Herd of Turtles

 

Monday, May 30th 2011
Day 7: Gilsland to Crosby on Eden (16 miles)

Breakfast at Brookside Villa was extra special. Options go far beyond the usual continental or cooked full English. I had an omelette with my choice of fillings, and Jacquie had porridge with whisky and cream! I also paid a bit extra and got a freshly made smoothie, it was delicious.

Jess’s ankle was still swollen and she was in pain, so she decided not to continue with the holiday. Today was a bank holiday, so her partner could pick her up at the train station, saving her lugging her bag across London on her damaged ankle. She quickly made the phone calls cancelling the extra bed at the last two stops and letting Walker’s Bags know there would only be two bags to collect from now on.
After bidding farewell to our hosts, we stepped out into another grey morning. We helped Jess wheel her luggage back into Gilsland to the AD122 bus stop. I waited with the luggage while the other four went to the post office/shop to make use of the first ATM available in days. They returned empty-handed, as it was a Bank Holiday, the shop was closed and the ATM inaccessible. We double-checked Jess had enough cash for the bus fare to get her to Carlisle and said our goodbyes.

We rejoined the path and the Wall on the other side of the road from where we finished the day before. There is a huge section of Wall remains here running through a field that included some black sheep.

Black sheep, black sheep...

We followed the Wall down some steps to another bridge abutment. The ruins of the bridge are now a bit marooned in the middle of a field as the course of the River Irthing has changed over the past 2000 years. There are information boards and the remains are worth a look over.

Wall ending in bridge abutment, the river is now beyond the trees

We crossed the Irthing on a nicely designed modern bridge, built of weathered steel. We were then treated to a steep climb up a slippery pebbly path to regain the line of the Wall. From here, there is an unbroken line of Wall all the way to Birdoswald Roman Fort, but somehow we seem to have ended up away from the Wall walking along a farm track... we must have missed a sign somewhere along the way.

We stopped outside the fort to stamp our passports, and our intention was to keep going as we had a lot of miles to cover today. I’d been to Birdoswald before, and it has the least visible remains on show. So when doing the scheduling, this was the fort I chose for us to miss out on. It is a good site however, with better illustration of how the site evolved over time than is shown at any of the other sites. Today they had The Ermine Street Guard on hand doing re-enactments! Susan and Alison were chatting with a couple of fellows on guard duty at the entrance and we found out that they make all of their own equipment out of materials as close to the traditional ones as possible. We were suitable impressed.

The Ermine Street Guard training new recruits at Birdoswald Fort

Jacquie and I were watching the demonstration in the courtyard and a few girls with huge backpacks came up to us and we got chatting. They were camping and aimed to finish the path in 5 days W-E. They told us that the Centurion Inn in Walton where we were planning on stopping for lunch had closed down, and we told them that the shop in Gilsland where they planned to buy supplies was closed due to the Bank Holiday.

Despite really wanting to stay, we knew we should get moving. After crossing about three fields, Susan realised she’d left her walking pole back at Birdoswald! So she and Alison walked quickly back to get it, while Jacquie and I walked slowly onwards in the light drizzle.

For this bit of the walk we were following the line of the original turf Wall. When the Wall was first built, to the west of the River Irthing it was made of turf. A later Emperor, Severus Snape, had it replaced with a stone Wall. There’s not much of the turf Wall to see, just some more bumps in the ground.

Arriving at a turret on the other side of the road, Jacquie and I stopped and had a few nibbles waiting for Susan and Alison to catch up as we could see them walking towards us down the road. We then all stopped briefly to check out Pike’s Hill Signal tower, an earlier Roman tower that was incorporated into the Wall. We continued down the hill, alternating between walking in fields next to the road and walking on the road. The weather had started to improve and the sun was even making the odd appearance, allowing us to enjoy the more distant views on offer in this section of the walk. We could see the mountains of the Pennines to the left and ahead of us, along with the remains of Lanercost Priory in the valley below, which was now to be our lunch stop. We left the path at Haytongate, having first checked out the snack hut as a possible alternative, but the shelves were pretty bare, so we took the short diversion to the idyllic ruins of Lanercost Priory. We didn’t go in to see the priory, which is built of Wall stone, but I’ve been before and it’s another excellent English Heritage site.

