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| CAR SHOW IN NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE |
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| THE SILVER SLUG |
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| TYNE BRIDGE FROM SAGE GATESHEAD |
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| COLMANS FISH & CHIPS |
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| SEGEDUNUM FORT FROM OBSERVATION TOWER |
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| SCOTSWOOD BRIDGE FROM SOUTH |
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| SECTION OF HADRIAN'S WALL AT HEDDON-ON-THE-WALL |
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| OUR WIGWAM AT NORTHSIDE FARM |
We departed HF Monk Coniston on Saturday 4th August and immediately drove to Carlisle, where I had booked on-line through 'JustPark' to leave the car behind some church offices in the town centre for a week.
The idea was to use the train to get to the east side of the country, then walk back along the line of the ancient Roman wall over a period of 7 days. Overnight accommodation along the way had been pre-booked.
After loading up our rucksacks with what we would need for the week, and hiding the rest under a sheet in the back of the car, we walked to the nearby railway station. Two hours later we were in Newcastle upon Tyne.
We were lucky to able to sit down on the train. It had only two carriages and these became crowded as more passengers were picked up during the train's easterly progress, Many had no choice but to stand. There were also a surprising number of rather noisy youths drinking alcohol on board. The explanation for the crowds and the raucousness turned out to be that Newcastle was hosting its Annual Motor Show over the weekend, and also Newcastle United FC were hosting a home game on the Saturday.
The Motor Show is an outdoor event held in the main streets so, after spending a while inspecting long lines of spotlessly shiny cars, we headed down to the north bank of the Tyne opposite the Sage Gateshead concert and cultural centre (a.k.a. The Silver Slug) to enjoy the sunshine. We crossed to the south side of the river using the Millenium Bridge (a.k.a. The Blinking Eye) and walked through the Sage Gateshead centre on our way to the Metro Station.
The Metro is a local urban transport train, and it took us to South Shields, from where we would start our walk back to the west side of the country. We quickly found our digs for the night - Mill Dam Guest House - and dumped our rucksacks so that we could walk to the beach, effectively making our Hadrian's Wall walk a coast-to-coast trek. Along the way we stopped for supper at Colman's restaurant, reputedly the best place for fish and chips around.
Next morning, with our rucksacks on our backs, we left Mill Dam Guest House to catch the nearby ferry which would take us to the north side of the river. A few other walkers and cyclists were already waiting by the ferry pier. When an employee of the ferry company came to open the gates, we thought that we would soon be on our way. No such luck. He informed the hopeful passengers that the ferry's starter motor had burst into flames when they tried to crank the engine, and they had no idea when the ferry would be running again.
There are limited options for getting across the river from South Shields. There is a pedestrian and bicycle tunnel about three and a half miles walk to the west of the ferry, but this has been closed for repairs since 2013. However, a regular free bus has been laid on to take pedestrians and cyclists between its southern and northern entrances via the road tunnel. Thus, we quickly embarked on a road walk to the southern entrance pick-up point.
Having at last got ourselves on the correct (i.e. north) side of the river, we had a further two mile walk to the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall at Segedunum, the Roman fort and museum in Wallsend. We spent a couple of hours looking around the site and the artefacts on display before deciding that it was time to get moving on our westward journey.
Our trek took us along the northern bank of the river, past wharves and the remains of the old shipyards, and it was not long before we were walking along the same section of promenade in Newcastle city centre that had received our footfall the previous day. We passed under the numerous road and rail bridges as we started to depart the urban sprawl.
We would be spend the night at the compactly named (not!) Holiday Inn Express Newcastle Metro Centre in Blaydon which , inconveniently, was on the south side of the river but, conveniently, could be easily accessed via the Scotswood Bridge. Since it was a Sunday, I had managed to book a room, with breakfast, for a mere £33. Any other time and it would have been nearer £100.
We ate our evening meal at a nearby Hungry Horse restaurant called the Angel, then returned to the Holiday Inn for a most enjoyable G&T on the rocks nightcap.
Next morning we felt energised after a superb night in the most luxurious accommodation we would experience during our entire trek. After taking full advantage of the excellent, and seemingly unlimited, breakfast, we re-crossed the Scotswood Bridge and continued our westward trek. Newcastle was now well behind us as we ascended for the first time to reach Heddon-on-the-Wall. We viewed the section of Hadrian's Wall that still remains there before eating a picnic lunch consistiñg of food we couldn't manage at breakfast.
The afternoon involved walking alongside the B6318 for over 3 miles because the road had been built on top of the wall. We would be 'glamping' tonight in one of the wooden wigwams at Northside Farm, which was located nearly a mile south of the Hadrian's Wall path. Facilities were rather more basic than the Holiday Inn, but the wigwam did had a microwave oven, enabling us to cook two bargain priced (£1) curry and rice ready meals that we had bought at the filling station in Heddon.
The weather had been good to us so far and this looked set to continue.