Distance: 19.8km (377.5km), time spent: 7:07.
Weather: Most of the time nice.
Again I will stand face to face with Hadrian, or more correctly, the remains of his wall. From Greenhead the Pennine Way shares the path with the much busier Hadrian's Wall Path. I walked it six years ago and if you are interested you can read about that walk here. So to me, this part of the Pennine Way will be a walk down the memory lane. One of the best memories I have from that walk is the third day when we walked to the Twice Brewed Inn. I had hoped to stay there at the end of this day too, but as the Hadrian's Wall Path has become a lot more popular lately, there was not a room available there today. Nor in any of the other accommodations at the same place, everything was fully booked. Plans needed to be adjusted.
The remains of the Thirlwall Castle.
Sid and Gil would go to a campsite at Stonehaugh today, as for Rob, he planned on going all the way to Bellingham. I adjusted my plans so that I would return here after finishing my walk, taking another night at the youth hostel, basing my luck on the Hadrian's Wall Bus. Meaning two things, I could walk with only my small backpack (slackpacking) and that I could make time to visit Vindolanda. When I did the Hadrian's Wall Path, I did not get to see that old Roman fort.
Back on Hadrian's Wall Path.
Built in the 12th century on the bank of the River Tipalt, the Thirlwall Castle welcomes me back to the Hadrian's Wall Path. Originally home to the Thirlwall family, the castle ended up being owned by the Earl of Carlisle in 1748, after which it began its journey into being a ruin. Part of the castle was fortified using stones from the wall, one of the reasons why there are no remains of it nearby.
Sheep on the wall.
After walking up from Thirlwall Castle on a round and grassy hill, I get the first view of many of the distinct crags both trails passes over. A significant feature of them is the vertical drop on one side, most usually on the northfacing side. When doing the Hadrian's Wall Path, you really do not get to see the wall until the third day, thankfully the Pennine Way does a sort of best of compilation of the wall. You will see almost all of the best sections when doing the Pennine Way. Above Walltown Quarry, I get to the first remains of the wall. The setting is familiar, I recognize the fallen tree lying on the ground, it was still fallen back in 2013, but had more branches on it then.
Walltown Crags.
Six years is some time, there are sections that I remember, and sections that I do not. Which is far from being a bad thing. And there is also the fact that I am now walking in the opposite direction that I did at that time, making the feeling a little bit different from then too.
Walking on the Hadrian's Wall Path in opposite direction, heading towards Cawfield Crags (the wall you see here is not built by Hadrian).
The first part of the walk is the most sparse, both in wall and people. I knew that I would not see the wall that often on this part, but I had expected to meet more people given what I have heard of how the numbers of walkers has risen in the recent years. Not that I complain, it feels fine not walking in too much of a throng. Over the Walltown Crags the wall is prominent at first, with some milecastles visible, then it disappears, leaving only the distinct shape of the crag behind. Milecastles were called milecastles because they were built within a Roman mile from each other, about 1481m.
Hadrian's Wall on Cawfield Crags with Milecastle 42.
When I walked the Hadrian's Wall Path, I found the scenery to the north of it fascinating. It appeared a lot more sparse and less inhabited than the area to the south and was in fact one of the reasons why I find myself walking the Pennine Way now (that will however be a subject in the next post, not this). They fell more similar now, although the northern side still has the upper hand when it comes to sparseness.
A look back from Cawfield Crags, there is distinct gap between these crags and Walltown Crags.
Being a popular walk, the surface and path is good to go on, no squelchy bogs here. The crags gets more open, with only a few scattered remains of the wall visible. Far back in the horizon to the south, I can see the faint outline of Cross Fell, now some days ago. In the distance ahead, the more prominent crags are seen jutting undulating up from the landscape. I walk through a minor woods, passes by a farm and then walks over the remains of an old Roman fort that is now invisible to the human eye (almost), Aesica. All scenery that I have seen before, some forgotten, some remembered.
Turret 41a.
It is interesting that the enormous sheet that I am walking on, the Whin Sill, is the same that I walked on earlier on the walk. The dolerite bedrock, known locally as whinstone, forms quite wonderful structures where it reaches the surface. Such as here on the crags, but also on what I have seen before, at Cauldron Snout, High Cup Nick and High Force. The scarp face of the Whin Sill was however removed by the quarries here, at Cawfields and Walltown, and hence the Hadrian's Wall too. From the Cawfields Quarry, I begin walking on a particularly wonderful stretch of the Hadrian's Wall.
Looking north, no picts to see or hear today.
