so if it got wet I could replace the dressings. Ms Anderson only charged me £30 for this first class service, she even gave us some scissors to cut the dressings to size, realising we wouldn't have any.

Only problem was it was still chucking it down, my boots were still wet, so I couldn't put them back on. Lucy came to the rescue once again. She took my credit card and went to Milletts who were having a sale, and bought me some new boots, they cost £35. Should have been £90, made by Karrimore, pink suede. I wouldn't say it was great to get boots back on, but it was a lot better with the padding. We picked up our packs and hit the road. We put my old boots in the bin. I was sorry to see them go. I had owned them for several years and they were normally very comfortable. It was still raining heavily and my yellow poncho was as wet inside as out. I wasn't really as prepared as I should have been, so together we made a further visit to Milletts sale and purchased a pacamac except it was called a Jack in a Pack. (Cost £14). I put it on, a bit late as my fleece was soaked through.

Anyhow we went on the market, bought a nice sunflower for the nice lady at the Riverside Cafe in Chollerford. Went back to the Tourist Information shop where the bus goes from, and bought a map of the Hadrian's Wall Path, a strip map, waterproof as well, a book of the same and a three day bus pass, which cost £16 each, so we could see the sights whilst we were waiting for my feet to feel better.

Caught the next bus back to Chollerford, having dried out a bit as the rain had finally stopped. Got off at the roundabout and took the nice lady the plant, had a brew and then off to see Chesters Fort.

6th July continued- the day from hell.

Eventually after another mile we arrived at Chollerford. Tired but happy to see the sign, as you can see from the photos. Still not the driest day, but down to a steady drizzle at this point.

Walked down into the town and looked for a B&B. We couldn't find one. The 'town' was non- existent. There was a roundabout, a bridge, a cafe and a hotel and the houses we had walked past. The hotel was full. We went and sat in the cafe for a brew of tea. We asked about accommodation and were pointed to a couple of ads in the window. Not one of the advertisers would answer the phone. We were told about a pub a couple of miles up the road, but they weren't answering either. Lucy said she would go and check it out because I couldn't go any further. It was raining still. The lady in the cafe was phoning round to try and find us somewhere, the best option seemed to be to go into Hexham on the bus and travel back tomorrow. Lucy got back, the B&B was a lot further than advertized and she had run both ways. I couldn't have walked. It was full. We got up to get the bus and it went past as we got to the roundabout. I nearly cried. I was tired and in pain. We turned back into the cafe and the lady there had managed to get us a twin room at 'The Hadrian' in Wall. It was a lot more than we had wanted to pay but we had no choice. AND we had another mile to walk to get there.

I could hardly put one foot in front of another and Lucy's ankles were really sore from her boots. We had to take off our boots at the door before they would let us in, I didn't think I could do it and Lucy was going to help me, but I couldn't let her. I pulled myself together and took them off. We were shown to our room and the hotelier kindly let us put our wet things in the boiler room to dry overnight. After an hour or so I summoned the energy to take a shower, which hurt like hell on my raw feet, but after a couple of minutes was pure bliss. Lucy was enjoying the tele. but we decided to have tea in the bar and trotted off downstairs.

There were a couple of walkers there from Holland who had kindly agreed to share their holiday cottage with a couple of chaps who were in the same predicament as we had been- no accommodation. Soon we were all sat near each other in the bar. All four of the other walkers had covered at least 20 miles that day, and they were obviously OK. We had done 10.5 and I thought I was going to die.

Monday 6th July

Had a really good nights sleep after a couple of pints at the Robin Hood Inn. Got the second stamp on our passports. My boots were still wet inside from yesterday. Lucy's were completely dry and she has no blisters. Set off just after 9am, back onto the Hadrian's Wall Path. Doing about 2 miles per hour we estimated we would get to Chollerford about 14.30. It was 9 miles by road and probably a little further on the path as it wanders off the route of the wall from time to time.

It was chucking it down by the time we got to the Portgate, where the A68 crosses the Wall. When they put the roundabout in here it was offset so it didn't disturb the roman ruins underneath. After yesterdays walk where we didn't see a soul it was quite refreshing to meet other people as wet as us. At the pub on the junction (closed on Mondays) we saw motor cyclists, (very wet) and walkers (one emptying the water from her shoes and wringing out her socks) and a couple of Dutch people wearing what can only be described as walking tents. But they looked wet too.

