Yesterday, Sandy woke to painful back issues. It was decided that It would be best if she didn’t walk and that she would take the bus and meet us at the Old Repeater Station. This would give her a chance to put up a few things at the store and to do an ATM run. I gave Kieran and Aleksander the option of joining her, but they both wanted to walk the wall.
So we all had a very hearty breakfast at the Greenhead Hotel (eggs, toast, cereal, fried mushrooms and tomatoes, hash browns, bacon, coffee, tea, and juice) and then headed back to our rooms to get our packs on.
We said our farewells to Sandy, who was going to return the key and wait in the hotel for the bus, and we headed off. As it turns out it was a very good thing that Sandy didn’t attempt this part of the walk with a sore back…
We passed by the remains of Thirlwall Castle and then followed the wall and ruined Roman mile stations on a long stretch of dramatic landscape filled with some impressive ups and downs. Along the way we met up with Katie and Bec from Australia. We had met them the previous day, so we we all walked along the trail in shifting subgroups for the rest of the day.
Around 13:00, we finally made it to the Housesteads and lunch. We sat down in a cold stone building to scarf down some cold sandwiches and some drinks. We didn’t stay too long as the chill was starting to work into our legs and we thought it best to start moving again.
Aleksander and Kieran did very well on the walk. They seemed to hit the zone and Kieran shouldered Sandy’s pack with aplomb and Aleksander was pretty far ahead of us for most of the day. Over the steep rocky inclines they were like mountain goats and they almost ran up the paths.
The rain started near the end of the day’s walk and at about 4ish we arrived at the Old Repeater Station cold, tired, and hungry. As there was no extra food available for campers like Katie and Bec, they warmed up and then moved on another eight miles to Chollarford to camp in the free campground there and to have some supper in the pub. Unfortunately just after they left it started to rain quite hard… We hope they were not too miserable.
As for ourselves, we washed up, got settled in and met with the owner of the Repeater Station. His name is Les and he is about one part crazy and three parts comedian. Actually, I’m not really sure about those proportions. We also met with two cyclists from Scotland and we all sat around with some ale and chatted through the evening and supper. There was a lot of laughter and it was a very pleasant evening. Les, a master of droll English humour and commentary had me, and others, in stitches several times. Finally, we headed off for bed and got the first decent night’s sleep in several days.
It was misting still in the morning though we had woken to a brighter horizon. After number of photos, we set off. The last walk ended at Chesters Fort. The foundations of a Roman fort have been excavated. There’s a bath house, remains of a bridge, a commandant’s house with floors warmed by water under the stones, and barracks and many gate houses.
We caught a bus to Hexham and then a train to Newcastle. Currently we are at the Royal Station Hotel. There are several Elvises (Elvi?) having brews for a stag on the patio downstairs. Definitely a party night in town. They were pulling out brews on the train too.