Day 5 – Eden Bridge to Bowness on Solway

After a very comfortable night and a cracking breakfast at Vallum Barn we set off, limping, on our final stage of the week. Just 14 more miles to go and it would be mission accomplished.

Starting from the same point on the river Eden that we ended on the day before, we continued to follow the riverside toward Beaumount. Upon getting to Beaumount we once again bumped into our friends in the landrover. The team of 4 had been taking it in turns to walk a stretch each while the others drove ahead and vice versa. We must have been making good time then since we were always ’25 minutes ahead’ of them according to the driver on duty at the time.

By around 12 o’clock we had arrived at Burgh by Sands which is the place where Edward I died. As a memorial to the king there is a statue monument of him which we passed en route next door to the Greyhound pub.

The next stretch took us along 4 miles of tarmac road from Burgh by Sands to Drumburgh. Running along side the salt marshes this stretch was in no way welcome as the hard surface underfoot took it’s toll on our weary feet. Realising that our current pace wasn’t going to get us over the finishing line in the time we had expected we rallied each other and pressed on, full steam ahead. Regrettably for Simon the challenge of going faster was like a red tunic to a bull for Legionnaire Taylor as he started running on the stumps at the end of his legs where his feet used to be! With every few metres he seemed to be making more and more ground on the other two Romans, first just a few yards but in no time a spec on the horizon! In a futile attempt to keep up we found we’d covered the 4 mile stretch in just 40 minutes! He still beat us to the car though and was sat grinning and checking his watch as we appeared around the corner.

We took a well earned drink and twix break at the car and whilst there the Landrover team caught us up and gave us a wave as they headed on. Just over 4 miles left and we’d be done. It turns out it would be the hardest 4 miles i think any of us had ever done. Just keeping going was a challenge in itself.

At the midway point of the final stretch we took another break in a pub and had a swift half. Well, it’d be rude not to, wouldn’t it! The regulars at the Highland Laddie Inn got quite a shock and some were checking their pints as if to say ‘what have I been drinking???’. After a bit of banter between us and a Scottish guy who we drew our swords at we carried on. Just two more miles to go ‘left, right, left, right’ we had to keep thinking as each step got harder than the last. Away from the open fields now and walking along a path with the sea to our right as we came to a clearing and could see the sign for the Hope and Anchor Inn just metres away. This was to be were we would spend our final night in Bowness on Solway but we couldn’t take a break yet, still 1.5 miles to go. It wasn’t easy knowing that we had to carry on going as our B&B usually signified the end of a tough day! Heads down and with gritted teeth we got going again along the road again heading for the end.

The road between Port Carlisle and Bowness on Solway was (unfortunately for Andrew) closed off at the time to traffic while works were underway. So as he headed off on the 5 mile detour to get around we (thankfully) could take the shorter but correct route to finish the Hadrian’s wall path. With the sea spray flicking up on us from the choppy seas, they did a good job of refreshing us for the final push. We paused briefly to get a shot of us all next to the Bowness on Solway street sign, Simon stepping back into the nettles and further adding to the irritation and discomfort he was already feeling after being at the wrong end of a frenzied swarm of midges on Wednesday.

Bites, nettle stings, blisters and all we headed on, passing a sign that told us the finish line was just 130 yards ahead! Uphill along the road, down a ginnel, and round a corner and we’d made it, done! The finish was marked by an archway with a plaque on one side that read “Welcome to Bowness on Solway, 84 miles to Wallsend, Good luck” and on the side that we approached said “Welcome, The end of Hadrian’s wall path”.

We posed for a few pictures, some for the blog but the majority for our fellow walkers that wanted a snap of the Roman Legionnaires that had just walked the wall. A lady their kindly passed us some sponsorship money, and after a little break, and of course making sure we’d collected our last stamp of the trail on our passport cards, we made our way up to Andrew’s car to finally take our armour off and head for the pub.

3 Centurions, 5 Days, 84 miles. Now how many beers?…

Breaking News: The guys have done it!!!

