http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/hadrianswall/
So first things first; 4 days is really to short. The walk is 84 miles (135km) from the Irish Sea on the west coast to the North Sea on the East coast, which means more than 20 miles a day and in the middle section its over some pretty (literally!) undulating terrain. I think 5 days would have been better and spaced it out a bit more making it less of a chore but ideally if you have the time and want to have a good look around 7 days would be perfect.
The hardest day was undoubtably the first day, surprisingly so considering it was intentionally the shortest distance intended to give us a day to get aclimatised to the idea. It began at 10am looking over the Solway Firth to Scotland with spirits high and smiling faces and the first 10 miles into Carlisle was enjoyable but as the day progressed and the realization of just what a mile on foot meant, we began to realize just what we had let ourselves in for. By the time we reached the 'Sands Center' for our first stamp along the way my feet were really sore and I had to switch to my trainers and carry my hiking boots the rest of the way. As we set off again and Mikes GPS update informed me we still had 5 miles to go I was beginning to think we should have set off earlier. At this point the conversation started to dry up and we were both starting to feel the accumulated effects on our feet from the days walking.
It got to 7pm in the evening when we reached our (believed) destination, Crosby-on-Eden but when we couldn't find the hotel we checked the address and realised we had passed it about a mile back, so after sharing a look of disdain we started the slow walk back fully depressed. As Mike took the lead I honestly was thinking I just wouldn't be able make it and then there it was.. a pristine, empty local bus just waiting at the side of the road up ahead. Screw it! It was meant to be, someone had taken pity on us, the stars had aligned and this bus was ours. As I moaned in pain quietly to myself and slowly stumbled forward closing the distance between me and it, I fully expected the driver to catch a glimpse of me in his mirror and believing I was an approaching Zombie; pull away leaving me broken hearted but instead the doors swung open bathing my pitiful shape stood on the curb in the dim glow of the bus lighting. "Are you heading back towards Park Broom?" I said, getting straight to the point, "yes, 1 pound 25". I quickly turned and shouted to Mike before he got to far, we jumped on and enjoyed the 2 minute ride back down the road, dropping us off directly in front of the hotel. Best 2.50 I've ever spent!
The folks were waiting for us at the hotel; as dad was going to join us on the walk the next day(they also saw the bus pull up and us get off). So we had a late dinner together then went straight to sleep. I was out the moment my head hit the pillow.
The next day I was feeling much better and ready to continue but my shoulders were aching and I did take the opportunity to lighten the load in my rucksack before mum left with the car. Even though starting this day I was pretty sore, I think mentally I was in a much better place as I knew what to expect. We set off just after 9am and it was 9:30 before we had got back to where we had ended up the previous day. The route was a bit different today, taking us through lots of fields and over many stiles. We stopped off beside a weir on a small river and Mike boiled up a cuppa. Dad joined us for 15 miles (the same as what we had done the previous day) that day before we had to call in the cavalry to pick him up, not bad for a Grandad whos previous walking experience was limited to a mosey down the banks of the canal. We managed to reach 'Birdoswald' by late afternoon where mom picked dad up then they continued onto the B&B Mike and I would be staying to tell them we would be late and drop off some supplies (Great support work team!) If we had stopped and thought about it, we should have really given up there and then as it was 4pm and we still had about 10 miles to go but as it was we set off oblivious to what lay ahead. Later that evening mom told us that dad was so sore she had to drive home and that before going to sleep he joked, "If I wet the bed, it's not because i'm incontinent, I just can't get out of bed." LOL.
Now if I was going to recommend to anyone interested in seeing Hadrian's wall I would suggest starting off at Birdoswald and walking to Corbridge over a couple of days as it was definately the most interesting, with some of the best intact sections of the wall and some amazing scenary to boot. This is where you first encounter the Whin Sill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whin_Sill a collection of rocky cliffs which form the highest point on the trail, standing 1130ft at Whinshields Crags. Its not difficult to imagine why the Romans took advantage of this natural rock formation as it provides a wonderful view north as well as an unscalable barrier. It was getting late as we were traversing these and the sun was beginning to set. We came across Gandalf(or some old bloke with a beard) wearing a blue rain jacket heading the opposite direction who was walking the Pennine way (this is where the two national trails cross) and he said he thought he would have the whole peak to himself at this late hour.
