Day V: 12th September 2008.
Weather: Overcast and rained steadily for the last hour
Chollerford to Newburn: 16 miles (18 on Pedometer)
Total Steps: 38051
Acc Steps: 179970
I awoke this morning knowing that this would be the last day of walking along Hadrian’s Wall, as I had committed to playing in a 36 hole golf competition at my home club. I should have played the last 18 holes last Saturday, but the course became waterlogged and no play took. So the second round was delayed until the 13th September – unlucky for some and it was! Normally I wouldn’t have bothered going home for the golf but as I was only one shot off the leader, and it would have been rude not too. I phoned the course at home and they confirmed that the course was open and that the weather forecast was fair; I pondered not going back but I would have let a few people down. The day for me was going to be a long one as I knew that the underfoot conditions would be soggy, and the further along the path I went, the lower I got, and you can see from the number of steps taken what a slog it was. I left Chollerford by way of the lovely golden bridge over the Tyne, and had a quick look down towards where the Romans would have had their bridge at Chesters Fort. It must have been some engineering feat in AD122 to cross such a body of water, and this morning it flowed darkly over the weir.
Looking downstream from the bridge over the Tyne
The wall narrows
I had the brolly with me today and needed it at the end of the day as it started to rain steadily. The route takes you up the hill steeply out of the village (via a detour to see a turret) and once I was back into the fields, the first stop of the day was at Planetrees. Here the wall reduces in width from 3m wide to 2m wide (2m to the west) – they must have been running out of stone or time, or maybe both. The wall here has a couple of Roman culverts built into the base to stop the wall washing away. I crossed over the road here and made my way through muddy fields with some earthworks in, and soon came to St Oswald’s church. The smell from the freshly cut hay was so sweet and as I walked along I collected a blond wig of hay around my boots, but it smelt oh so sweet. This is the site of the 7th Century battle of Heavenfield – the only battle along the wall – and is marked by a huge wooden cross next to the road. The war was between the Anglo-Saxons and the Celts, and I think King Oswald won on penalties after extra time, 5-3. More information can be gleaned here:- http://www.northeastengland.talktalk.net/NorthTynedale.htm . At St Oswald’s Farm was a lovely tea room but being only a mile or so on my way I didn’t stop and it didn’t look open.
Muddy fields and earthworks
St Oswalds church
You can’t really get lost following this
The next three miles from St. Oswalds carries on in a straight line following the earthworks, first on the left side of the road and then over to the right side. To the north the hills of Cheviot and Simonside are closer today, and to the south the smoking chimney of the Hexham paperwork’s was working overtime. It was tupping time on the sheep farms and I passed by a field full of blue marked sheep and the old ram flat out on his back, knackered by the look of things, but there’s always the farmer in reserve.. I carried on through the fields enjoying the day, but the best of the Roman remains was behind me now with only the earthworks and fragments of the wall for company, but they are still mightily impressive. I passed by two ladies walking towards me who warned of a sign at Port Gate saying that the path ahead was under several feet of water. They had followed the instructions posted on the gate which said to take the Hadrian’s Wall bus (theAD122) from Heddon-on-the-wall to bypass the waterlogged sections. They were a bit peeved upon looking out of the windows to realise that they could have walked after all, alongside the waterlogged path in the farmer’s stubbly field. Just before reaching Port Gate and the roundabout a couple of gents joyously told me that ‘the path was closed and you won’t be able to go along it’. Needless to say I placed more faith in the ladies account, and it proved to be accurate enough.
