This was a wet one

We walked 10.83 miles today.

Today was rainy.  We had an outstanding breakfast at the Marfen High House, with home-made bread (served warm from the oven), house-made preserves and delicious breakfast items.  We met Alison and John from Seattle, who are also walking the Wall, but in the opposite direction of us.  Ginny, our hostess, packed us each lunches and we headed out into the rain about 9am.

The countryside was lush and beautiful.  We walked through many fields that were shared with grazing sheep, with lots of lambs staying near their mothers.  Parts were pretty muddy too.  Robert and Carol donned their rain pants, but Dave and I made do with gaiters.  (Thank you, Steve Saunders, for the high-gaiters tip.  They worked quite well today.)  There were lovely views throughout the day, although some were a bit obscured by rain and clouds.  We walked in and beside the Roman "ditch," as well as the Vallum (see below).

We stopped to eat our packed lunches in the rain at a picnic table outside the Errington Arms at the Portgate roundabout.  The Port Gate was built into Hadrian's Wall to accommodate a major north-south road running from Scotland to York.  Today it is still an intersection of two major roads in England.

Our trek continued west through pastures and fields with the Vallum on our left.  When the Romans built the wall, they dug a deep ditch on the northern side as an additional defense against the Scottish raiders.  On the southern side, "behind" the wall, there is another wider ditch.  This is the Vallum.  Historians are uncertain about the purpose of the Vallum, but it did add a lot of work to building their defenses.  Sheep and lambs were all around.  The rain continues on and off all afternoon.  At one point, we took off our rain jackets, but ended up putting them on again.

Three years ago, we visited Hadrian's Wall with Indy & Kira, on a driving trip from Edinburgh to York.  Today, we came upon the section of wall that we visited.  Just past St. Oswald's church, near Heavensfield, we came upon our first significant section of the wall since Heddon-on-the-Wall.  It looked familiar!  We played here, near Planetrees, three years ago.  Kira tried to pet sheep in the surrounding fields and failed.  It was very fun to revisit this place again!

It is funny.  Often when we talk to a local British resident, they are amazed that Americans know about Hadrian's Wall.  "How did you learn about it?," they often ask.  It is a bit embarrassing to realize that they think we know so little of their history or any history.  Generally, they are probably right though.

Nice shot of Carol at Planetrees section of the wall,

Stuart, our host at last night's B&B, told us of a short-cut to take into Chollerford.  We walked along the highway for a brief time and crossed the Tyne River once again to enter Chollerford.  It was raining again as we made our way to Chesters Fort.  This is a nicely excavated Roman fort that was located at this site, adjacent to Hadrian's Wall.  We spent about an hour see the excavated ruins, then called our hostess for the night to pick us up, as instructed.

Margaret Locke picked up our wet and muddy bunch and transported us to Hallbarns, our B&B for the night.  The first thing we did was take off our muddy shoes and wet coats.  Our hostess put them in the "drying room."  We put on warm, dry socks and met in the parlor to have tea and cakes in front of the fire.  It felt so good!

While warming up, we met another "walker" who is following the same route we are traveling.  Jay, from Virginia, chatted with us over tea, then joined us for dessert after dinner.

Dinner was lovely, prepared by Margaret.  We had fish, with lots of vegetables -- cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes and carrots.  Dessert was cherry pie with ice cream.  Simple, filling and delicious.

We are all relaxing now.  It looks like the weather will improve throughout the day tomorrow.  At the very least, it will be nice to start with dry shoes!