Lanercost Priory

Next door to the Priory is the Lanercost Tea Rooms, which has a restaurant and farm shop. The prices at the Restaurant were a bit steep, so most of us opted for a lunch of cake. It was all very good and we left feeling full and refreshed.

We returned to the path via a different route, and once back on track soon arrived at a road. The signage seemed to direct us along the road, but after plodding along, I felt sure we had gone the wrong way. It took me a bit to figure out what had happened, but it turned out we had taken the road route instead of the riverside route, which we saw the sign for next to Dovecote bridge. On the other side of Dovecote bridge was the last piece of Wall going west. It has been re-buried to protect it, so it looks like nothing more than a grassy mound. It was strange to think we had over another 20 miles to go in which the Wall would be invisible.

The last, rather uninspiring bit of Wall on our trip

We continued up the road to Walton and watched a farmer round up his sheep, and passed the deserted Centurion Inn. The views to the south were a treat, offering glimpses of dark and distant mountains.

Look at those lovely mountains!

Just before entering Newton we crossed paths with a group of women walking W-E and we wished them good luck. They didn’t have far to go as they were finishing in Walton for the day. The day was wearing on and we still had a number of miles to go, but we needed to rest and nibble, so we took advantage of some benches overlooking the village green in Newton and watched a father and son play football. Jess texted to let us know she had arrived safely back in London, and we texted back that we still had lots of walking to do!

Picking up our weary feet, we were on our way again. Before reaching Oldwall, we passed this field using plastic to start whatever was growing, and in the centre was this fantastically twisted tree.

Fantastic tree in a field

We came upon a group of guys who were trying to figure where they were on the map. We agreed with their assessment and told them we had just passed the turn off to their camping ground for the evening as we came through Oldwall.

Not long after we came to another ‘snack hut’, or in this case, box. I seem to remember reading somewhere that Cumbria pays half the set up costs for the locals offering refreshments and toilets to walkers. It’s obviously a business opportunity for the locals, keeps walkers from toileting on their land, and offers supplies for walkers where otherwise there would be none.

Refreshment stop

We finally entered Crosby on Eden, and the smell wafting through the air from the Stag Inn was delicious. Unfortunately, we still had a mile or so to go. I was on automatic by this point, if I stopped, I’m not sure I’d get going again. So we walked out of town to join the River Eden, which would be our constant companion for the next couple of days.

We arrived around 6:45pm, absolutely shattered, at the Wallfoot Hotel. Hazel, who greeted us, calmly informed us there were no rooms for us as we had cancelled them. I think every one of our hearts stopped. Then she laughed and told us she was just kidding! I’m not sure that joke is ever going to be funny to walkers, but we tried to take it in the spirit it was meant. She showed us up to our rooms and we booked in for dinner.

The Wallfoot is an old hotel. Some work has been done, and much still needs doing. I think it is a bit of pot luck in regards to the quality of the rooms. We had booked two twin rooms and a single, and cancelled the single that morning. What we in fact got was a twin room and a family room. Jacquie and I had the twin room, which faced the road and was filled with odds and ends of furniture, but the bathroom was nice and had obviously been recently redone. Alison and Susan had the family room, which had an elaborate double bed and a small anteroom with two small twin beds. The room was lovely, recently redecorated, and had a bath and a half.

When I booked at the Wallfoot, I asked specifically if we could have a family room and a twin, as I was booking for five, or two twins and a single. They offered me the two twins and a single, without offering the family room that was obviously available. Thus having us pay more to sleep the same number of people. I understand that they are a small business and need to survive and all that, but it really makes one feel as if the hotel owners are just out for what they can get and doesn’t make you feel like you want to return.

Dinner was in their restaurant, which was nice. The menu offered a good selection, and when they didn’t have the wine we wanted, they offered us a more expensive one at the same price. All the meals were obviously home made and decent value for money.

It was then off to bed and even the sound of the cars whizzing by on the road outside couldn’t keep me awake for long.

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