All smiles at the finish line
full update on the last day to follow....

Day 4 – Gilsland to Eden Bridge

The night in the Greenhead Youth Hostel was an experience to say the least. On arrival the night before, after 22 miles of ups and downs along the wall, and with every inch of ours bodies crying out for a nice hot shower, we were informed by the owner “sorry, but the boiler has blown so there is no hot water at the moment”. Cold shower all around then, brrrrrrrrrrrrrr.


After this then Alan and Rob were woken at 1.30am (Simon was out for the count and not even a bomb going off would have roused him) by a still unknown man wandering into our room and picking out one of the spare bunks in our room! How strange. As Rob’s mobile phone alarm went off to wake us all up the following morning the guy jumped up and legged it for the door, never to be seen again. Still not sure what was going on, must have just been a Roman fantasist. Ahhh well glad we could help.

Some of us, that hadn’t been woken up by our intruder, were feeling fresh as a daisy to start day 4 and led the way along the wall. Heading for Birdoswald fort took as up and over Willowford bridge. The fort was the site for us to collect our 4th passport stamp of the walk so we stopped, stamped and took a few pictures of the remains of the fort. Not a great deal of it left now but there is a fortified manor house on the plot that is in the process of being converted to a YHA and is due to open in July so we only just missed out on staying there. Might have found that this place, being new, wouldn’t have had beetles scurrying across the cold showers. Oh the luxury!

After a quick break at Birdoswald to take on some water, we continued to Banks. Off of the wall now, we followed a narrow road through Banks village passing Bankshead farm. At this point, we are sorry to say, the Roman’s got lost. Yep, don’t know how we managed it but the trail, usually symbolised with an acorn sign at each style, suddenly stopped leading the way and off we went in the wrong direction. Not a great thing to happen after the mileage we’d done in the last few days, not to mention the mileage still to come. Realising the mistake the proper navigators, the ones that can actually read maps (Alan and Rob) got together to get us back on track. And that they did. A little ‘detour’ through Lanercost and we were firmly back on track and the acorn symbols reappeared.

Rejoining the wall now at Walton Wood we trekked on to meet Andrew who was waiting patiently at the Centurion Inn pub, much to his disgust though it didn’t open till 5.30pm. On the approach to the car we spotted that the same group of guys that had been tracking us the whole of the previous 3 days were now parked in their Landrover awaiting the arrival of their friends. We haven’t mentioned them until this point but they actually started out with us on day 1 at Wallsend, pulling into the car park at the very start only minutes after ourselves. They have told us that they have since seen us at Housesteads museum on day 3. Then today we saw them, and stopped for a chat, at Birdoswald, then a tower close to Birdoswald and now here at the Centurion!

So onwards from the Centurion. We soon got into our stride and began to push on with a lot of speed, flying on to Newtown 2 miles on and then four more on to Crosby-on-Eden. We covered these six miles in two hours. Much to Andrew’s amazement we arrived at his car an hour earlier than he had expected. Again he was sat out a pub, which was closed. (Oh dear) The support car for our fellow walkers we kept bumping into was parked in the car park again. We explained to their driver that we were now giving one final push to complete our intended 18 mile day and take us to Eden Bridge.

On we went trying to maintain the same speed with the wind at our backs and the sun in our faces onwards to Eden Bridge on the outskirt of Carlisle centre. This stretch is only 4 and bit miles and we wern’t feeling too bad, so we pushed on. Soon astride the River Eden, we found ourselves with a new friend. Shep the half blind sheep dog, was struggling to see his owner, who had traversed further up the bank, Shep kept us company for sometime, until the owner finally came back to find out were her dog was! Onwards and following the River, the walk was pretty undescript, the only high point being wading across a path of running cow poo, gross. Onwards and soon over the M6 and heading into Rickerby village. From there, through the park and towards the bridge over the Eden. We had to follow the riverside path, all the way round to Sands leisure centre. Alan managed to find a slight shortcut, to forestall his painful completion to todays journey. Arriving at the centre, stamping our cards and enjoying a very well deserved pint. Andrew arrived not much later and we headed off for our overnight stay at Vallum Barn.

