Hadrian's Wall 2011
Wednesday, June 1st 2011
Day 9: Boustead Hill to Bowness-on-Solway (7 miles)
The morning dawned grey but we had a great breakfast to sustain us for the final leg of our trek. Julie offers a selection, including veggie options, but for me, the treat was to have bacon and sausages from a couple of pigs that they had kept on the farm. The spices in the sausages were even her own recipe that she created with the butcher. Yum!
I had planned this day to be short so that we would have plenty of time to make our way home after finishing the walk. This part of the walk was dead flat, so I figured even if we made a late start, we would still have plenty of time to make the 14:10 93 bus that would deliver us back to Carlisle.
So we set off to join the road again and continued across the flood plane of the Solway marshes. I think stopping in Boustead Hill was a good idea, as doing this whole stretch at one time would be a long plod. As it was, I enjoyed it in the morning, watching the cows and sheep roam on the pasture and seeing the sands revealed by the low tide. There is a real sense of approaching the edge of the world. I wonder if the Romans stationed here felt the same?
Pasture and sand flats
Leaving that long, straight, flat stretch of tarmac behind us, we entered Drumburgh, another teeny village. It includes Drumburgh Castle, another fortified house with a stairway now built to access the front door situated on the first floor.
We took advantage of the Laal Bite self service stop, getting some drinks and tissues and paying in the honesty box. There was a nice visitors’ book that recorded those stopping off here as they walked the Wall and some pictures of the flooding caused by a combination of storms and high tides on the marshes!
We left the road and walked on a track and along the edge
of more fields. Just before emerging once again onto a road,
we encountered our first walkers of the day heading east.
Actually, these two gentlemen were jogging east; one threw
back over his shoulder “is this the way to Newcastle?”
We walked past the Highland Laddie Inn and the holiday park
and once again joined the River Eden. This bit was on a
nicely sheltered path with areas where you could go down to
the shore if you wanted, however there were plenty of signs
warning against swimming due to strong currents.
At Port Carlisle we passed the abandoned old breakwater out in the firth that had a short useful existence when there was a canal here. The wind was blowing and the sky and water shared the same colour grey giving the place a bleaker appearance than it deserved I’m sure. We didn’t linger, but pressed on, returning to walking on the road, and we could now see Bowness ahead of us.
Grey water and grey sky
Entering the village we followed the signs to the gazebo that marks the end of the trail looking out over the Solway. We celebrated with a group photo kindly taken by a man who was waiting for his wife to finish the path. It’s their dog in the photo. When she arrived a few minutes after us, we recognised her as the women we had seen outside of Carlisle.
We made it to the end!
We all set off for the King’s Arms to have a drink and relax. The pub is kind of an official part of the trail - there were numerous piles of gear hiding in corners, and they provide the final passport stamp and dole out completion certificates and pins. It was only just past noon, so we had plenty of time. The pub was offering homemade sandwiches during the afternoon, which were tasty and good value. As the time for the bus drew near, we went and collected our bags from the drop off point and found them ready and waiting for us.
Standing at the bus stop we encountered three guys who were setting out. They were leaving their car in Bowness, taking the bus to Carlisle, then the train to Newcastle in order to start the walk the next day and planned to complete it in just three days! I guess it just goes to show that the walk suits all abilities. The bus arrived and whisked us all back to civilisation in no time. At Carlisle station we all said our goodbyes as Jacquie and I boarded our train back to London and Alison and Susan headed to Glasgow.