Sharon and Barry Go!

Currently sitting in the Off the Wall Coffee Shop, Brampton, UK, enjoying coffee and a slice of home-made coconut cake with honey drizzle. The name of the cafe says it all. I (Sharon) am off the wall today because of a very inflamed big toe.

Hadrian’s Wall was not built in a straight line. It follows rocky outcroppings that are formed above the rolling hills; the center portion that we hiked yesterday has steep drops and high ridges on the north side.

Today was the best and the hardest hiking day so far. Best because we walked along intact portions on the wall, its turrets, forts, and nearby temples for much of the day. Our elevation was high enough to really take in the landscape around us, and it is stunning! Our experience today was every bit as powerful and beautiful as we imagined it could be.

We had a welcome shorter walk yesterday (6.9 miles) as we had walked some of it the day before and chose to spend that time visiting the Corbridge Roman Town rather than backtracking.

Our 14.8 mile walk from Heddon-on-the-Wall to Corbridge yesterday took us through lovely countryside of rolling hills and working farms. The weather was cool, mostly sunny, and always windy.

Day 2 took us 12.4 miles from Newcastle to Heddon-on-the-Wall. So far this has been an urban hike — some of it quite beautiful, but almost exclusively on paved surfaces. These ranged from well-used local paths along the River Tyne and through community parks and gardens to the less appealing walks along busy highways and spanning bridges across these highways.

Today was the perfect day to start our Hadrian’s Wall hike. We wanted to make this a true coast-to-coast journey so we started from the coastal town of Tynemouth. This is a bit farther east than Hadrian’s Wall mile zero and where the River Tyne empties into the North Sea.

Hi, folks. I’m getting the website ready for an upcoming trip to England. Sharon and I fly to London on Oct. 7. We’ll immediately take a train to Newcastle and spend two nights there. On Oct. 10, we set off for eight days’ hiking along Hadrian’s Wall Path. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site along a wall built in 122 AD to mark the northwestern border of the Roman Empire.

At the end, we will rent a car and drive to the Lake District for three days of touring and hiking. As usual, we’ll be posting updates on our travels. We look forward to it and hope you’ll follow along.

— Barry