Hadrian's Wall

11th May - Saturday

Sand grit boxes - waiting, waiting 

Wild moors 

Lovely village scenery

If there is no where to park, just stop! 

Angel of the North, just flying by 

Northumberland scenery, just a little bit different 

Chester Fort 

Where did the show go? 

Pretending to be a statue 

Having a hot bath 

The bath house 

More Northumberland countryside 

At last, Hadrian's Wall 

Willowford Farm

It was with sadness, and much time, that we said goodbye to our hosts at Glendale B & B – such a wonderful place to stay. With the temperature at a rather cool 7 degrees, we headed across the moors, following many narrow and winding roads with their roadside sand grit boxes just waiting for some ice. The moors are such an amazing area of contrasts; some are very bleak and desolate with nothing growing except the heather and bracken fern (all quite dead at the moment), other areas in the small valleys are more sheltered and this is were the trees grow alongside the twisting streams and everything is very green and mossy.


Unfortunately, our journey today involved a fair bit of travel on motorways, but it did seem to be the only way to skirt Newcastle. The most exciting structure we saw, apart from coal fired power stations, was the Angle of the North. This huge sculpture flashed by almost before I could get the camera out.

By this time, the temperature was dropping and the rain was coming down in earnest and it being past the lunch hour, we decided to treat ourselves, for the first time, to a Little Chef meal (these are family friendly restaurants, far more upmarket than McDonalds, scattered along the roadways). Not too bad, either.

We were now in Hadrian’s Wall territory, so the first stop was the visitor information centre to be advised on the best sites to visit. Of course, we had to back track about 11 miles to Chester Fort and its bathhouse and museum, but did manage to look around this interesting site between showers. We were amazed that we were actually able to work among the ruins, touch them, even sit on them. Our next stop was at Housestead and after walking through the mud to the track through the sheep paddock, I realised there was a half mile walk uphill, into a stiff breeze and with very dark rain clouds fast approaching. It didn’t take long to decide a photo with the zoom lens and a read of the brochure would suffice as a visit to this place. Back into the car and on to the next fort, with the rain belting down and the temperature dropping to 5 degrees. Another fort on top of another hill, but not quite as far to walk and at least it had stopped raining. At last, we actually got to see the Wall!!! After a walk around the ruins, and another sheep paddock (yes, AQIS will want to disinfect our shoes), it was on to our B & B and Moorfield Farm, a working farm. Guess what was all the way beside the long driveway? Hadrian’s Wall – and we had spent all afternoon wandering around “having jolly good fun” looking for it!

Tonight we get to sleep in a converted cow byre – it is very nice, on the ground floor (no stairs to carry cases up), has underfloor heating and an ultra modern ensuite. The young couple who own the place also serve a three course dinner (for a fee, of course) each evening.