Day 3, Chollerford –Gilsland

Starting an early morning, to give us the best chance of finishing our longest day of the walk , with a full English was just the thing. We departed around 7am from Chesters Walled Garden after collecting another stamp on our passport cards. It was certainly a day of ups and downs, and more ups and downs, literally. The wall carries on for what feels like forever in huge peaks and troughs, leading the way on to Bowness on Solway. At least now we are seeing the wall, up until this morning we hadn’t set eyes on anymore than about a 20 meter stretch! We had begun to wonder if we had come to the wrong place!!

You may notice at this point that the Romans are missing a pretty vital piece of their attire from our pictures of the day. Unfortunately this was down to a wardrobe malfunction, no not the same as Janet Jackson suffers from, but after 2 days of heavy use the hinges and bolts holding it all together had been put under severe stress. So much so that we needed urgent repairs to be carried out to enable it all to be usable for the next couple of days. Fortunately for us we have our resident driver, and all around armourer, Andrew on stand by (can he fix it? YES HE CAN!!) so we left the heavy stuff with him for the day and tasked him with getting it up and running for us for tomorrow, and boy are we glad we did!

The heat was already beating down and it was only 9 o’clock! Oh my god, we are going to roast today. Good job legionnaire Townend brought, along a supply of suncream, factor 30! We were soon smothered and set off. All up hill from Chesters and it was hard going to Tower Tye, here the levels slightly evened out and we came across a Mithras temple, very nice! Following the path we came across a couple of ladies, who appeared to be on their way to a shopping trip rather than an 84 mile walk judging by the next carrier bag one of the had in hand. They did though swear that they too had a driver that had gone ahead with the rest of their baggage. 10 mins later, we found Margaret and Charlie, who wanted to eat Robs fingers (Charlie the dog, not Margaret!). Margaret very kindly donated £20 to our cause, which is fantastic.

Legionnaire Taylor by this time had taken to Arabian techniques of taking the heat away, not having some linen to hand, a crafty t-shirt did just the job! The heat was very punishable, it was as promised, the hottest day of the week so far, though a nice breeze did keep us cool. The scenary is pretty amazing from this point as the Romans built the wall on the highest point for several miles. We Continued along at a fast pace, until we came to the first major port of call, no not the toilets but Housesteads Fort. Very impressive place, and had a very handy shop! From there it was a short 3 mile walk until we met Andrew. The hills at this point of Hadrians Wall, are as everyone promise’s, none stop up and down. 22 miles of this doesn’t seem like fun anymore. After a short food break, we continue along the path towards Sycamore Gap, only a measly 3 miles away. The walk there, was interesting as far as looking at the wall goes... To be honest, once you’ve seen a bit, it all looks the same! Sycamore Gap incidentally was the setting for a scene in the Kevin Costner, Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves film, you may have seen it yourself, it’s the part when Robin returns home from the crusades. Oddly enough coming to shore on the white cliffs of Dover but then running up along Sycamore Gap along Hadrian’s wall. Now that’s a walk!! (Must have got lost along the way somewhere.)

Now a long stretch took us to Caw Fields quarry. The route to the quarry was filled with yet more ups and downs which after 15 miles of the same started to weigh very heavy on the legs and knees. This coupled with the on going heat, showing no signs of letting up, made it all the more uncomfortable.

On the home straight though now with every instinct telling us to quit we headed on toward Walltown Crags, home to the noisiest sheep in the world! Bahhhhh this and Bahhhhhh that, they were going mental! This seemingly having nothing to do with anything either. No sheep dog around to spook them, no farmer to symbolise the possibility of a feed on the offing, and, given they were generally looking the other way, it’s difficult to put their mood down to our presence either. They were just crazy, enough said.

