Hadrian's Wall 2011
Tuesday, May 24th 2011
Day 1 - Wallsend to Heddon-on-the-Wall (15 miles)
We had agreed to meet in the breakfast room at 7:30am so we could have a leisurely breakfast before catching the Metro to Wallsend. Breakfast was nice, everything was cooked to order and there was a continental selection for those who didn’t want the fry up.
The weather forecast was promising sun with heavy showers in the afternoon. It really made it difficult to choose what to wear. Jess, Jacquie and I opted to leave the waterproofs in our rucksacks while Susan, ever the optimist, wore her waterproof trousers from the start.
We paid our bill and left our bags at reception for Walker’s Bags who were doing our baggage transfer. I had used them when we were cycling the Wall and was impressed with their service so opted to use them again.
We made it to the Metro in good time, and bought our tickets from the machine. It’s best to have change available for the ticket machines during the morning rush. We arrived at Wallsend just after 9am.
There is no nice official sign, plaque, statue or other marker at the start of the walk, you just kind of merge onto the path opposite Segedunum fort. We took the starting point to be the first (or last, depending on direction of travel) remains of the Wall, which emerge from the bank on the right side of the path. We fiddled with our cameras to try and get the self-timers working so we could have a group photo at the start of the path. I couldn’t find the self timer on my camera, and there was no one else around to take a photo of all of us.
Start of Hadrian’s Wall Path
We set off walking along a tarmac path pockmarked with burns. It looks like the local kids have too little to occupy their time. The path leads you through industrial areas initially, and then areas in regeneration followed by tidy new housing estates next to the river Tyne.
Walking in the industrial backyards of Newcastle
I was glad we were doing this part of the walk bright and early on a Tuesday morning, I’m not sure it’s a place I’d like to be exploring at the end of the day. Also, you pass by a bakery, which smells fantastic in the morning! Very few people were around; we passed only dog walkers and the odd cyclist, all heading in the opposite direction. It was a quiet and peaceful start to the day.
When we dropped down from the park to the riverside walk at St. Anthony’s we realised why everyone was going in the other direction. For the first part of the walk, we had been quite sheltered. Now, exposed on the riverside, the wind was blowing powerfully in our faces. The hats and gloves came out to keep us warm.
Walking next to the Tyne, into the wind
Fighting the wind we made our way to St. Peter’s marina, where the sky started to grow grey and the rain starting falling. It was only a brief shower, and we were able to enjoy the approach into the centre of Newcastle with the famous bridges coming into view.
Newcastle’s Bridges
We reached the Millennium Bridge at around 11am and decided it was time for a break. The sun was out in full force, so we opted to cross the bridge and use the facilities at the Baltic and have a picnic snack. We had a quick nose around the shop, but I didn’t feel like carrying anything I might purchase.
The sky started clouding over again, signalling it was time to be on our way. We crossed back over and got no further than the Tyne Bridge before a huge downpour hit us. Jacquie and I ran for the cover of the bridge to struggle into our waterproofs while Jess just stopped right where she was to put on her waterproof trousers. The drenching lasted long enough for us to get to the next bridge, and by the time we had come to the end of the bridges, the sun was out again and the wind dried us off in no time at all. As we walked along the riverside promenade that reaches into the outskirts of Newcastle, we saw our first groups of walkers heading in the opposite direction and nodded our hellos. On a day wietter weather there are artworks and information boards to linger over if you are interested.
The sunny spell lasted until we were waiting to cross the A695, when another torrential downpour managed to soak us through on a rather unprotected stretch of walking along a main road. Once back on a sheltered path it wasn’t long before the rain let up again. At this point we decided it would be a good idea to have our lunch while the sun was shining. We grabbed the only bench on the stretch of path near Scotswood between the bridge abutments. We ate our packed lunches, and aired our feet. Jess changed socks as hers were soaked as she had opted for trainers today since there was so much walking on tarmac. Watch out for the bin here, it doesn’t have a bottom! We ended up chasing our rubbish as after it fell through the bottom, the wind blew it away. We spent our break watching a street sweeper clean this section of path - he went up and down, up and down. The driver gave much more attention to this isolated, relatively clean section of walking path than I have ever seen any dirty pavement in London get.
We stayed dry until partway through Denton Dene park when we again had a run-in with a quick, heavy shower. We debated stopping in Lemington for a tea break, as there was a cafe advertising to walkers and they had a small seating area just next to the path, but we opted to hold out until the pub at Newburn. Walking along this section, we could see the Lemington glass cone in the distance. We were in luck as the sunshine held on for us as we headed into Newburn and returned to the riverside. We stopped and had refreshments at The Boathouse, which has a great garden to one side that overlooks the river Tyne. Off came my boots and after a quick inspection I could see blisters were forming, so the first Compeed went on to the heels of both feet. It was to be expected, as I didn’t have time to get the boots well broken in before the walk.
We started out again just as the sun was disappearing behind the grey clouds. Don’t miss the great carving of the Tyne river god on the wall of the Tyne rowing club just past the pub. And just a bit further is the monument to the Battle of Newburn Ford in 1640, the results of which indirectly led to the English Civil War.
Tyne River God
The Tyne Riverside Country Park is a very pretty bit to walk. Due to the weather and it being the middle of the week, we had it all to ourselves. The next section on the Wylam Waggonway was much more crowded, and we were grateful to the considerate cyclists who rang their bells to let us know they were coming. At this point, I was fading. The blisters on my ankles were hurting and the walk along the waggonway became a bit of a plod. We still had to climb the hill that would take us out of the river valley and up onto the high ground where we would start to follow the line of the Wall.
Wheat in a field near Wylam
Walking on the Wylam Waggonway
Heddon-on-the-Wall up on the hill
Rather than follow the path all the way into Heddon-on-the-Wall, we opted to take the short cut marked in the Trailblazer guidebook that would bring us out on the road near to Houghton North Farm, where we were staying. We got pretty lost on the overgrown bridleway, but somehow managed to emerge where we were supposed to. On checking in, we met Paula, the owner, who told us we were the only guests for the night and that she needed us to make a bit of a mess as her cleaners were coming the next day! She kindly gave us two rooms instead of the one four-bed dorm room we had booked and offered us a lift (if we didn’t mind riding in the farm truck) into Heddon to The Swan for dinner.
The accommodation at North Farm is in a sensitively converted farm building, very clean, and there is a kitchen with tea and coffee available at all times. The four-bed bunk rooms were a good size with hand basins. The mattresses were a bit hard, but that was the only complaint. The showers were great, and we all had enough time to get cleaned up and enjoy a cup of tea in the comfortable lounge before heading out for dinner.
The Swan proved to be a bit more than the average pub as it has a restaurant and carvery! Susan, Jess and Jacquie all opted for the carvery, and I had the ribs. Portions were big. I opted for the apple pie for dessert as well and had to admit defeat, as I couldn’t finish it. They also do a quiz night on Tuesdays and we offered Paula some help on a few questions before heading out to check out the piece of Wall in Heddon and then a short walk back to our beds for the night.