26th September 03

We leave our accommodation at 9-00pm and give them 8/10, losing marks for a slow running bath and noisy traffic.

The walk now takes us through some lovely villages by the river Eden and again thankfully very flat. The knee has again twitched my senses so have taken my trusty painkillers, but today I am feeling muscle pain across my shoulders as my haversack does not feel very comfortable on my shoulders. I tighten the waistband of the haversack in order to put the weight on my hips rather than my shoulders but I think the damage has been done.

We meet a young couple, (everyone looks young on the walk) she was from Montana and we think he was Dutch, but he did not get much of a chance to speak as his partner was telling us of her praise for the walk and that they were really enjoying it. It was interesting to note that she wore a long skirt for the walk, not the attire you would expect. This fact was commented on later as we met people who had spoken to them and they referred to them as the girl wearing the skirt. As they are nearing the end of their walk it gives us much encouragement to press on and discover what lies ahead.

The signing on the Hadrian Wall Walk is a black and white acorn and as the walk is mostly on public footpaths, it can become confusing where the Wall Walk deviates from a public footpath that is directed by the circular discs with an arrow indicating the direction. We lost the Wall Walk at some point and arrived in the village of Irthington via a public footpath, as there was a Post Office we needed a few items so were pleasantly surprised to find absolutely everything in this little shop. We bought bananas to give us energy, Brian bought a card for his wife’s birthday in a few days time and we chatted to the very friendly lady owner. She was so friendly she made us a mug of tea each, free gratis, and allowed us to sit in her garden as she was closing her shop for lunch. Fig 2. The hospitality and friendliness of the natives is overwhelming. The lady said that her brother had rung her at 8-30am that morning to ask if she could provide breakfast for 3 walkers who had set off at 6-30am. She obliged and considering she is a shop not a café, it is even more amazing. It so highlights the difference between townspeople and country folk.  

      

         Figure 2 -  Our well earned hospitality stop.

The landscape is beginning to get a little hillier, but nothing too strenuous as we approach 3 walkers having a rest. They are from Ipswich, one is camping the other 2 are son-in-law and father-in-law and their wives are picking them up at the end of the day to take them to their accommodation. This overcomes the problem of finding accommodation within easy reach of the walk, but I do feel that it is a different feeling being dropped at the start and having to make your own way from there, it makes one feel a greater sense of achievement having accomplished it without help from outside. We chatted about the walk and where they were staying, one guy said we would be mountaineering later on the walk, but we would like to think that he was joking. Brian reminds me that I am doing this for pleasure.

Arriving at the village of Banks, having now completed 1/3 of our walk, we find our accommodation, a beautiful rebuilt barn and have tea and cakes in the lounge before retiring for a bath. We were told beforehand that as there aren’t any places to eat in the village, they would drive us to the local pub about ¾ miles away and the landlord of the pub would bring us back.

It does not go unnoticed that 2 young American ladies have arrived to stay the night and are obviously on the walk.

We are driven to the Abbey Bridge Inn, a very welcome restaurant and pub where the American ladies arrive later by the same transport. We exchange experiences of where we have stayed and staying, it turns out that they will be staying in the same B & B at Carlisle as we did, so we warn them of the slow filling bath. The girls having covered 2/3 of the walk are full of energy and tell us their life story, we are so tired we just sit and listen. The landlord returns us all in one people carrier to our accommodation. A tiring but not unexpected long day. A few notes in the diary and we are fast asleep in our own beds.

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