Our Walk Along Hadrian's Wall Path

“Bright young sun, it looks like the morning's come And it's all come so easy like the heavens are wishing me well And those dawning eyes brought forth my own sunrise Well it's been a long time since the beat of my heart was a friend Oh well, It's been a long time since I felt I was breathing again”   Roo Panes, Home from Home   A Mistake En Route   Having now completed Wainwright’s Coast to Coast, the Pennine Way, West Highland Way, Great Glen Way and finally Hadrian’s Wall Path, we are utterly exhausted... and admittedly a great deal thinner than when we began.  Ultimately, it was too long a stretch completed in too short a time to be fully appreciated while on the trail.  Each trail – especially the final three- deserved more space and time than we were able or willing to give them.  Each landscape, community, and regional history asked for attention, but by the end, we were moving more by momentum and routine than out of curiosity or the ability to refl...

“To visit a country without exploring it’s history is like going to a 3D movie and not wearing glasses.” Rick Steves Why We Failed Hiking Hadrian’s Wall When we reached Hadrian’s Wall Path, we thought we knew what we were doing. By then, we had already crossed and trekked Britain repeatedly on foot - coast to coast, ridge to ridge, glen to glen. We were in shape, experienced, and accustomed to the routines of long days on the trail. We knew how to carry our packs, deal with the weather, deal with uncertain conditions, and keep moving when things became challenging And yet, despite completing the full distance from Wallsend to Bowness-on-Solway, we left Hadrian’s Wall with the distinct feeling that we had failed to succeed. Not because we lacked strength. Not because the walking or the terrain overwhelmed us. Not because we gave up - though perhaps we should have. Instead, this feeling arose because we did not give the Wall or the regions we walked through what they required most ...

"Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay, Might stop a hole to keep the wind away. O, that that earth which kept the world in awe Should patch a wall t’ expel the winter’s flaw!”   William Shakespeare, Hamlet Act 5, Scene 1   Depth of History   It was during our pilgrimages throughout the years on routes like the Camino Frances , Camino Madrid and Via de la Plata that we came to recognize how much history is on these pathways and beneath one’s feet.   At first, history seemed to belong mostly to the obvious locations – areas where battles had taken place, famous individuals had been born or leaders had passed away or in places such as cathedrals, museums and grand ruins.  Over time, however, we began to recognize that the deeper story was often not in one monument or defined by a specific event or single individual but instead existed in the countless layers that people, movement and centuries gave way to.   Pilgrims, soldiers, traders, farmers, merch...