29th September 03

When we awoke, Brian suggested that we combine today’s walk (8 miles) and tomorrows (6 miles), as we were feeling good at this point, we agreed that we would review the situation at lunchtime.

The accommodation received an 8/10, losing points for a shower instead of a bath and not being able to access the premises until 5.00pm.

The walk today is quite flat and we make good progress, the more the walk has progressed the better we are feeling, it is at this point that we both feel that we will definitely complete the walk, this gives us even more confidence as we pass the ¾ stage of the walk.

Figure 5 – One of the few sections of road on the walk, about 200 yards of Military Road near Milecastle 19.

As we approach the point where we had planned to stay tonight, It is obvious that we are capable of travelling a further 6 miles to Newburn, thus making the walk in 6 days instead of the proposed 7 days, so I ring up and find that we can bring our accommodation at Newburn forward to tonight, what a relief to us, things are going well for us now.

We meet a family from Plymouth with a teenage daughter who looked rather fragile and was not carrying a haversack but had arranged for it to be transported on. We do not tell them of how difficult it is further on but encourage them by telling them of the wonderful views. I would guess that the daughter would also be transported on later on the walk. It was so pleasant to talk to them; we shook hands and wished each other good luck.

As forecast, it was beginning to rain so we donned our waterproofs for the first time, it was not heavy rain, in fact it was quite pleasant as modern waterproofs keep you perfectly dry underneath. Not so in Wainwright’s day when he walked in sports jacket, flannels and shoes with a cape for rain protection. His theory was that if you got wet then you just walked on and dried out in the wind or got wetter if it did not stop. Not surprising that not many people walked before WW2, if outdoor walking gear was not available.

A lone walker approached us and we exchanged our itineries, he must have been a similar age to us, and was the first older person we had seen. His name was Harold and he came from Southport, but had lost his hat in the preceding 2 miles, asking us to send it on to him if we found it and he would refund any postage. Harold said he did a lot of national trails and that the best one he had ever done was the Isle of Man Coastal Path. We did find his hat, it was a good quality bush hat so I can imagine him being concerned of its loss, so Brian sent it off to him.

As we walked through Heddon, Throckley and Newburn, the feeling of dereliction was overpowering, especially after having walked through beautiful countryside. The only shops that were still functioning were Bookies, Off Licences, Fish & Chip shops, Funeral Parlours, Newsagents and Chinese Restaurants, all having metal shutters to protect them when closed, giving an indication of the economy and depravity of the area.

We find our accommodation and it looks good, more on the style of a Motel than a B & B. The adjoining pub and restaurant is of a similar standard so our spirits are raised as we only have 15 miles to walk tomorrow on level ground, all our labours in the previous 5 days seem to disappear into the background.

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