Day 7 - Gilsland to Walton

We walked 10 miles today.  Our trail guide said 8, but we added a couple of miles to visit Lanercost Priory.

Howard Hill Farm in Gilsland

We left Howard Hill Farm about 9am, with the sun shining in a clear blue sky.  What a lovely morning for a walk!  Our breakfast was substantial and delicious, as we have come to expect.  Helen assured us that it was a true Cumbrian breakfast--eggs, sausage & bacon were all from local sources.

Roman bridge abutment over Irthing river

The fields of sheep and cows were again part of our route.  We started by seeing a Roman bridge abutment built to cross the Irthing river outside of Gilsland.  The river's course has shifted, so the stones are on dry land.  We crossed a modern bridge and climbed to see another milecastle.  We stopped to chat with a local Gilsland resident and his very cute Borders terrier named Buster.  On we walked to Birdoswald, another Roman fort.  This site is partially excavated, but also became part of a home in the subsequent centuries.  There was an interpretative museum that was OK, but nothing that we haven't seen before.  Dave and Carol picked up sandwiches for lunch and Robert got an ice cream at the tea room.

Walking across the countryside, we were blessed with sunshine, a few clouds, but no rain.  It continued to be a very enjoyable day to walk.  We walked into Banks, took a brief detour to Lanercost but decided against this route and returned to our path.  We were rewarded with a lovely chunk of the wall.  We stopped to have lunch in the shadow of the wall.  We had cobbled together our lunches from purchased sandwiches, chips (crisps), cookies and apples provided by earlier hostesses, granola bars, etc.  It was a delightful picnic.
 
On we trekked to a more clearly marked turn to Lanercost Priory.  We hiked 1/2 mile south of our path to visit this priory built in 1166.  It was a Augustinian priory (kind of like a monastery) until being dissolved by Henry VIII in the 1530's.  It also became a family home and the church was preserved.  The church is still operating today and has textiles and stained glass designed by William Morris in the 1880's.  Other parts of the site are in ruins but fun to poke around in.  The woman running the gift shop was very knowledgeable and happy to share info with us.

Waiting on the green in Walton

We returned to our path by a route suggested by our new gift shop friend and had a splendid walk for about an hour into Walton.  Both our tour company and our hostess last night had told us about a tea shop near the Walton's green that is run by local ladies, but unfortunately it was not open on Sunday afternoon.  We didn't have to walk to our lodging tonight, but called the car service provided by our tour company to collect us and deliver us to Oakwood Park Hotel.

This is our most luxurious lodging so far.  The large Victorian house has extensive grounds and is lavishly furnished.  Our bedrooms and baths are quite large and have all the usual supplies (shampoo, conditioner, bath gel) plus a few others.  A warm soak in the large tub was quite the ticket when we arrived off the trail.  Carol and Dave wandered around to visit the chickens, turkey and geese.

We were picked up again by Brampton Cars to go to dinner at the Blacksmith Arms in Talkin.  Brendan, a talkative Irishman, was our driver.  Dinner was wonderful, once again.  Robert had a seafood pie, Dave liver and onions, Carol cannoli and I had lasagne.  We split three desserts between the four of us -- mint ice cream sundae, sticky ginger pudding with custard and apple/blackberry crumble with ice cream.  We all felt fat and happy.  No walk home tonight.  Brendan returned to pick us up and entertain us for the ride back to Oakwood Park Hotel.

Two more days of walking.  The weather doesn't look as good for tomorrow, but we'll see.

Typical sign post that we look for as we follow the trail