Here the remains of the wall is wonderfully prominent. The width of the wall varies from 2.5m to 3.5m wide and up to 6m high (this is measures regarding the whole of the wall, not only here). Walking up and down the wobbling path and crags, the views are fascinating, with the wall following the same outline, although sometimes normal drystone walls appears as substitute for the one Hadrian built. Memories keep coming back, at one point when I look back from where I came from, I remember a tree hanging over the wall and path. Now only the tree stump is visible on the other side of the wall, a poignant remember of time.
When I walked the Hadrian's Wall Path back in 2013 there was a tree here, hanging over the path, now you can only see the stump that is left of it.
I arrive at the highest point of today and of the Hadrian's Wall Path on Winshields Crags, Green Slack at 345m. The views are great and in cooperation with the light, wonderful. I can see the Twice Brewed Inn below, fells to the south and Scotland to the North. Crossing Steel Rigg, the path suddenly becomes significantly busier, quite teeming with people, at least comparing to before. I know the reason why, although I find it quite funny. It is a great section of the wall though, whatever the way you look at it.
Wall and crags.
Because here the trail passes by a prominent milecastle before it descends down to the most pictured place on the whole of Hadrian's Wall, the famous Sycamore Gap. I do hope that it is for some other reasons than being quite immortalized by the Robin Hood movie starring Kevin Costner, as 28 years has passed since that movie hit the screens.
View from Green Slack towards Crag Lough and Highshield Crags.
Sitting atop the sheer drop of the Highshield Crags cliffs, I have my lunch, looking down at Crag Lough. My time at the Hadrian's Wall Path comes to end after Crag Lough and below the Hotbank Crags, although I go for a little while further before turning back. It was great being back, rekindling the memories from before.
Sycamore Gap.
From Crag Lough I follow a public byway down to the road. To get to Vindolanda I had spotted another public footpath crossing over some fields near High Shield farm. The clouds has now turned on the sky, there are a few scattered raindrops in the air and things looks gloomier. Low rolling hills in the background, but between them and me lies Vindolanda, watching over my approach.
Crag Lough below Highshield Crags.
Vindolanda was lost to me back then, but now I could return to look closely at it. The fort actually predates the building of Hadrian's Wall, being built around the year 85 AD. It was connected to Carlisle and Corbridge by the Stanegate, an ancient and important Roman road. At first the fort consisted of wood and turf, which later become replaced by stone. With the Hadrian's Wall finished in 122 AD, most of the men stationed here was either moved to the Antonine Wall further north or to the nearby fort of Vercovicium (Housesteads).
Vindolanda in view.
Walking around, I find the remains of the fort quite impressive, but as I recall it not as impressive as Housesteads. Even with the intact foundations, I still find it a little bit difficult imagining how it must have looked like. Although there are people here, it is not overly crowded, except for the huge group of archaeologists working at the site. There must still be things to be found here.
The bath house in Vindolanda.
A new wooden structure, probably built to resemble the old wooden forts that stood here, is amusing, but I guess mostly for the kids. I go visit the attached museum with its park, a little piece of ancient Rome in England.
Old pillars at Vindolanda.
Time to leave and from Vindolanda it is all road walk back up to Twice Brewed with its inn. In the distance, I can see the crags wits its wall, and in a gap the distinct shape of a sycamore tree. The sun returned to its proper position while I was at Vindolanda, although with clouds mixed into the view up there.
The remains of the Sevaran Circular Huts.
Regarding accommodation when I walked the Hadrian's Wall Path, the Twice Brewed Inn was one of the best places then, feeling somewhat that it is the Tan Hill Inn of that trail. Now, the pub has changed, it has expanded and grown more modern. Not keeping the same kind of cozy feeling it had before, I do not see it as that big a loss of not getting a room here. Still a nice place, though. I end up taking probably one beer too many while watching Hadrian's Wall Path hikers arriving.
The Robin Hood tree in the distance.
Next to the Twice Brewed Inn is also the Whin Sill National Landscape Discovery Centre. Before catching the bus back to Greenhead, I have time to pay it a short visit. It is interesting and well worth more time than I could give it. The bus arrives and brings me back to Greenhead, while I can sit and look back up at the landscape that I have just walked in.
Inside Twice Brewed Inn.
In Greenhead, I now have the whole youth hostel for myself. Henry and Ana has now arrived after having walked from Alston and we spend the evening together. It is good to see them again, but I think this will be the last time. They had chosen to walk a different route than the Pennine Way here today, visiting the Lambley Viaduct on the way. Henry's toe felt better. I have a crusty ale pie for dinner.
In Greenhead, last evening with Ana and Henry.
Sort of a rest day today, but not a zero day. It was great being back on the wall, revisiting my memories from six years back. I had not the same feeling today looking north from the wall as then, but then again, the weather was more optimistic now. Tomorrow there will be some more walk along the wall, I will get to the point that set me on the course of the Pennine Way and I head North, into the land of the picts.
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