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 ...

“The more one learns of this intricate interplay of soil, altitude, weather, and the living tissues of plant and insect…the more the mystery deepens.” Nan Shepherd, The Living Mountain   Dry Gear and Cautious Optimism We greeted the morning at Twice Brewed with a small luxury – dry gear – all of which we had laid out and hung up last night in our room. After days of relentless rain, the heat in our room had done an amazing job of bringing us back to basics – not being wet or smelling mouldy. Our boots were no longer saturated, and our socks were cozy to put on - both of which raised our spirits and offered a measure of ease. Outside, a sign seemed to capture the realities of our recent hiking experience, noting: “In memory of a sunny day on Hadrian’s Wall.” It felt painfully appropriate. We had walked through what seemed like more than a month of rain across Wainwright’s Coast to Coast, the Pennine Way, the West Highland Way , the Great Glen Way, and now Hadrian’s Wall Path. T...