With the end at Gilsland in sight we pushed on eager to find the finish line were a nice cold pint lie in wait. Stopping briefly to take a couple of pics of the ruins of Thirlwall Castle we made the approach over yet another damn hill and rested our feet in the near by Samson Inn pub. Mmmmmmm beer....

Day III update

Adam here again...

As of yet I have not received an update for Day 3. This could be due to lack of an internet connection, after all they based in the wilderness now.

However, I do know they are all doing well despite aching limbs and feet. Day 3 and 4 may come today so keep checking back.

On a side note the online target has now been surpassed, but don't be put off, your donations are still very much needed for this great cause.

Day II, Heddon on the wall -Chollerford

After a wonderful nights rest at Houghton North Farm, We thanked Paula for a wonderful stay and with the generous donations from the ladies and gents there, the raw roman recruits set foot on the path to Bowness again. Rather an uneventful start, which was only broken up, when we entered a field with a bull in, having red tunics, wasn’t the best thing to have! A quick double step and we soon escaped any potential danger! We met soon a couple of guys, who were walking the same route, but in opposite directions. A quick photo and we were off. Only to be soon to be stopped for another photo stop, but this time the chaps, were going to Warrington!

6 Miles in and we arrived at our first checkpoint, the Robin Hood Inn, which handily was straight on our route. Bite of lunch and some emergency repairs to Robs armour and we were off, another 10 miles to go. The weather girl in the morning had promised us rain, but to this point none had materialised, not a patch on Keeley! So in the baking sun, we continue down our path. The path was very open and no shade was to be had. We were soon pouring with sweat, and badly needed some shade. Few minutes later and Nikki and Pip stopped us, for a quick photo and very kindly donated £20!! They assured us, that there was some woods up ahead which would provide lots of shelter from the unabaiting sunshine.

So with the encouragement that we may stop getting burnt soon, we continued! Across the road, back across the road, round a field. Now, I’m not a real roman, but I’m pretty certain that the Romans would have gone in a straight line! No wonder were all getting utterly knackered! The woods were soon in site, well after an hour! Another photo stop at the roadside cafe and some tissues to help control the Niagara falls from our foreheads and we trudge on.

Day 2 and we are really beginning to feel the pain, funnily, not from the rather heavy armour, but our feet! Onwards and upwards, we finally come into the woods, after taking on some emergency water from a very kindly couple from Maine, who donated £10, which is very good considering the exchange rate. Soon into the welcome woods, we managed to cool off significantly, we rejuvenated us to the extent that Alan was in the lead! The woods, though could not last forever, we were soon back to crossing the road, backwards and forwards on this never ending path. Now, we’ve been walking for a day and a half and we are still to see anything of this world famous wall... Wondering if it really exists or is just some tourist trap made up by the crafty Northumbrians, we to our amazement, cross the road again and find.. The Wall! Bring on the wall! Certain photo opportunity, the Couple from the states, caught us up, and took our picture! Our feet by this point were in agony, well Alan’s were.

How much longer! But knowing that there is only about 4 miles left and the thought of getting out of the sun spurred us on. All downhill from here (probably in all senses!) Another photo stop from a nice couple who’d slammed on their breaks, upon seeing some Romans, rubbing their disbelieving eyes. Not much further to go and we were soon in Chollerford and stopping at the next checkpoint which was Chester’s fort. Gladly picked up by Andrew, we were very shortly at our overnight destination and a very very very welcome shower! By the way, beep beep count today was 19.

Day I, Wallsend to Heddon on the Wall.

Alan, already in the tunic, (seems to be always wearing it), Rob and Simon quickly donned theirs in the carp ark. "Where's the start?" Andrew, our support driver, rescuer, and advance scouting party, quickly went to investigate, leaving the legionnaires to don the armour. All donned up, and clued up on where we start, Rob, obtained the wall passports, which were getting stamped at various points throughout the walk.


