Hadrian's Wall Trek- Day 5

 

Day 5! Couldn't believe we have walked everyday for the past 4 days! We have done over 55 miles so far and actually really enjoyed yesterday's trek dispite many steep slope and hills.  We had the Caligular's Chamber Ensuite at Hill on the Wall B & B which is basically the best room there is.  It had great views over the villiage and sections of the wall!  It is by far the best accommodation we've had so far and hospitality is top notch and so are the people we met.  After a hot full English breakfast, we made our way back to Gilsland and continue our trek after the usual pain prevention rituals!

After passing some zen looking goats, we went by the Willowford Turret then onto a long section of narrow walls that are quite well preserved.  It goes on for a fair bit and we can see it is very popular with trekkers, runners and families!  We carried on over the steel bridge over River Irthing and then up a very steep path before reaching Harrow's Scar milecastle.

We reached Birdoswald visiting centre for our Hadrian's Wall passport stamp and it appears the passport station in Carlise would not be available so it was offered to be done here as well.  Result!  After a pit top with drinks an ice cream, we headed over to Piper Sike watch tower for which you can actually see the Lake District in the distance!

We kept on walk and had completed about 7 miles at so we are halfway there! We had a little rest under some trees at a farm just listening to the sheep yards away from us and admiring the view in the distance.  Our legs and feet still hurts like mad from the last few days but I think we are now more mentally prepared than before. Certain airing out our stinky feet during rest helps! 😆

When we head off again we met many, many friendly people and when they ask what we are doing, we do our best to bring awareness on what we do and what Mindblmk stands for.   We met a couple call Wayne and Sisco and they are from Luton not far from us.  We got chatting and they are very passionate of our cause for supporting mental wellbeing, anxiety and depression. In fact Wayne runs a show (pod cast?) supporting BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) commubities and would like us to be on his show.  It would be an honour and great opportunity to spread awareness so we swapped detail and hopely speak to him again soon!  It was such a nice coincidence we bumped into them, Christine got a little teary eyes afterwards!  It makes what we are doing even more worthwhile!

It was late afternoon and we want to make pace so we pass through Banks and Walton without stopping main on country roads.  The sun was still quite hot at this point but we worked hard and was able to cover another 3 miles!

 

Just before we hit Newtown we found a nice hidden spot in a small wood infront of a water fall. It would be rude not to stop so we hide from the sun, replenish our energy and of course Air our feet!  This have now become a resting ritual!!

The final part of our journey was not so enjoyable as we were both quite knackered at this point.  To reach our hotel we have to break off from the Hadrian's Wall path from Newtown into Irthington which is about a mile away.  From the otherside of the village we have to walk about 1.5 miles on a country road next to the Carlise Lake Distrat Airport.  Finally we have to walk along the A689 with cars and lorries flying down the road at 60mph inches away from us!  That was definitely scary!

So we walked 13.8 miles today. We are very happy with that. I think we might have slightly underestimate how hard this trek can still be. There are certainly less hill to climb but trekking long distance with the equivalent of a small child on you back is still grueling! Christine was literally crawling into the bathroom when we got into the hotel room.

Time to rest ourselves and prepare for another long trek through Carlise tomorrow!

Please check out our justgiving page.  Last time we check we were £21 away from trebling our target! This is awesome!  Thank you everyone!

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Yat-Christine-Lau

Yat and Christine 

09/08/22

@Mindblmk