- Start: Carlisle
- Finish: Lanercost
- Distance: 27.98 Km
- Time: 09:00:40
So, this morning, we abandoned my battered but beloved car at Carlisle train station for the week,
and set off on our adventure with all our belongings in the ‘big bags’!
We fortified ourselves with a very nice Eggs benedict at Bartons Yard Cafe in Carlisle first though😊
Today was very much a game of two halves. In the morning we wandered along the river Eden, through extensive communal parkland on the outskirts of Carlisle
and past many bunkhouses and glamping sites catering for the large amounts of people engaging in this ridiculous endeavor. (According to my guide book around 12,000 people a year walk the whole path) My favourite glamping site this morning though was the one with the free-roaming Alpaca’s!
The walking was relatively flat but the wall was not much in evidence.
The closest we came this morning was Blea Tarn. The raised bank on the left, which we are walking on, is the remains of the wall, whilst on the right, covered in reeds is the Tarn, which is a Roman quarry where they extracted the stone to build the wall itself and then flooded to provide fish for the soldiers manning it. On the far right you can see the huge spoil heap belonging to the quarry.
Following our picnic lunch however, the terrain began to undulate a lot more and the sticks came out to help us copy with some tricky descents and ascents.
The views were stunning however, particularly from the top of Craggle Hill. The moors in the background being a bit of a reminder of the terrain for the next few days.
After a tea stop at a lovely little cafe in Walton, in the old school building
we had a near miss with a piece of wall. The only exposed section of red sandstone typical of the western section of the wall and excavated in the 1980’s was in a paddock next to the path, but unfortunately it had been re-buried in 2003 due to erosion damage 😢
So we had to wait for km 26 and just before we turned off the path to reach our accommodation to meet our first real section of wall. And what a section! The Hare hill section is the highest extant section, though the very top bit was rebuilt in the 19th century.
Eventually, after nearly 28 very long kilometers we finally found our accommodation, the very lovely Lanercost B&B with our amazing host Deborah. We had a delightful 4 course meal prepared by her
and a beautiful room with wonderful views of the valley and a really welcome bath!
Tomorrow and Tuesday are much shorter days than the first two, but with the Moors beckoning I don’t know how much easier they will be!!