In the Footsteps of Legionaries
Over the week leading up to Easter, I and 7 friends walked Hadrian’s Wall. All 84 miles of it. In fact, with detours for lunch and walking to hotels at the end of the day, we actually walked 93 miles, in 5 days. In doing so we raised at least £900 for charity (The Animal Health Trust, Cancer Research and The Flying Seagull Project), but also learned a few things. I thought I’d share them with you.
To give you some context, none of us are seasoned long distance walkers. Three of us had walked the Yorkshire ThreePeaks in 2016, which is 25 miles in a single day, but this is tougher than that! Seven of us were within a year or two of forty (both below and above) but one lad was only thirteen!
We decided to walk the route in 5 days. In reality, this wasn’t enough. Even though we had taken the easier route of staying hotels/B&Bs and having our luggage taken between them, we should have allocated more days to the walk. Our shortest day was 15.8 miles and our longest day was 25 miles. If we had taken 6 or 7 days for the walk it would have been considerably easier and we would have had the chance to take in more of our surroundings, rather than just walk past all the forts. I plan to go back, perhaps next year, to actually look at the archeology and learn something about the area.
Training walks are, it seems important. We’d all done some; some of us had done quite a lot, but I don’t really think you can do too much training. I would suggest long walks but also walking on successive days. It’s quite different walking for 12 or 14 miles once a week from then walking the same distance the next day, and the day after.
A useful thing I found was on every training day, I forgot something, whether it was gaiters, how my walking poles worked, gloves etc. I kept a list, so that by the time I came to pack for the final walk I had a pretty exhaustive list of things not to forget. I don’t think I forgot anything on the actual walk.
We walked from Newcastle to Bowness on Solway. If I were to do it again, I would start in the West, so that the wind was on my back rather than in my face the whole way. I would also wear trainers rather than walking boots for the Newcastle section of the walk. It’s about 15 miles of solid tarmac, which is absolute murder on the feet and is much better in soft soled, cushioned shoes rather than walking boots.
On the subject of feet, we had been told to stop immediately anything felt hot and tape the area, which seemed to work well. I was very lucky only to get one blister during the whole walk, but my leather Scarpa boots are wonderful. Decent, padded walking socks helped and Compeed blister plasters seem far superior to any own brand equivalents.
Walking poles are a huge help on slopes, whether upwards or down. I have a bad back and my chiropractor recommended them for me, but I think everyone within the group used them for some part or other of the trail. I found mine rubbed if I didn’t wear gloves, but fingerless cycling gloves worked really well.
Toilets are a scarcity on the walk, as unfortunately are bushes to hide behind, especially on the middle section. I took a Shewee with me, which was really useful, although still not perfect. If there is an opportunity to go to the toilet, then I would take it. I would also suggest that more portaloos/composting toilets could be added along the trail. There was one portaloo next to a road, as we came near Lanacost Priory, but that was the only one we found. I know it is rural and natural, but in the height of summer the lack of facilities must be a problem. Think on’t Northumberland council/English Heritage.
We had booked a package which included hotels/B&Bs and transport of our bags between accommodation each day. From seeing business cards in pubs etc, there seem to be several transport companies who will take bags.
The standard of accommodation varied although we did find one excellent place to stay Brookside Villa B&B in Gisland. They were wonderful. The evening meal was superb, they advised us on the route for the next day, there was a well stocked honesty bar and they waited for us, and indeed came out in a car to look for us, when we were late getting to them. I would certainly stay there again.
We made the decision to eat at pubs rather than take a packed lunch, which suited us well, although it did extend the day a bit. It was great to sit down properly for an hour or so and also to get some hot food and drink. Whilst we had a fairly dry spell in April, it was still fairly cool, especially when sweaty. Consequently I don’t think anyone lost weight over the walk. I certainly gained it!
All in all, it was a pretty tough holiday, especially in the last couple of miles of each day, but we saw some lovely scenery and have a great sense of achievement from having done. The best part was that we managed to get everyone through it and finished together!
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