We knew that we were closing in on our destination and we eventually reached the road just as it got dark. Unfortunately, we had to walk half a mile down the road in the dark before we found the B&B. We arrived triumphantly at 9:30pm cold, aching and with empty water canisters like real adventurers only to be greeted by the owner with "can you call your mum please shes worried. Oh and she also left a pack of food for you." *shame* (we really needed the food though mom, thanks.) Anyway, after a few drinks and a packet of crisps it was straight to bed with the knowledge we had reached the half way point.
The next morning at breakfast we got chatting to an old guy from Tennessee, who mentioned that Mike looked like Willie Nelson, "A young Willie Nelson, mind", Mike quiped "I should hope a young version but after this walk I may resemble current day Willie Nelson". After breakfast the owner was kind enough to give us a ride back up to join the trail, we had decided to make an ealy start as we didn't want another late evening so we set off at a fast pace. On this day the trail took us past an area called 'Limestone Corner' which represents the most Northern point of the Roman Empire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limestone_Corner
The early start worked out and we arrived at our destination (a really nice B&B on a working farm directly on the trail) just after 5pm. After a quick shower the owner was kind enough to drop us off in near-by Corbridge where Mike took me to one of his fave pubs, 'The Angel'
http://www.theangelofcorbridge.com/ which proved to be a really great establishment in what appeared to be a really quaint northern town straight out of a film. After sampling a few of the local beers and being outfaced by the oversized pub food we were picked up and whisked back to the farm hoping to get a good nights sleep ready for the final leg tomorrow. As it happened neither of us slept particuarly well, perhaps due to the anticipation of the next day but at midnight Mike switched the light on and I sprung up ready to go, "Is it 7 o'clock?"
The final day posed a conundrum. It would be the longest distance approaching 25 miles and if we wanted to get our certificate of completion, we needed to get to Segedenum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segedunum before it closed at 5pm therefore we made our earliest start yet, just after 8am. So far we had been really lucky with the weather as we hadn't seen any rain but today we woke up to a damp morning and some light showers, this wouldn't have been a problem if I had held onto my hiking boots but in order to lighten the load I had given them back to my parents, this meant that I was walking through damp fields and boggy ditches in my trainers. By the time we reached the penultimate stamping station at the Robin Hood Inn 1 mile away, my feet were completely soaked and I had to change my socks. This was pretty much in vain anyhow as 5 minutes later they were wet through again, luckily once we reached Heddon-on-the-Wall we were walking mostly on the roads which took us down the valley to eventually meet the river Tyne.
At this point we had already foregone our usual cuppa stop and had ploughed forward in order to make our target arrival time. We walked along the banks of the Tyne for what seemed like forever, my feet were really beginning to suffer now and it was a small relief to eventually reach the Quayside although I was not going to make the same mistake I made the first day as I was aware there was still a good distance to go until we reached Wallsend. The final 4 miles was some of the toughest just because of how we had pushed it, from 8am until our eventual arrival at 4:30pm we did not stop once, we walked without a break for 8 and a half hours and if Mike hadn't been setting the pace I know I wouldn't have made it by 5. (so thanks for the forced march bro.) We handed in our completed stamped trail passports and collected our badge and certificates and I even bought a T-Shirt.
Thank the lord, Carol was able to pick us up as I really could not have made the 10 minute walk to their place.
Now that i've had a few days to recover (i'm still limping) I think it was a great achievement and really happy we did it but I certainly won't be doing anything similar for a while. It was much tougher than I expected and I grossly under-estimated the distances and terrain. Maybe in a few years I will revisit some points along the trail and I would happily try out some more pubs in Corbridge and the surrounding area.