The trail continues to the left of the pub, over a stile in to the field. We had our first sight of the wall since Heddon, not excavated entirely but we followed it for a good mile or so. It perked us up no end. It was easy to see and gave us more of a feel for the task the romans had achieved. Then at Planetrees there is an excavated section of stone wall about a hundred yards long. The signs for the trail after Planetrees point off the route towards a village called "Wall". We were not sure what to do, because we didn't have a map of the trail so we followed the arrows. After a short way we saw a sign saying 'No direct route to Chollerford' This was confusing and we weren't sure what to do because we knew Chollerford was where we were heading. We were tired as well by now so we decided to turn back as we'd seen some tents in a field and thought we could ask at the campsite. S off we went and ended up in someone's garden, the chap there was very nice about it, told us there was no campsite, they had just had some scouts staying the previous weekend, and sent us back the way we had come.

Sunday July 5th continued

It was searingly hot but we persevered. Got to the three mile point and had a lie down on the verge ( I fell off my rucksack when I tried to use it as a cushion) but decided to continue and just as we got to Harlow Hill (5 miles) it started to rain a bit. We had already had some rumbles of thunder but now there was lightning across to the south. All at once it was as though a tropical storm had hit, really windy, temperature plummetted and torrential rain. There was no B&B, it had closed down. I was really getting tired by then, not being as fit etc.... We saw a closed church which appeared to have a porch so we went there to shelter. It was an illusion, there was a bit sticking out that LOOKED like a porch but it had a big solid locked door where the entrance should have been. We had gone past a campsite not far back so we went back there to see if they did bed and breakfast or had a caf where we could shelter. They didn't. The chap at the door told us the next B&B was another couple of miles away, I had already blisters coming up, I could feel them, probably because the rain was so heavy my boots had filled up with water.
It was no use, rain or no we had to carry on. Lucy was starting to have problems too with her boots, they were rubbing her ankles, we stopped and loosened her laces but the damage was already done. Because the trail here goes into the ditch of the wall we were getting even wetter because all the plants, nettles and stuff were weighed down with the rain and we were brushing through them as we walked. The trail went up and near the road so we clambered across and walked on the road instead. It was a 60 mile an hour zone and the cars zoomed past us scarily, and the road being on top of the route of the wall here was straight on as far as the eye could see with, scarily, no human habitation in sight.
About a mile outside Harlow Hill we came to some little lakes with a bird hide, so we decided to stop and do some repairs to my feet. It took about half an hour and we had a snack to give us some energy. Lucy really got the nosebag on! By the time I had finished sticking the plasters on she had nearly eaten all the food. We didn't really look at the birds much but we blessed the builders of the hut! When we were ready to set off again, the rained had stopped or slowed to drizzle, which was a real improvement. I couldn't believe it had been so hot I was moaning just a couple of hours before. There was only a mile to go before the next B&B, I can't say we struck out invigorated, because it would be a lie on my part, Lucy being 30 years younger than her unfit old Mum, was doing much better so I tried not to go on about my feet too much and stifled the groans under some light hearted banter.
We walked past the Robin Hood Pub and the B&B was next door, fantastic! Lucy knocked on the door and a woman answered. She obviously didn't like the look of us and when we asked for a bed for the night, she hummed and hahed. She wasn't expecting anybody, she didn't know if she had a twin room... I said we'll take a double, or two singles, anything she had in fact. She relented and let us in on the proviso we take our boots off on the step. If it had been me I'd have wanted my sockes off too. There was enough rain water and mud inside them to keep a pig happy.She said that the room would be £50 and she didn't take cards. Fair enough. I had brought my cheque book with me as I had seen on a another web site that it would be more acceptable. She would take a cheque.
The woman,(she did not introduce herself) said because she wasn't expecting anyone that we would have to wait an half hour for hot water for a shower. We just wanted to take our wet things off.
In about 45mins I thought there would be some hot water, so I said I'd go first.
There was just enough water to get shampoo on my hair before it went cold. Luckily I had put the plug in because I needed to soak my feet to get the mud out of the blisters. So I rinsed my hair in cold water, and washed in the inch of lukewarm water in the bottom of the bath. I came back into the bedroom to give Lucy the bad news. We both got into bed because we were so cold. It was 7.50pm by this time and we debated going to the pub for something to eat but we were both so cold we couldn't bear to get dressed again.
Worked out we had walked 7 miles including the mile in Huddersfield that morning.