Off we set. Following the Hadrians wall path or the Route 72 bike trail. The route largely follows the course of the river Tyne. The smell of seaweed flowing through the air, well that’s what Rob said it was! Making excellent time and not feeling any major effects of the rather heavy armour, we soon find ourselves in the outskirts of Newcastle, St James Park on the horizon.

Continuing on along the river side we attracted lots of attention from the passing boats, sailing along the river. We waved our swords to all that passed and the good folk of Newcastle replied in kind. It's at this point we must point out just how welcoming and nice all the people we met were as we walked today. Every single person that passed gave a cheery 'Hello' or a nod of the head. Many took the time to enquire as to what we were up to and why we were putting ourselves through all this! Several also asked for permission to take a photo and some even wanted to pose with us - Say cheese!

On ward along the river side we could see an approaching battle ship. Curious to see its allegiance so hurried to take a look. Turns out it was a French battle ship so we stood guard and ensured the ship sailed passed, making sure it would be put off by the 3 Roman's patrolling the wall and would not try a sly invasion. Not sure there was really much chance but we made sure none the less!

With the threat taken care of we proceeded and eventually made it in to the Centre of Newcastle, passing the Millennium Bridge. Rather impressive and an obvious photo opportunity. After this we carried on along the river side again and under the other Tyne bridges. Alerted to the fact there were plenty of seagulls perched on the rafters of the bridge we were about to walk under, and lots of 'splats' on the floor beneath we got moving hoping to avoid getting a nasty surprise. Alan wasn't so lucky. Poor Al, got one smack on the front of the chest plate of his armour, eeeeeewwwwww.

A quick wipe up later we headed on to pass straight through Newcastle and sticking to the cycle route. Along the road side we weren't able to avoid plenty of car horns beeping (27 in total!) as the traffic followed passed and plenty of people waving as they went by.

Back off the main road and along 3 more miles of cycle path route (still no sign of the wall by the point!). Yet more people asked for photo's, one young lady giving Rob a real cheeky grin as she passed on her bike, naughty boy! He protested against our jibes many times with "I didn't do anything, just smiled and said Hi". We soon brought him back in check, there was walking to do!

This wasn't the end of the picture taking, as another couple of ladies asked for a photo with us. Must admit that by this time the helmet was weighing very heavy on the old bonce so we'd taken to just carrying it in hand for a while to give our necks a rest. Needless to say when you then get 'Oh wow look at you guys! Can i have a picture with you please? Err helmet on please, come on make some effort', that's all you need to slowly bring your hand to the sword handle and think 'If only...'. Just kidding, always happy to take a pic, just so long as we get a sponsor from people. Leaflets handed over, we pressed on.

The cycle trail seemed to go on forever. Now the aches were starting to get more intense and so we started hoping the end would be just around the corner. "Let's have a look at the map. It must be the end soon" was said plenty of times as we willed the right turn 'across a golf course' that the guide book we had promised. Finally it arrived, and with people teeing off and skewing shots at the sight of the Legionnaires approaching over the green, we made the necessary cut through and diverted through the woods following the yellow arrow signs from the trail.

Now on the outskirts of Heddon-on-the-wall we were really starting to feel tired after a day in armour and a 5am start. The rain began, just a shower, but it didn't make it any more appealing. We struggled on uphill, dragging ourselves along, knowing that the comforts of Houghton North Farm B&B lay only a few more metres ahead. We saw a sign, "Houghton North Farm 500m on the left". See.

Up hill again though it wasn't easy but we pushed it to get out of the rain. Thankfully up and around the corner our rendezvous point was in sight, The Three Tuns pub, and Andrew was parked in the car park waiting.

Once at the B&B and with the armour off, everything started to feel much better. Very achey shoulders, but the feet and legs still had life in them yet. Our hostess was fantastic, a couple of cups of tea and a piece of lemon drizzle cake later and the aches started to fade.

We jumped in the shower and set back out in search of a good meal, finding one in the local pub. Carvery, yum yum!

Back here then to write up our events of the day, and of course get a good nights kip *Yawns* It'll be another long day tomorrow...