Beware, or take the swimming trunks
Halton Castle drive and the earthworks of the fort
The earthworks are still impressive
And they carry on next to the road
There was a laminated sign with a big acorn symbol telling me about the floods, and not to walk on the road. In fairness to them the road was very busy with very fast traffic and a very narrow verge. So they were only really concerned with the safety of walkers. However as the route generally passed through agricultural land, it was simple enough to walk slightly in from the edges of the fields to have a reasonable footing. The vallum and ditches and various earthworks were still with me as I made my way. I passed by the elegant gateway to Halton Castle with the clearly evident lumpy, bumpy ground of a small Roman fort. A little further along the vallum can be seen running impressively up the hillside. Many of the paths were some 3 or 4ft lower than the road edge and hence they were waterlogged in places, or as they said on the sign actually under water – but not the several feet recorded on the sign. When the road noise died away I could still hear the dull thump of the firing ranges further north. But there was a constant stream of roadstone lorries hurtling past, I couldn’t believe the speed they were travelling at, and any cyclists would have been hard pushed not to end up in the hedgerow. There was a small diversion past a farm at Wallhouses and surprisingly there were 10 kissing gates to walk through. I reckon the hairy farmer keeps a pair of binoculars in his house and pops out to the gates when he sees a walker he takes a fancy to – there is no escape, so pucker up or be warned! A short distance after this I heard the distinct rattle of teacups and as it was raining steadily, I thought why not. So I scrambled up a bank avoiding the pub and climbed over the fence to sprint across the road to Vallum Farm, where there is a Swiss chalet farm shop and restaurant. Some small enterprises had set up alongside the farm and it was obvious that the place had a regular stream of customers meeting for coffee or lunch. I partook of a rather splendid bowl of potato and leek soup, and a pot of earl grey tea - it hit the spot perfectly and as I pondered the remainder of the day I was rather disposed to just sit and watch the world pass by. But as the rain eased off I ran out of excuses and rejoined my journey alongside the road. There were a lot of grain crops that were waiting to be harvested, but obviously there was no way that any heavy machinery could run out in the fields as wet as they were. On the bright side there were some lovely red poppies peeping out at the field edges, a lovely contrast to the golden wheat bowing down in the rain. On the wettest sections and in fields where the crops had been cleared I did a little field walking in the hope that I might find some Roman pottery. A couple of terracotta shards looked likely candidates, but I wasn’t too sure – and wouldn’t you know it I left them at the brewery when I left in the morning – doh. A mile or so further on from the tea shop was the Whittle Dene reservoir and its bird hide, and the path here had collapsed into a boggy morass.
The collapsed footpath to the right, the reservoirs ahead
A flooded section
A walk along the edge of the fields was ok underfoot
Poppies growing along the edge of the crops
I had expected my boots to be absolutely clogged up with earth, but the grassy patches kept them relatively clean. Once I had reached the top of the hill beyond the reservoirs it was all downhill to Heddon-on-the-Wall and mostly goodbye to all things Roman, hello to the industrial north (actually I could only see it in the distance). As I walked into Heddon I stopped at a Shell garage as I was starting to walk on tippy toes again – thankfully I availed myself of their facilities and they also had an ATM (but it charges you for the pleasure). The rain was coming down steady now and I was happy to be in possession of the umbrella, and it certainly kept the worst of the rain off. After a short diversion to look at the last section of wall, I followed the path around the village and was informed by a local out walking his dog that the riverside path around the Close House sports grounds and golf course was absolutely soaking.
The River Tyne appears in the distance
So a quick look at the map persuaded me that I could walk down Station Lane and meet up with the better paths of the Tyne Riverside Country Park, saving ½ mile in distance. It was a steep descent and quite tough on the old knees down the road. I spooked a horse with my brolly and had to stow it away to let them pass by – my daughter will be mad at me for forgetting – again. Farther down the lane there is a large farm with huge barns full of grain, obviously a gathering station for the local produce or a very big farm enterprise. Unfortunately for them some of the outer barns were struggling to keep the water from flooding in and ruining the crops. The track along-side the Tyne was well surfaced and was being used by lots of people out jogging and cycling. Three young ladies ran by saying how attractive I looked with my big umbrella – oh yes – nothing to do with the rain of course. Eventually I came out onto a metalled surface and passed by a row of terraces called Blayney Row, and I knew it wasn’t far away from the Big Lamp Brewery – sure enough I saw some big lamps, and there it was….not a moment too soon. The bar was busy on a Friday evening and quite lively, with the usual group of die hard smokers out by the door in the rain – how attractive was my brolly now? So all that was left was to have a quiet evening and prepare for my golf competition on Saturday afternoon. A simple enough task until the waitress brought me over my first pint of Big Lamp bitter, followed by a wonderful meal and then another pint, and another….. all at a reasonable price. A great end to my Hadrian’s Wall path (and I’m disappointed I didn’t get to finish so will be going back when I can, to do my last day to Wallsend).
The wall is a truly amazing feat of building by the Romans and our ancestors all those years ago – brilliant.
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