out with an expert

I was recently invited to walk on Hadrian's Wall with an archaeologist and, at the weekend, we met up at Cawfields.

We decided to walk east from Cawfields car park, along the Hadrian's Wall Path towards Steel Rigg, a great walk for amazing views in both directions.

Just out of Cawfields car park you come onto the Hadrian's Wall Path at Hole Gap, and there before you is Milecastle 42, it's not that long ago I found 3 'Roman soldiers' there enjoying a picnic lunch. They were part of a re-enactment group, and while some people might think it's a bit silly to get dressed up in costume I thought they were very brave.

Up onto Cawfield Crags, from here you can see the Vallum and Military Way, oft talked about but seldom seen in such a clear way.

As is normal it was windy up on the Wall and my companion told me it was considered unmanly for Romans to wear trousers, can't have been much fun for them with that wind whistling around their nether regions. No wonder one of the Vindolanda tablets record a young man begging his mother to send him more warm undergarments.

Up and down the dip that's called Thorney Doors and up again towards Caw Gap, looking back west from this high point you can see how the Wall winds its way to Walltown. It also gives an idea of how easy it would have been for soldiers manning the Forts and Milecastles along the way to signal each other.

From Caw Gap looking east you see the Wall climbing up over Bogle Hole and onto the Winshields Crag, at 1132 feet it's the highest point on the whin sill of Hadrian's Wall.

Views east from Winshields, are wonderful yet so often I see walkers, head down just striding out determined to cover as many miles as possible without actually taking in any of the landscape around them.

The Wall is covered with mosses and lichen, wild flowers grow in the shelter of the Wall and butterflies are drawn to the flowers. I prefer the tortoise approach, slow but steady, stopping now and again to enjoy nature.

It seems to me that the Hadrian's Wall Path is busier than ever this year so if you're just thinking about a trip here please book up now as I'm guessing many of the B&B's will be full if you leave it too long.

We came down to Steel Rigg and then walked back to Cawfields using the road and footpaths to the north of the Wall, giving us views of the crags and perhaps an appreciation of the skills of the builders of Hadrian's Wall. It also made it a circular walk which I prefer.

I really appreciated being out with an expert, lots of my questions answered, many of my romantic bubbles burst :) but it made me wonder if it was something an enterprising person could do, organise walks with various experts.

Durham University are doing various studies on the way people use Hadrian's Wall http://www.dur.ac.uk/roman.centre/hadrianswall/

Today's picture shows the view you get as you come down from Winshields to Steel Rigg.

Catch you later.

27 04 09

Most people seem to walk the Wall from east to west.

In most cases I think the best views are to be seen looking west to east but there are exceptions and, in my humble opinion, the view over Crag Lough from Hotbank Crag, is one of them.

Yesterday was a mixed day weather wise but there was a good build up of my type of clouds as evening approached. It's been a while since I climbed up Hotbank so that was my first destination for the evening. NNPA has been hard at work over the winter and they've much improved the path and gate just after you cross the entrance track to Hotbank Farm. Some very large, and I imagine unwieldy boulders now make a good sturdy set of steps, great if you're rushing to 'catch the light' like I usually am.

As with most of this section of Hadrian's Wall the climb up to Hotbank Crag gives you a good anaerobic workout, or that's what I tell myself.

Last night I got my timings all wrong and was way too early for the sunset. On a nice night I might be tempted to hang around and wait, but there was a chill wind up on the top. I scouted out a few new spots for a sunrise shot looking east along the Hadrian's Wall Path as it follows the contours over Hotbank Crag, laughed at the antics of some of the Bradley Farm lambs, then decided to head somewhere a bit warmer.

As I came back down to Crag Lough the sun came out and just caught the slopes of Winshields Crag, making a nice picture, with no time to set up the tripod I just did a point and shoot.

(NY772680 - the grid references I post should take you to a map and the centre spot of the map is where I stood to take the photo)

I sit here writing away each day never knowing if anyone actually read what I write, if you'd like to comment please feel free.

Catch you later.

Cawfields Quarry

Did one of those things yesterday where a slight twist and your back goes, end up walking like an s-bend for a while, and I missed a nice misty sunrise this morning because it hurt too much.

Pain killers all day did the trick and by this evening I felt desperate for a walk in the fresh air.

Not sure how far I'd be able to walk or how I'd cope on uneven ground I headed out to Cawfields.

I'd checked the webcam there before I set out and it looked great, big fluffy clouds right over the peak of the crag.

By the time I got there they'd moved way over but at this time of the year I like the way the light hits the crag face so I took a few photographs. The waters are really deep so you get a nice blue colour in the waters. Masses of tadpoles again this year.

Then I went up the track towards Great Chesters Farm just to enjoy that view of the Hadrian's Wall as it climbs up over the crags and onto Winshields. As you come to the access track to the front of Great Chesters you pass the Roman Fort with a couple of altar stones. Lots of coins have been left there as offerings and I must admit if I'd taken some money with me I'd probably have left an offering too, just in case.

Down the track and across the fields, pausing to enjoy the lambs running and jumping in the evening sun - they seem to have so much fun!

It's suprising how many nice circular walks there are on the various parts of Hadrian's Wall, so many people seem to treat Walking the Wall like a time trial, just wanting to get from one end to the other, missing so much of what we have to offer.

We're having a day out in the Lake District tomorrow - that's just an hour's drive for us, so it's nice to have a change of scene now and again.

Catch you later.

Easter Monday

Well the weather didn't let us down - another nice day on Hadrian's Wall.

I took a walk from Gilsland to Greenhead, up over Temple Mount, down past Barron House Farm, Thirlwall Castle (there's a 'farmhouse tea' at the farm next to the Castle) and on to Greenhead.

The Old Forge Cafe is now fully open so it was the perfect excuse to stop for coffee and carrot cake. I know I mentioned diet yesterday but that carrot cake leapt out at me screaming 'eat me, eat me', so I did.

We walked back along the Hadrian's Wall Path, there are a number of stiles along the way and whoever set them up must have 6ft long legs because the bottom step on all of them is too high especially if like me you have knees that no longer bend very well!

Come this evening and it looked to be shaping up for a nice sunset so once again it was on with the walking boots and away we go.

Destination this evening was Steel Rigg, I wanted to go up onto Peel Crags so that if there was any good colour in the sky I would have the option to shoot looking east or west. They're repairing the dry stone walls on top of the Crags and I have to say they're making a first class job of it, hope they (The stones not the drystone wallers :)) can withstand those Galloway cows rubbing against them. One morning last year I was out for a sunrise when the cows were on top of the crag and it was a constant clattering of stones being loosened.

The footpaths alongside the Wall are really worn already this year, goodness knows how they'll look in a few months time. With walkers all year round the paths don't have a chance to recover and I know most of them were reseeded this last autumn.

Got to the bit of turf Wall (NY759677) and set up the camera, little bit of colour in the sky but there's not yet any real warmth in the sunset so I took a few shots and then packed up. Still the hard climb up and down Peel Crags will have helped burn off some of those calories I hope.

Catch you later.