To the wall that Hadrian built!

Day 17! It was bloody blustery all night! The van was quite literally shaking! From that, we were both awake quite early and decided to leave the site at around 8am, we had a 45 minute journey to our start point at Hadrian’s Wall – it was hike day, and although he didn’t look up for it, Bentley was ready!

Setting off from Housesteads

We love a good walk, and when I say a good walk, I mean like a 10km+ walk no matter what the weather was doing! We have travelled all over the Lake District, Peak District and Wales to go for a walk and that’s exactly what we had planned for today!

We parked up at the Visitor Centre at Housesteads, which was a bit pricey to park but we didn’t care as there was plenty of room for Motorhomes, and started making our trip up the hill in front of us! Michael had planned our route on his fancy app again and we were off – plenty of sweets for us and plenty of treats for the pup!

Along the wall and onto the Pennine Way

We headed up towards the Roman Fort and then followed the wall left towards the Sycamore Gap, we spent the first few kilometres following the wall up and down the rolling hills, before we broke off to follow the Pennine Way!

Again it was rolling hills and different climates every corner we turned – although the wind barely dropped for the entire 4 and a half hours that we were out!

I knew what we would be facing with Hadrian’s Wall, I knew it wouldn’t be flat just from the drive up and the road sign ‘Severe Dip’ which I had never seen before – and it was a very severe dip, but we negotiated more than just hills when we hit the Pennine Way!

We crossed fields with sheep (they were fine, they ran away!) spent 15 minutes trying to convince mother cows to let us in their field with their 2 calves! They did not like Bentley at all – it was very nerve wracking!

We walked through bog and streams, we got lost in a field that seemed to go on for miles! All in all a typical walk for us – wouldn’t be an adventure otherwise and we’d have nothing to talk about!

Four seasons and one barbed-wire fence

Again, we also seemed to experience all weather systems that ‘The North’ seems to offer, we had sun, rain and lots of wind! The sky went from the blue we all want to see, to grey and over cast to a shade of blue just shy of pitch black!

At one point we didn’t even realise it was raining, it was only because we turned round to look at the view and got slapped in the face with the rain! But all was well, we had plenty of sweets to keep us going!

After losing the path in one particular field, which we then spent what felt like hours trying to get out of the field – which we only managed to do by climbing over a barbed wire fence!

We then bumped into the farmer who actually stopped us to thank us for having our dog on a lead! Normally when a farmer stops you, you assume the worst but he genuinely said thank you and went on to explain that he had an argument with a Barrister not too long ago, who didn’t have his dog on a lead through a field of sheep and cows, terrifying them in the process, and his reasoning was that this was his countryside and he should be able to enjoy it! Michael and I couldn’t believe it!

We then carried on back towards Hadrian Wall, for our final stint!

The highest point

We were about 9/10km in at this point and had some insane hills to still conquer! Never deterred, and i was openly having an absolute ball, we carried on climbing! We came across the marker that indicated the highest point of the wall, and had to use the opportunity for a photo shoot!

We were on the home straight and the views were insane! We were cream crackered and our feet were starting to hurt but it was so refreshing! We love a big walk, gets us back to what we love doing the most, no matter what the weather is doing!

It was brilliant, I’d recommend it to anyone for the views – but the hills are pretty gnarly! You will need good boots, a good coat and some walking poles!

We popped into the English Heritage shop located at the Roman Fort, mainly because after 4 and a half hours I was desperate for a wee, but also because we needed to collect a magnet for our collection! We then made the final descent back down to Marv, stopping this time at the National Trust cafe for a cup of tea for me and a coffee for Michael – well deserved I would say too!

Although we were in need of a beer after that walk! 4 and a half hours = 15.23km! So we headed off to our Britstop for the night: The Twice Brewed Inn!

A very well-earned beer

It was a 4 minute drive from where we had parked, good planning by Michael, and when we had parked at the pub and checked in (of sorts) we went for a shower because we stank!

We then went and treated ourselves to that beer we had earned! The really cool thing about the place we were staying was that it was a brewery, so all the ales were brewed their! Michael tried a pale ale and I went for a bitter and they weren’t bad!

We then ordered our dinner, I went for Prawn Cocktail to start whilst Michael had potato skins and then for mains we shared so I ordered the baby back rack of ribs and Michael ordered the chicken burger and we went halfsies! The food was incredible and our bellies were full exactly what we needed after a long walk!

The manager and all the staff were super friendly and chatty – there were a lot of walkers who had stopped in after their walk and it was just a really good vibe!

We also saw a painting on the wall of a highland cow for sale, our favourite of all we had seen on our trip so we treated ourselves to a present and bought it!

We then headed back to the van, happy with the day and evening we had had! We watched the final episode of Motherland, played on the switch a bit before heading to bed! Stick around as we continue our journey east and then south as the honeymoon draws to a sad end! ✌🏼